The Bonaire Heineken Jazz Festival 2008 Looks to Be a Success
Despite the small scale of our island, it appears that the Bonaire Jazz Foundation will once again succeed in planning a fantastic Bonaire Heineken Jazz Festival, which will take place May 22nd through 25th. Considering the large number of well known jazz musicians that want to participate in the concerts, it is obvious that Bonaire as a whole, and the festival in particular, are becoming well known in the international world of jazz. This year’s Jazz Festival will be the fourth annual event.
Although the festival’s program has not been finalized yet, the Jazz Foundation has announced that two internationally well known artists will appear. Izaline Calister (certainly very popular in the Antilles and Aruba) who, with her orchestra, will perform the main act on opening night, May 22 and also on Friday, May 23. In addition, Willie Martinez, a top jazz artist from New York, will also perform several main acts with his sextet. Negotiations are still taking place with several other international, Antillean and local jazz bands. The Bonaire Student Band, which proved to be such a success last year, will again be part of the festivities this year.
After the opening evening with Jazz and Poetry in Fort Oranje, the next two concert evenings will take place at the Plaza Resort, followed by a final jam session during the Sunday lunch at the Divi Flamingo Resort.
As in prior years, Heineken will be the title sponsor of the event, and, although the sponsoring has not been completed, it can be announced that Remax and Littman’s will be main sponsors, Maduro & Curiel’s Bank Bonaire will sponsor Izaline Calister and that Plaza Resort, Rocargo, Russel Insurance, Habitat, André Nahr and Playa Trading have all given their support.
Additional details about the programming, the musicians, etc. will be announced at a later date. (Source: Bonaire Jazz Foundation)
