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1st Annual Belize Jazz Festival a smashing success!

Features1st Annual Belize Jazz Festival a smashing success!


The debut festival lasted nearly four hours and saw the performances of a wide array of artistes, male and female, veteran and new, young and not so young. Among them were Frankie Rhys on keyboards and his wife, singing sensation Diana Rhys; the flashy songbird, Jeanette Dyer; the soft-spoken diva, Jenny Lovell; the symphonic duo – Sam Hamilton and Zoila Clarke; and the soulful nightingales – Ernestine Carballo and Tanya Carter.


On Friday night, Belizean musicians?vocalists, saxophonists, keyboardists, percussionists, guitarists, and the like?proved that it is cool to be a jazz lover! Performing before a full house, Belize?s shining musicians wooed their audience with stunning performances, eliciting loud cheers and applauses from onlookers.


The stylistic and well-choreographed dancers, Karen and Chris Chaleki, boogied to a variety of jazz songs in between performances.


Patrons of the festival heard a special jazz rendition of Belizean folksong, Freetown Gial, arranged by Jason Guerrero, who played on guitar as Jenny Lovell sang the tune in both Creole and English.


By day, he is the Chief Executive Officer of the Belize Electricity Limited, but musician Lynn Young took a break from this routine and performed on the steel pan. Colville Young, Jr., his brother, performed with his group, the Colville Young Jr. Ensemble.


Another set of brothers participated in the festival – Leroy ?Bass? Castillo on bass guitar and Elsworth Castillo on percussions.


Dub poet, Grandmaster Lee, delivered sensational performances of some of his most popular poems and the humorous emcee, Kenny Morgan, himself a poet, shared some of his poetry as well.


Apart from performing background vocals for some of the artists, the two versatile female vocalists, newcomers Tanya and Ernestine, performed selections from African American songster, Alicia Keys.


Producer, Clinton ?Junie? Crawford, who performed on keyboards, was the musical director for the show.


It was the show?s innovator, ?The Mighty Lord Rhaburn,? who led the finale of the 1stAnnual Belize Jazz Festival with ?pumped up? jazz renditions of some of his songs.


Before concluding for the night, Rhaburn also acknowledged the various artists who were showcased in the show and encouraged the audience to show their appreciation for them.


Throughout the show, though, the audience made it clear with their cheers and applauses that they were very entertained by all the performances, and hope that it was the first of many such performances to come.


Rhaburn says that his vision is that the show would continue to be a Belizean legacy even after him.


Both he and Crawford had appealed to the Belizean public to embrace their own artists and what they have to offer. And indeed, those who attended Friday night?s jazz festival did just that.


The show has, indeed, gotten rave reviews from many of those who attended.

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