Luanda International Jazz Festival: A Raging Success

When the President of your country and the Minister of Culture show up to the Jazz Festival you organize, I am sure it is safe to call it not just a success, but a raging success. Many congratulations to Ritek Empreendimentos and ESPAfrica from Cape Town for organizing such a stunning event in Angola’s capital city. My older brother Paulo Sérgio (my first official Caipirinha Lounge Correspondent!) had this to say about the festival he attended:

The festival was great, and it was very well organized by the producers of the festival and Ritek, an Angolan enterprise, whom the owner and most of their workers are from my family, and also the staff of the festival, so I am so happy with all of them!

Este festival para mim foi um dos mais bem organizados em Luanda, e deve servir de exemplo a promotores de eventos como Riquinho que só se interessam pelas vendas de bilhetes e não pela organização dos eventos, e os resultados são o que são! Muitos atrasos, confusão nas entradas e saídas e coisas do genero.

All of the artists made great performances. Dodo Miranda* opened the event with an amazing performance, especially when he sang “We are the world!” He could also impersonate the voices of the several singers! Jimmy Dludlu also made a very good performance; he is a master with the guitar in his hand.

Freshlyground was one of the best performances of the festival! The crowd was amazed with their choreography and their energetic songs. Their last song “I'd Like is so beautiful. The crowd just loved it. Their performance was so good that although almost nobody knew about the band [beforehand], at the end [of the performance] many people spent something like $100 buying all their cds and official band t-shirts.

Vanessa da Mata also had a very good performance. Her last song, “Ai, Ai, Ai, put everyone in front of the stage singing!!

I heard that Lira also had a good run, and she even danced Do Milindro, a popular kuduro move here. Next year there's more, and maybe better than this one.

Ouvi que o Presidente da República quer por o Festival no orçamento do Ministério da Cultura mas é so fofoca! :P Mas parece que tem muitas empresas que querem patrocinar o mambo, por isso pro ano não faltem!!
-Paulo Sergio

*Dodó Miranda was not scheduled to perform on the Festival’s official website but he did anyway. According to Paulo, he is one of the major stars of the show and a great entertainer, impersonating great singers like Stevie Wonder and paying homage to Michael Jackson by singing “We Are the World.”