Panama – Casco Viejo – Casco Antiguo

Plaza Catedral

Real Estate and Lifestyle at Panama`s Historic City

Rain! nooooooooooo…… People were prepared, though: everyone took their umbrellas out and scouted the sky to see if this was going to last. Classic Panamanian prediction:  “Nah… it will be gone in an hour or less. Good that it happened early”.  And so it happened: rained came and left, but the concert started on time at 12 noon and little by little Plaza Catedral at Casco Viejo started to get people in.  I was staged at a friend`s apartment (thank you Luis!!!! you are the best!!!!).

I am always impressed with the Festival.  The quality of their event is really incredible and you never think they can top it the next year, but they do.   Patricia Zarate and Danilo Perez have the “magic touch”.  And this year was extra special, as Danilo just published his latest work “Providence” and Patricia just had her first baby boy: Danilo Jr.

With all this going on, they still had energy to put together a world class fest with guests like Claudia Acuña, Adam Cruz, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Conrad Herwig, Paoli Mejias, Alain Perez, Riccardo Del Fra, Ben Street, Bryan Lynch, Jorge Perez González and a lot more.  They put together educational workshops throughout the entire week and found the time to audition and award four fellowships.  Their commitment to raise the bar both on music  performance and education in Panama is admirable and wanted to thank both of them through this post of the amazing work they are doing through the Fundacion Danilo Perez and the Panama Jazz Fest Inc.

The photos will speak for themselves: everyone enjoyed this event to the fullest.  Casco Viejo turned into a big musical party that went on all night, even after the concert had ended.  The Catedral became a beautiful backdrop for the event. The ambiance was fantastic… “love was in the air”…

One last word to all the volunteers that worked day and night on the Festival: THANK YOU!!!! This year I was backstage and could see them running like crazy, helping everywhere. Many of them music students that had the opportunity to mix with great legends of jazz and learn from them.  Their devotion to the festival makes it possible, and the guidance of the pro – team makes it world class.

For all the team at the Fest, for Danilo & Patricia and everyone at the Foundation:  you guys rock!!!

See you next year!!!

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