Our Story

Since 2012, World Youth Festivals Management Sdn Bhd with its own limited capacity, resources and young volunteers, had managed to organise the world’s largest youth-oriented jazz festival:

World Youth Jazz Festival (WYJF) With it’s tagline:

By The Youth, With The Youth, For The Youth,

BEYOUTHIFUL

Encouraged by these successes, WYJF and its youth community aspire to continue organising the First Weekend in May Annual World Youth Jazz Festival with top names and newcomers in jazz, as well as other jazz-related activities. This includes hosting the International Jazz Day (IJD) Celebrations and related activities held on 30 April Annually since 2012 at Kuala Lumpur’s world-renowned jazz club, No Black Tie.

Based on the brainchild of the Executive Chairman of World Youth Festivals Management Sdn Bhd, a jazz personality, the World Youth Jazz Festival (fondly known as WYJF), took off under his joint initiative with the then Minister of the Ministry of Youth And Sports and The Jazz Community Malaysia (JAZZCOMM) with its first festival held at Dataran Gemilang, Putrajaya, Malaysia in 2012.

It has since become a world class annual free jazz festival held every first weekend in the month of May featuring some of the best young jazz acts globally supported by the jazz elders. Other previous venues include The Karangkraf Ampitheatre (2013), Putrajaya International Convention Centre (2014), Jalan Mesui (2015) and recently, Dataran Merdeka Kuala Lumpur (2016).

WYJF 2015 was compared by jazz aficionados to the New Orleans Jazz Festival on Bourbon Street, widely considered as the birthplace of jazz. We hope to bring this concept to WYJF 2017.