St Lucia West Coast Jazz
St. Lucia Jazz takes Jazz & Arts to the West Another event supported by Heineken turned out to be a major success and one of the highlights of a weekend filled with great music and art here.
This was all part of the Saint Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival which is now underway, with events touching various parts of the island.
The event, “West Coast Jazz”, was held on Sunday May 5 at the picturesque Plantation Bar from 3 PM. Nestled on the hill above the Roseau valley with an amazing view of the banana plantations below as well as the Roseau Bay, West Coast Jazz offered a unique ambiance rivaled only by the great music on the day. Hundreds turned up at the indoor/outdoor setting with its architecture of natural wood and stone touched by Heineken’s green, black, white and red.
Gaius Harry, brand manager at Heineken, said that he was thrilled by the support and happy that Heineken took the initiative to partner with the venue owners for the event. “When we at Heineken realized that there would be no major event happening along the west coast of the island for this year’s Saint Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival, we looked around and having found this venue decided to partner with the owners of Plantation Bar for what has turned out to be an amazing event,” Harry said. “At Heineken we never just see ourselves as simply sponsors with any event that we are part of and the Saint Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival is no different. With this event we leveraged our support by selecting the artistes as well as promoting and managing the event and we are really happy with the end results,”
Harry added.
West Coast Jazz with Heineken featured Carl Gustave as the opening act who gave the audience a taste of past and new material. The singer/guitarist also took the opportunity to do some merchandising, gaining support on Sunday for his T-shirts and CDs. Rob Zi who has played main-stage at Saint Lucia Jazz as well as at a number of events across the Caribbean was also a big hit on sax and vocals with his “Vybe Tribe”. The artiste performed a number of his original songs as well as some cover versions.
Just maybe the biggest musical phenomenon here this year, The Secret band with their percussive music, call and response chants and of course the song “Bois,” was again a hit on Sunday. The band thrilled the audience as they have been doing since Jounen Kweyol into Christmas and Independence and now the Saint Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival.
Closing off Heineken’s West Coast Jazz was the band DYP, the most popular party band here. The group had just about everyone on their feet partying to Zouk music, traditional cultural pieces, Calypso and Soca ending the event on a musical high way into the night time.
Lisa Glasgow manager of the Plantation Bar says that the event was great and that she was happy persons who turned out all had a good time. “I am happy with how the event turned out and thankful for the support from Heineken. Hopefully we will do this again next year and with earlier planning I think it will be even greater,” Glasgow said.
Of course no Heineken event would be the same without cold Heineken and those in attendance on Sunday took full advantage of the Heineken Jazz packs on special as well as the local dishes prepared by organizers.
