Jazz on the Train!

Since moving to Switzerland, the Montreux Jazz Festival has become one of my favourite activities. Hosted every summer in the town of Montreux (only 20minutes from Lausanne by train), it is apparently the second largest annual jazz festival in the world. This year, my friend Megan and I decided to try something different, so we bought tickets for "Jazz on the Train" without having any idea what we were getting ourselves in for! My goodness, where we pleasantly surprised!

After arriving at Vevey train station, we followed the music to the platform where we found a beautifully restored old steam strain (that was built in 1902) waiting for us and a jazz band playing on the platform. We found a spot in one of the cars and then two of the musicians came to join us and played for us until the train's first stop. No lights, no sheet music, no fancy equipment, just amazing music as the train chugged up the hill and we took in the gorgeous views (Switzerland never disappoints in that department!). Every 20 minutes or so the train would stop, and all the musicians would regroup outside the train to continue the concert, before a new set of musicians would come and join us in our car. This continued for about 1.5hours, until we stopped at the museum at Blonay-Chamby. We thought this was just another little break, but we were wrong!

After wondering around for a little bit, and guessing what we thought would happen next, we noticed a group of people heading into what we later realized was the exhibition of the museum. People were serving food and drinks and there were a whole lot of chairs set up, so we decided to join in the party. Shortly after this, one of the most amazing live music performances I have ever seen started. Using mostly percussion and rhythm, with some wind instruments, a group of musicians (who were all quite young) treated us to a dramatic performance using the old trains as their stage. Stories were woven into the performance, and at times we couldn't tell if the musicians were improvising, or if everything was rehearsed - we could not figure out how they were keeping such precise rhythms, that kept changing, and suddenly starting and stopping (at one point they all played with their eyes closed!). I was spell bound for the entire hour long show.

 Megan and I found seats in one of the cars for our return journey, and we had a good laugh after one of the conductors came (he was also dressed up!) and told us that the car we were in would actually be staying at the station, so we may want to find another one :) All in all, it was 5 hours of pure enjoyment and it was wonderful to share with the lovely Megan! This experience is most definitely on my "highlights list"!

An expert selfie taken standing at the back of the moving train!