Insult to jazz lovers

I was sincerely hoping that the bright minds behind the Malta "Just Another Zig-Zag" Rock Festival would be further illuminated and refrain from using the word "Jazz" in the title. For those who follow the jazz scene and those who hold honesty as an unassailable value, the news item that this was not the case must have rocked their ears.

To add insult to injury, the Minister for Tourism and Culture was reported as saying that this festival enhances "Product Malta".

Imagine for a while that you are a foreign jazz enthusiast, who regularly visits Umbria, Montreaux, Vienne and the likes and get to know that Malta organises a similar festival.

In the event that you are careless and do not find time to look up the programme of the festival you would be in for a very nasty and expensive surprise! In the event that you are diligent and do consult the programme, you might want to write to the organisers and try to explain what jazz is all about.

The common denominator of both these outcomes is that "Product Malta" will be severely degraded (that is, if there is one to degrade).

I was inclined to believe that a purely, or mainly, jazz festival was not economically feasible, but given the insistence on using the word jazz, it suggests that the word and its expression attracts crowds, which makes the whole thing even more dishonest. If I were one of the local artists, unless the word jazz were dropped from the title, I would refuse to be an accomplice with the council and promoters of such a scam!