Panama Jazz Festival
By James E. Sellars
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Panama |
During the conversation that followed he invited me to come to the Curumbu Campus of Fine Arts at the University of Panama to take part in the music clinics put on by the Berkeley School of Music for the jazz musicians of Panama. It was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up. See, I had brought my trumpet with me to Panama, having been invited to train with a local master during a previous visit. Music is very important in most Latin American countries, and certainly in Panama.
So there I was catching a cab to the University of Fine Arts to study music with some master instructors from one of the most renowned schools in the world. Walking in I was reminded that I am old compared to most people who go to a fine arts class, the halls were filled with young talents—musicians and dancers, singers, budding directors and producers. The air fairly tingled with talent.
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Jossia Woodman with James Sellar |
Panama is friendly and inexpensive by North American standards. The Jazz Festival is a world class event that every music fan can enjoy as there are a number of shows throughout the three-day event. One of the concerts we attended was at the Convention Center, a modern theatre that could easily seat three thousand people, and what came through was that this country enjoys a very large, well-educated and prosperous middle class. Another event was the open air concert in the “casco vielo” at the Cathedral Square, where about ten thousand people joined in a wonderful day-long concert that had people tapping their feet and clapping late into the night.
For more information about the Panama Jazz Festival, or to make arrangements for next years festival contact www.visitpanama.com. Where you will be able to link up with Hotels and of course Danilo Perez, the promoter of the event.
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Panama |
The country has the same area as New Brunswick, but with three million people it is a very vibrant society with a bustling population, most of whom are in Panama City, on the Pacific Ocean. Investment opportunity abound both from a shipping distribution prospective, with the “Free Zone” in Colon at the Caribbean mouth of the canal, where all taxes are waived for value earned in the country, through real estate opportunities and tourism project developments that abound both in the city of Panama as in the countryside.
Speaking of the countryside, some of the sites that must be taken in include Bocas del Toro, an archipelago on the Caribbean, world renowned by the diving and surfer set, and Boquete in the mountains of Chiriqui, where cooler climate and coffee farms draw retirees from all over the world.
Take a look at our website www.wealthmanagementcanada.com for more info about lifestyle changes, investment and tax, and links to other sites with information about Panama. But most important make a trip to visit this wonderful little country now while it is still under the radar, and plan to take in the jazz festival next year, or the carnival coming soon. It will be a blast, hope to see you.
James E Sellars, B.A. (econ), CFP, is a Tax Accountant and Certified Financial Planner for Keybase Financial Group in Moncton, NB. Telephone (506) 856-7977, fax: (506) 859-8504 email: jsellars@keybase.com www.wealthmanagementcanada.com www.keybase.com