All fired up @ Suriname Jazz

Without a doubt. 't Vat was today the place to be for the Suriname Jazz Festival. The place was packed with people. The vibe that they shared and the energy coming from the performers made it a night worthwhile. A lot of people were surprised at what they were hearing and seeing. Some of them had plans to drop by and continue their evening. No such thing, because the energy was too powerful to leave.

This young lady gets some inspiration to play the piano.

As board members, we had a packed day. Which started with the early setup, workshops from noon till 18.00 hours and performances that started a little after 7. I had my own proud moment. The youngsters that participated in the workshop Honoring our Jazz legends did a great job paying tribute to the jazz legends and great musicians Suriname has. We did them proudly for sure.
It was a pity the sound man did not do a great job. The first two songs were such a poor presentation due to the bad quality of the sound. I was pissed for a moment, but luckily it got all good again at the last two songs.

Randy with his complete band (Patrick Ward, 

Glenn Texeira & Prayanswer Rotgans)

And then this saxophonist Randy got back on the stage. I honestly wonder what is beneath our stage. When he gets on the stage it's like a slow fire he's starting up which not even the Fire Department can't destroy. And they better not come close! Not an inch. Tonight he was so fired up I couldn't resist dancing to the jazz songs. I almost felt like I could join Dancing with the stars. haha. Thank you, Randy. You are a great artist! And also the conversations afterward. You do rock!

So did our next performers. They rocked for real. Apoplectic was the shizzle. And you could easily think, rock music and jazz don't go together. Okay in your mind, but onstage it's wicked. Since I already had my dancing shoes on, they kept dancing. But my favorite part was without a doubt 'Proud Mary'. Guys, you made me 'Proud Rosita'. Proud to have been born in the same country as you. A guest had asked me earlier that night: "Isn't that a band from Holland as well?". haha…think again, young man. As I write this I am still enjoying the sax during Proud Mary all over again.

The Proud Mary moment with Audrey, Maarten & Sergio.

The final performance was Bruut! their first performance at the jazz festival. The guys came dressed in suits and really they looked Bruut! Cool, but weren't you guys hot? Oh well, the music was too good to feel the hotness probably. The guys pumped us up with tons of adrenaline. So much, we decided to have a romantic rock super jazz evening. While it was all dark at the venue (power failure ;-) ), the guys fired it up some more, so after a minute no one even bothered that anymore.

At 2.00 in the morning, it was sadly all over. It was only then the tiredness officially kicked in. But hey..the idea of having two more days ahead got me all fired up again.

So join us tonight for part 4. If you don't believe me now that Jazz Festival Suriname is a must-attend-event you probably don't love a great party.

Jazzy odi,
Roseternal

Pictures by: Peter Thielen/BNO