April 30, 2010

By By Marc Maes, Rotterdam

The North Sea Jazz festival in Holland is expanding. A new edition of the long-running jazz and blues festival is to launch in Cura?ao, off the Venezuelan coast, on September 3-4.

Cura?ao is one the islands that is part of the Netherlands Antilles.

During a press conference in Rotterdam for the 2010 edition of North Sea Jazz, the festival director Jan Willem Luyken of promoter Mojo Holland announced the first edition of the Cura?ao North Sea Jazz festival, which will take place in Willemstad.

North Sea Jazz was launched in 1976 by Paul Acket and staged in the Hague, until 2006 when the festival moved to the Rotterdam Ahoy event site.

This year's 35th edition runs from July 9 to July 11 and features a line-up of some 150 artists, ranging from Stevie Wonder, Ornette Coleman, Norah Jones, Herbie Hancock, Gilberto Gil, Sonny Rollins and Joe Bonamassa.

"Having Stevie Wonder on the bill is really a dream come true - we couldn't have wished for a better finale for our fifth anniversary in Rotterdam," said Luyken.

The Piscadero Bay World Trade Center convention facility, offering room for 2000 people inside, will become the stage for the first Cura?ao North Sea Jazz festival. Artists performing will include George Benson, Natalie Cole, John Legend, Roy Hargrove, Lionel Richie and salsa prince Luis Enrique, among others.

"It's truly a great honor for us to be able to organize a Caribic edition of the festival in Cura?ao," said Luyken. "Together with the Fundashon Bon Intenshon foundation and travel agency Cadushi Tours, it's our goal to offer a great festival with international appeal just like the parent festival in Rotterdam, but with a more Caribic touch."

International ticket sales start May 1, priced $165 per day and $300 for a two-day ticket. Mojo Holland has also announced that several individual concerts will be staged in the week preceding the festival.

Mojo Holland, part of Live Nation, stages around 200 concerts a year.

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