GIANYAR, balitourismnow.com – What an exhilarating musical experience. The second night of the Sthala Ubud Village Jazz Festival (UVJF) was a vibrant celebration of global jazz culture, taking place in the heart of Lodtunduh, Ubud, Gianyar, Bali, on Saturday, August 2, 2025.
Over two days, the festival drew thousands of jazz lovers into a world where music meets nature, tradition meets modernity, and every note felt like a shared heartbeat under the Balinese sky.
This year’s festival layout was simple yet highly effective: just two stages, each with its own soul. The Giri Stage thundered with big band brilliance and layered harmonies.
Meanwhile, the Subak Stage, situated on the riverbank, offered an intimate listening experience where melodies blended with the sound of flowing water—a kind of indescribable magic.
The second day opened with Dizzy & Wicked, a compact electro-jazz quartet that filled the afternoon with Tentative Love, Canggu City Bob, and Lotus Blossom, creating a sleek urban groove.
The East West European Jazz Orchestra then lit up the Giri Stage, performing Almost Like Being in Love, Love for Sale, and the Balinese-inspired Samba Para Ubud, their blaring brass enthralling the audience.
On the Subak Stage, the Balawan Trio, featuring Jiyestha, blurred the lines between jazz fusion and Balinese roots, jumping from Travelling Nusantara to Stevie Wonder’s Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing before closing with Bali Bach, a transcontinental six-string sprint.
Rouge, hailing from France, lit up the evening with their cinematic works, Tempête, Strawberries in the Dark, and Pink Flamingo—jazz as poetry, subtle yet searing.
As dusk approached, Jazz Traveller delivered a series of upbeat originals like G. Blues and Jazz Pasar, paving the way for a masterclass from the Makoto Kuriya Trio.
These Japanese legends soared through the bouncy Intro Blues, Sakura Garden, and Cherokee, proving once again that jazz knows no boundaries.
Then, Mahanada captivated the audience with a stunning performance of Round Midnight and Me Myself Nada, before the Galaxy Big Band thrilled the crowd with a thunderous closing number: The Wind Machine, Georgia on My Mind, Feeling Good, and Coffee Rumba, transforming the festival area into a giant, exuberant exhalation under a starry sky.
But UVJF is more than just a music festival—it’s an immersive cultural experience. This year, festival architects Klick Swantara and Diana Surya collaborated with Kadek Armika and his kite community, Rare Angon, to create monumental kite installations throughout the festival grounds.
The towering Janggan, towering Wayang figures, and the giant Barong suspended above the Sthala Bridge transform traditional Balinese art into architectural art for a global jazz audience.
“This festival will continue next year because it is part of our shared idealism,” said Anom Darsana, co-founder of UVJF.
Environmental awareness was also a key focus. UVJF implemented a cup deposit system, requiring attendees to leave a small deposit for a reusable cup—which can be returned for cash or kept as a keepsake.
The result? A festival site virtually free of plastic waste, proving that world-class music events can live in harmony with their environment.
“For 12 years, we have built a new cultural icon in Ubud, bringing in musicians from all over the world. We hope for even stronger support in the future to keep this vision alive. And we are deeply grateful to every team member and volunteer who has made UVJF 2025 possible,” Anom Darsana continued.
As the final applause echoed from the riverbank to the main stage, it wasn’t just for the bands. But for the experience itself: honest music, an audience breathing in harmony with every note, Balinese culture towering in monumental forms, and a promise kept to the earth beneath our feet.
UVJF 2025 closed with an unspoken promise—to return next year, louder, bolder, and ready to rock Ubud once again. [pran]