Old and New Beats at Aruba´s Soul Beach Music Festival

A blend of old and new world-class musical talents will huddle in Aruba between May 27 and 30 during the third edition of the Soul Beach Music Festival, an event that will throw the limelight on Chaka Khan, the soulful American crooner of the 1980s, and Jamaica´s rising star Sean Paul.

The festival’s original idea stems from a show launched by cable television network HBO that kept on presenting parallel event called the Aruba Jazz Festival for five years.

Three years ago, the island´s Tourism Office decided to take the organization of the event into its hands, the first of three shows scheduled for this year.

According to Mirto Granadillo, director of Latin America for the Aruba Tourism Authority, the Soul Beach Music Festival stands out for the style of the performers and the kind of audience the show is made for.

As a matter of fact, while the Jazz Festival highlights Caribbean rhythms and jazz, the Soul Beach Music Festival is more eclectic and far-reaching. It embraces musical genres ranging from pop and reggae to hip-hop. A case in point is the presence of Yvette Marie Stevens, better known onstage as Chaka Kahn, penciled in as one of the greatest U.S. musical acts back in the 1980s. Mrs. Khan will hit a high-pitch retro note in the show on Saturday, May 29.

On the other hand, Jamaican singer Sean Paul will come onstage on Sunday 30 with some of his latest hits, tunes that combine reggae, rap and hip-hop music. Wyclef Jean, Doug Fresh and Frankie Beverly will also perform live.

The five-day musical bash -to be held at the Havana Club Beach- will feature a night of good humor with the presentation of well-known local stand-up comedians.

A couple of other shows coming later this year to Aruba are the Symphonic Festival of the Americas with some of the finest classic music orchestras of the Western Hemisphere. The traditional Aruba Jazz Festival, brimming with jazz, blues and salsa music, will come in the fall month of October.