New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS): It was a jazzed-up World Tourism Day celebration in the national capital with the performance of the American group Donald Harrison and the Berklee All Stars.

Led by Grammy-nominated Berklee School of Music alumnus and swinging alto saxophonist Donald Harrison, the band also features Berklee faculty member and singer Patrice Williamson (Boston), Berklee alumni Max Moran on the bass (New Orleans), pianist Leo Blanco (Venezuela), and Darryl Staves on drums (New Orleans).

"This is for the first time we have come to India and I'd say the experience so far has been great. Performing for the Indians is as amazing as performing for the western audiences," Donald Harrison told IANS on Tuesday.

"This country has such a rich culture and people's interest in arts is so heart-warming. When you perform for them, they respond and that has been the beauty of this tour," he added.

Their evening performance at the American Center as part of the World Tourism Day celebration on September 27, got a lot of appreciation from the Indian audiences.

There was also a short session on 'Applying for a US Visa' where an American Embassy consular officer spoke about the US visa application process.

"We are trying to raise awareness on the role of tourism within the international community and to demonstrate how it affects social, cultural, political and economic values worldwide," the North India Program Director for the Embassy, Richard Pinkham, told IANS.