Entertainment

Guess what: the Caribbean Sea Jazz Festival 2010 is just behind us, but preparations for the 5th edition are already starting.

With 5000 visitors, this year’s festival was a major success. One thousand more jazz fans showed up, even though the weather threatened not to cooperate. Absolute highlights were Marcus Miller, Issac Delgado, Red Fulka, Lao Tizer and Cosy Cotton, with Datapanik, Sazon Cubano, Offshore, Serghio and Ivan Jansen, the Mystical Connection and the fantastic performance of TimbAche making lasting impressions.

From organizer Erik Eman and his super crew a huge “thank you” goes to all the sponsors, the great performers, the enthusiastic vendors and the absolutely wonderful audience which have made the 2010 edition of the Caribbean Sea Jazz Festival into such a major success. And now on towards the 2011 anniversary of the event!

Picture show organizer Erik Eman with headliner of his festival Marcus Miller.

This year’s 4th annual Caribbean Sea Jazz Festival went off with much success and throngs of people from all over the world in the audience of its 3 stages at is Cas di Cultura location. The festival act got its kickoff with some of the bands from overseas performing at Cafe the Plaza, Cafe Rembrandt, Arawak Gardens, CILO City Lounge, and Zissles night club.

Returning to the festival was celebrated blues artist/composer Grana Louise from the U.S. performing with the Cosy Cotton Blues Band from Holland. After success in the 80’s and the band moving on, 3 of the original Cosy Cotton members got together 2 years ago to re-form the band with a couple of new members. The result is an audience pleasing success. Grana gave a stellar performance as always and Aruba was treated to real southern blues in its outdoor theater.

Sazon Cubano is a local band from San Nicolas consisting of seasoned musicians/singers specializing in Salsa and related Latin rythmns. Sazon’s audience was very enthusiastic as they put on a great show.

Grammy award winning, multi-talented, New York born Marcus Miller was one of the stars in the line-up. He is the bandleader in his own band these days, specializing in jazz-based music, after 3 decades of success in the business. Marcus is known as one of the best bass players around – having played with the Saturday Night Live band, Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis, Luther Vandross and David Sanborn.

Marcus’ bass can also be heard on the albums of Herbie Hancock, Mariah Carey, Frank Sinatra, Chaka Khan, Elton John, and Dr. John. A real audience pleaser with his bass as the lead, he gave a fabulous performance on Friday night.

Tizer with star talent, violinist Karen Briggs, gave an amazing performance on the main stage. Lao Tizer, born in Boulder, CO, produced and released his first three keyboard recordings himself by the age of seventeen. He has appeard at premier venues, sharing the stage at events worlwide with artists like Isaac Hayes, George Benson, The Commodores, Bruce Hornsby, Jethro Tull and Spyro Gyra and many others. This virtuoso and his band were a favorite of the audience!

Cuba Salsa sensation Isaac Delgado wowed the audience with his songs, names the Cuban form of the blues – the audience was dancing right in front of him. He has a command of the stage and is a born performer. Only interested in soccer in his youth, he quickly followed in his musician parents’ footsteps by his late teens, becoming a professioan touring musician by the time he was 21. It was a real treat to see him on Aruba’s stage.

Swing Design (with conductor Bart Rademakers), a Dutch Big Band from Maastricht with more than 20 professional musicians, have been around since 1983, and their performance was their second time in Aruba.
It is rare that Aruba is treated to such a big band. Their performance at Zissles was an extra treat, and they include salsa rythmns in their repertoire.

Among local musicians, Datapanik, Ivan Jansen, his son Serghio Jansen performed, and the rest of the lineup included Timbache, Off Shore, SMRW, Mystical Connection, Red Fulka t. with Roel Calister also performed.

The festival included the screening of films as well as a art expo with several talented artists’ works with a music theme.

The Caribbean Sea Jazz Festival is guaranteed to happen once again next fall – it will be the festivals 5th anniversary.

Story courtesy of The Aruba Daily

This is the seventh column about the Cas di Glas (House of Glass), an event that takes place from September 29 thru October 3 in the Renaissance Marketplace across from CILO City Lounge. It is a concept that, after its immense success in Holland, has been copied in various big cities in Europe. Its goal: to get a substantial amount of money for a good cause; on Aruba this will be the Koningin Wilhelmina Kankerfonds (KWF), the cancer foundation. But what is the Cas di Glas exactly and how does something like that come about? In the coming installments you will be able to follow the making of the Cas di Glas and we hope you will get as enthusiastic about this project as its team of organizers.

We have started the countdown to Wednesday, September 29. Just a few more days to go before Prime Minister Mike Eman will lock our deejays Siomara, DJ 101 and Jean Carlo into their see-through house, in which they are going to stay for four days and for nights. They do not have an easy task to fulfill: they are going to play lots of music, interspersed with interviews on health, illness, nutrition and sports and they are going to hype lots of visitors and locals to come down to the Renaissance Marketplace for the live performances of groups, deejays and happenings. Focusing on health and a healthy lifestyle, the deejays will only drink vegetable and fruit juices while they are in the spotlight. Their plight will end when Minister of Public Health, Richard Visser, will release them from their glass prison; undoubtedly they will be relieved and happy at 6 pm on October 3!

The Cas di Glas event is having an impact far beyond Aruba’s borders: several Belgian newspapers have informed their readers about the Belgian classical rock band Rockenbach performing for our good cause and in one of Holland’s leading newspapers there was a write-up of top soccer player Hedwiges Maduro (Aruban by birth) donating money to Cas di Glas. Peter Ballière, initiator of the project, will be on the world service, talking to Hedwiges.

Many people are really curious about the Cas di Glas: they do not have a clue what to expect. Well, really early next Monday morning, the trailer with its deluxe home, will be placed on the Renaissance Marketplace parking lot across from CILO City Lounge. The night before the tricky maneuvering will take place, several committee members will park their cars in strategic places, so no objects will be in the way.

At first the Cas di Glas trailer did not look like much, to be honest, although we tried to spice it up by painting it. However, when it was moved to Mexim, where the glass was to be installed, the verdict was negative: they could not do anything with the trailer in the state that it was in. And then something amazing happened: Mexim’s employees decided to spend their after-work hours getting the Cas di Glas into shape. They worked their tails off and voilà: a gorgeous glass dwelling is the result. You’ll see!

Another such story is Elite: nothing is too much for them, they are supplying us with a terrific sound system, boxes and even giant lights that go up high into the sky, attracting more and more people to the Marketplace. With the international green energy conference, taking place during the same days as the Cas di Glas in the Renaissance Conference Center, mutual promotion is the word. Super!

We are ready: our goal is for Aruba to have a mobile breast cancer screening unit, which will help save lives and prevent loads of suffering. We are ready for a scoop: the first House of Glass fundraising effort outside of Europe. We are ready; are you?

Story courtesy of Aruba Today

The countdown for the Caribbean Sea Jazz Festival Aruba has started. Artists are arriving in droves at the airport and the excitement for the music festival is building. With its line-up of Marcus Miller, Swing Design, Cosy Cotton with Grana Louise, Red Fulka, Sazon Cubano, Ivan Jansen on Friday and Issac Delgado, Tizer with Karin Briggs, Serghio Jansen, Mystical Connection, Datapanik, Timbache and Off Shore on Saturday evening, the festival has a sure hit on its hands. On both evenings students of the Scol di Musica are performing and there is an art gallery with movies open to the public.

Passers-by the Cas di Cultura can see the work in process to get everything ready for Friday, October 8, the first day of the festival. On both days performances start at 6.30 p.m. A day pass costs AWG. 55,– (US 32.–). Tickets are available at MooMba Beach, Cliffix, Super Food, CD’s & More and at Cas di Cultura. For more information you can visit www.caribbeanseajazz.com.

On October 6 there is a special performance of Swing Design, a popular big band from Holland, at Café the Plaza at the Renaissance Marketplace. Swing Design is going to heat up the hearts of music fans with its rousing songs in celebration of the restaurant’s 19th anniversary.

Story courtesy of The Morning News

Joining the impressive line-up of the Latin Night of the Cas di Glas event on Saturday, October 2nd, is keyboardist and singer Juan Carlos Luces, whose successes in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil have made him a household name there. Now living in the US, the Venezuelan-born artist has been busy, composing music for Paramount Pictures and making albums. Juan Carlos Luces will performing on the same night as Mulato, Diviana and Roots i Rythem.

The Cas di Glas event is held at CILO City Lounge from September 29 – October 3; it is a four-day long fundraising happening for the Koningin Wilhelmina Kankerfonds (KWF), the cancer foundation. With the money generated, a mobile breast cancer screening unit will be bought. All artists of Cas di Glas perform for free; American Airlines is the gracious sponsor of his ticket.

Juan Carlos Luces has several successful albums behind his name, among them Tengo, La Suegra, Abreme la Puerta and the hit song Gol, which was the theme of the Copa America.