The 2022 edition of the Jazz Al Parque Festival was the birthplace of the first Bogotá Female Big Band, a big band entirely comprised of female jazz and Colombian popular music musicians. With only a first pilot, this project delivered important results, such as more than 90 women registered to audition for the 18 fixed positions, different generations of women integrating for the first time, impressive coverage by the national and international press, new female jazz talents emerging and allowed to go public and showcase their work, and the opening of possibilities for new opportunities for women in the national music scene.
In its 12 years, the Big Band Bogotá, whose members are selected by audition in each new edition of the Jazz Al Parque Festival, has been constituted almost exclusively of men. Only 16 women have been part of this group’s history, all as guest soloists and/or composers. In 2018, bassist, composer, and arranger Esther Rojas became the first female director of this big band, marking a milestone for the festival and paving the way for creating the Female Bogotá Big Band, which is also under her baton. The fact that only 16 women have been part of this project shows the disparity and the absence of women in the bandstand of these jazz ensembles.
That is why in 2022, the Big Band Bogotá became the Bogotá Female Big Band. To fill the tremendous historic void that this project has had in its 12 years of existence: the presence and representation of women.
Press
