Organizers of Alliance Française ‘Jazz & Cocktail’ event will pay tribute to Dominica’s ‘Lady of Song’ Ophelia Olivaccé-Marie this year.The activity which will take place on Thursday, April 27, at Alliance Française grounds forms part of the Fringe Events for the 12th Annual Jazz n’ Creole. Director of Alliance Française Dion Henderson who made the announcement during a recently held press conference said every year the ‘Jazz & Cocktail’ event gets “bigger and better”.
“As you know, last year we decided to do a tribute to one of our past legends, and our patrons kind of asked us for volume two,” he said. “We are going to do it again this year of course, but we are going to do it with one of our living legends this time.” He continued, “The artist we are paying tribute to, is someone who had and still has extensive success in the French markets…the Creole markets in general.”
Henderson added, “We will be featuring Ophelia, I call her the Queen of Creole music. We are hoping that she will be there with us” Furthermore, he disclosed that two special artistes will be invited from Guadeloupe and Martinique to perform at the event.
“So we decided to see if we could get a few artistes at least from Guadeloupe and Martinique and we have an up-and-coming singer called Wendy Ramassamy from Guadeloupe and we have a gospel singer from Martinique called Natacha Ruffe,” he revealed. Henderson went on to state that each artiste will perform a song from the featured artiste (Ophelia) and one song of their personal songs. “That will give you the opportunity to appreciate them more,” he noted.
Other performances will come from UMOJA CHS Sign Language Club, Tasha P, Michele Henderson, Maxine, Shalina, Dhar’Gelle, and AbiYah Yisrael.
The DJs for the event will be Unstoppable Djs and Dj Snow.
Start time for the event is 6:00 p.m.
Tickets cost $50.00.
oh wow! I wish I was there. Congratulations Ms. Ophelia for your efforts in bringing good music over the years, no explicit lyrics, family friendly, music that invoke good emotions. In my eyes you are truly a Queen and I am grateful for you and your music.
Missing: jazz musicians. Anyone got a clue what jazz means ?
it means boring music
The malady you are suffering from may be the result of attending too many Jazz ‘n Creole events in the mistaken belief that what, for the most part, you are hearing is jazz. Fortunately a remedy is at hand.
Sit down: listen and watch Ken Burns’ 1,140 minute documentary “JAZZ”. Not only will you be cured of your affliction but you will realise what an incredibly stimulating art form those of African and Creole descent have given to the world.
Jazz is one of the least boring genres. It takes skill to play jazz. What you want is basic music with nursery rhymes. Jazz is music is a more sophisticate genre.
I know how you feel Wendy.
Thankfully I have my turntable and record collection to remind me.
All those Dominican organisers and ‘performers’ make each other feel good by cheap words. The reality that makes their lives a misery, they are not prepared to face head on. Why do these people pretend all is well in their country when actually their country is dying a slow a very painful death. Corruption is a silent killer for a society. Pretending all is well doesn’t help.