Blog Archives

BJBF branching out to Panama City: Yelba&Latin Fire at the Albrook Mall Tryp Hotel on Feb 12, 2015

1/25/2015

After the show is before the show: When the Boquete Jazz&Blues Festival will close it doors on Sunday, February 8 the music will not be over yet: As an extension to the festival our official festival hotel, the Albrook Mall Tryp hotel is sponsoring a great double bill show with festival bands Yelba&Latin Fire and John Carney&Gato Maximo on February 12 from 7p until 11:30pm. DJ John Wolff (who is also one of our festival organizers) will open the show at 7pm.
Admission is $15 only, with free admission for BJBF Fedora Club members!

A great opportunity for festival visitors to enjoy even more of the superb music that they had the pleasure of hearing at the Boquete Jazz&Blues Festival. If you have the chance to stay in Panama for a couple of days after the festival, don't miss this show!
The special discount room rates for festival visitors are valid until Feb 12! Special discounts for Fedora Club members are valid until the end of 2015!

Yelba & Latin Fire....Latin Jazz at it's best!

1/24/2015

Nicaraguan-born Yelba came into this world with a gift for harmonies and a joy for entertaining. She learned to play the guitar by watching her father strumming as he sang Nicaraguan folk tunes to his five children.
Her voice has been described as “the voice of an angel”, which has spilled more than a few tears while she performs her beautiful Spanish Ballads and romantic Jazz repertoire. Then, within the blink of an eye, Yelba can break out in a steamy Salsa or an outrageously fun Disco tune sending her listeners wildly dancing and whirling to the exciting sounds of her VARIETY BAND.
“Yelba heats up the stage with an energetic Latin twist! Nicaraguan-born Houstonian, Yelba Heaton, has an unusual name indeed. “It’s like ‘the heat is on’ — ‘Heat-on,’“ she said with a laugh, but it’s a name to remember. Heaton, known as Yelba to her fans, is going places.”

Yelba &Latin Fire will be on stage in the Valle Escondido amphitheater on Saturday, February 7 at 3pm. Don't miss this show - it's going to be sizzling hot! Don't forget to bring your dancing shoes - everybody will be shaking their hips like crazy!

80% of tickets already sold! Don't wait to get your access to the shows before we sell out! Tickets are available online or locally at Mailboxes ETC. offices in Boquete, David and Coronado, and at the Tuesday market in Boquete.
Get the full Monty of the festival with VIP status and free access to all events (except the special BCP show on Thursday)...get your Fedora Club membership for only $160! Only 11 memberships left!

Chicago Blues in the Chiriqui highlands!

1/23/2015

Now that the Panama Jazzfestival is over the music scene in Panama sets its eyes on beautiful Boquete in the Chiriqui highlands. With headliner Li'l Ed & The Blues Imperials the Boquete Jazz&Blues Festival Foundation presents the raw power of real Chicago Blues for the first time in Panama - an absolute MUST for all Blues lovers in this country and beyond! We're sure that a lot of "Ed-heads" will show up at the Valle Escondido amphitheater in Boquete - the most beautiful place for a great Jazz&Blues festival! Don't miss this show!
The festival has already sold 80% of it's capacity, so don't be late to get your tickets if you don't want to run the risk to miss the real deal: High class Chicago Blues right here in the Chiriqui highlands!
The festival will most probably sell out!

Li'l Ed's show is scheduled for Sunday, Feb 8 from 3pm - 4pm. Download the full program here.

Tickets are available Online or at Mailboxes ETC. Boquete, David and Coronado, and at the Tuesday Market in Boquete.

Here's an article that recently appeared in The Visitor, Panama's No. 1 weekly tourism magazine:

The exclusive BJBF Fedora Club is about to sell out!

1/22/2015

The exclusive BJBF Fedora Club is limited strictly to 150 members. 89% have alread been sold. There are only 17 memberships remaining! Hurry, hurry if you want to enjoy VIP status at the festival and reap the enormous benefits of the club!
The membership fee of $160 offers you benefits worth about $220 PLUS savings of $89 per night at the Albrook Mall Tryp hotel, also for multiple stays until the end of 2015!

Get the FULL experience of the Boquete Jazz and Blues Festival, and save BIG at the same time!!!

The Art of Music at the Boquete Library

1/19/2015

The art of music has many expressions. That's why Boquete artists of all categories have put together an art show that will offer our festival visitors a unique insight into the artistic activities of the Boquete community that are connected to music in many ways. Please use the opportunity of your stay in Boquete to take a look!

An evening with two masters....40% of tickets sold already

1/18/2015

Don't delay to get your tickets for this show...it's going to sell out!
This is going to be one of the highlights off the main stage of the Boquete Jazz&Blues Festival 2015: A special acoustic double-bill show with piano Blues master Leon Blue and John Carney on Spanish guitar in the intimate setting of the small Boquete community theater on Thursday Feb 5, 2015. Tickets are now available for sale locally at the Mailboxes ETC. office, at the Tuesday market in Boquete, and by email pre-order via marketing @ boquetejazzandbluesfestival.com (omit spaces). Pre-order tickets will be held at will call at the venue until one hour before the show. Any tickets not picked up 1 hour before the show will be sold to waiting visitors!

There are only 110 tickets available, so hurry to get yours! This show is not to be missed!

Note: This show is NOT included in Fedora Club memberships!

Presenting the BJBF bronze sponsors

1/9/2015

In the absence of any big cash sponsors (our biggest cash donation so far was $1500) and without any support from public sources the festival foundation has to rely on a multitude of small business sponsors as well as on the generous support of the Boquete community of music lovers. Today we're presenting a number of businesses and individuals that have supported the festival since years. They are our bronze sponsors this year which means that they support the festival with either $500 in cash or with an in-kind donation of $1000.

We kindly ask our festival audience to patronize our sponsors as much as they can!

Anayansi Menendez, the owner of the Oasis restaurant and hotel has supported the Boquete festival since day 1, when it was founded in 2007. She has always donated free rooms and meals for musicians, and even served as foundation treasurer for years. The festival would probably not have survived critical times without her support!

The Boquete Tree Trek Mountain resort is a new sponsor of our festival. They are sponsoring a jazzy fundraiser at their gorgeous hotel in the mountains, and have also donated several raffle prizes.

One of the finest restaurants in Boquete, The Rock has supported the festival with hosting a big jam session at the 2012 festival, and will again host the Saturday night jam session this year.

Air Panama has for year after year greatly helped the festival to reduce costs by granting discounts for the domestic flights of foreign and local musicians. We're proud to be able to count on such a reliable longtime sponsor!

Another longtime supporter of the festival is the Felipe Motta wine store. Besides granting great discounts on wines for numerous wine-tasting fundraisers in the past years Felipe Motta S.A. has also donated large amount of beverages for the festival bars at the amphitheater in Valle Escondido.

Ms. Lili Bess

Ms. Lili Bess is a native from Chiriqui living and working in Los Angeles, California. She is a true aficionado or the Boquete festival, and has been supporting the event since years. We'll welcome her again at the 2015 festival!

The fantastic Deanna Bogart band coming to Boquete!

1/5/2015

Another diamond in the star-studded line-up of the 2015 Boquete Jazz&Blues Festival: Multi-instrumentalist and singer Deanna Bogart and her band. Deanna is not only a fantastic musician boogieing the piano and blowing her horn like no other, she's also a wonderful person. If you have never seen and heard her on stage you MUST come and see her in Boquete! She told us she's coming to the 'Biggest little Festival' with the intention to party and play as much as she can! So be prepared to see her in the street parade and garden party on Wednesday, Feb 4 as well as at the nightly jam sessions. Her show on the main stage in the Valle Escondido amphitheater on Saturday, Feb 7 at 1:30pm will surely be one of the highlights of the festival!

Shakura S'Aida in The Visitante

1/2/2015

Don't miss out on this headliner of the 2015 Boquete Jazz&Blues Festival! Shakura will host a jam session at the Sabor restaurant in Valle Escondido together with our other Blues heavyweight Li'l Ed&The Blues Imperials on Friday, Feb. 06 at 8pm, and you'll get her on the main stage at the Valle Escondido amphitheater on Saturday, Feb 07 at 4:30pm. Surely one of the absolute highlights of the festival!