Celebrating Jazz: From New Orleans to Doha

Doha, Qatar:April 30 of every year marks International Jazz Day, a celebration of a musical expression with roots tracing back approximately one and a...

Doha, Qatar: April 30 of every year marks International Jazz Day, a celebration of a musical expression with roots tracing back approximately one and a half centuries which had reshaped the musical landscape for good.

Jazz was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, where enslaved African-Americans would gather to play music in a part of the city called Congo Square. Using marching band instruments, they merged African, Caribbean, and spiritual music, which was also popular at that time.

All these elements combined together to give birth to jazz, and, despite many disagreements concerning the genre’s prevalence, most will agree that jazz music rose to fame in the 1920s. 

Jazz music was played in jazz clubs, in restaurants, on the radio, and virtually everywhere in the United States, earning the era the moniker "The Jazz Age"— the go-to term to describe the 1920s American landscape. 

World War I played a pivotal role in its global dissemination, as American soldiers introduced European counterparts to its infectious sound. Several years later, that sound made its way to Doha.