The 22nd edition of Surya Nepal Jazzmandu drew to a close on 4 November after a week of jamming and improvisation reverberated across Kathmandu Valley. Running from 29 October to 4 November, the festival ended as it always does: with a field full of people dancing.
If the festival has proven one thing over the last two decades, it is that a saxophone and a sitar can hold a fluent conversation. This year’s edition did it again, placing eastern and western classical music on the same stage, enriching each other.
The 2026 edition’s lineup was broader than ever featuring Nepal’s own pioneering jazz band Cadenza Collective, Gandharva, Hot Club Patan, Kanta dAb dAb, Milan and Milesh duo on the violin and tabla respectively, Jonisha Poudel’s prodigious vocals, Santosh Bhakta on the ishraj, and Roshan Putwar on the bamboo flute.
International artists always add a planetary dimension to Jazzmandu and this year was no different. Cesar Haas on guitar introduced the audience to Brazilian jazz, Swiss musician Manon Mullener’s incredible piano and Tito Puente Jr. had verve. Kevin Saura group from France had infectious energy and big smiles, and Nick Aggs Quartet from Australia, the USA, and Singapore lifted the whole room.
But much of the week’s interest lay in how those instruments were combined rather than merely listed. That drums and a bamboo flute, bass and tabla could share a melody alongside one another is how Jazzmandu embodies a unity that is especially essential today.
Navin Chhetri, founder of Jazzmandu and member of Cadenza Collective, put it well at the Yala Maya Kendra courtyard concert on Tuesday: “Every year is different. The energy is different, the musicians are different. But as always we show how music is global and musicians speak the same language through jazz. Life in Nepal seeps into everybody, and we have the right people for that.”
The clearest evidence of this was on the artists’ own faces. Broad, unguarded smiles carried every performance, and they seemed to be enjoying the week as much as the audience was.
RAINING ON THE PARTY
“Before this year we have been lucky with the weather,” says Chhetri. This year, however, the forecast predicted rain on the day of the show set in Gokarna. “We didn’t want to cancel, we always want to try our best.”
So a tenthouse in Kasthamandap was brought in; work started on Wednesday and by Saturday the stage was built, and the ground was covered in tarpaulin. Although the forecast promised clear skies by 11 am, the delay stretched to 3 pm. “We waited because people’s mood during rain is not great either,” Chhetri noted. Then, at 3:15 pm, when the Gandharva band started to play, the rain abruptly stopped and the show went on.
“After that, there was just the sunset,” he said. “We are very lucky and blessed.”
The finale at Malla Hotel opened with Kanta dAb dAb’s mellifluous melodies, followed by the Manon Mullener trio and their remarkable set. Cesar Haas joined them on the guitar, and later, with Navin and Pravin Chhetri, rolled out Brazilian jazz.
Nick Aggs then stepped in on the saxophone and lifted the whole show a register. Kevin Saura’s group brought one of the most energetic playing, and the Cadenza collective featured Zach Fawcett on the trumpet for a spirited and upbeat set. A closing salsa with Tito Puente Jr. and nearly the entire lineup closed the show on a high note.