By Toni Nicholas

Anyone who has been following St Lucia Jazz for the last five years would admit that the buzz this year is not as loud and as exciting as in past years. On the streets last week when STAR reporters asked about St Lucia Jazz, it was like the event had arrived much to the surprise of many. Some have readily admitted that the change of venue and format for the grand opening had put a damper on the overall event.

Still, St Lucia Jazz 2008 got underway over the weekend with the first event being Fond d’Or Jazz. However the organizers of this year’s Fond d’Or Jazz say they are disappointed at the turn out of this year’s event, particularly since it was touted as the grand opening of the 2008 St Lucia Jazz Festival. While the annual Jazz festival has opened for the past few years at Mindoo Phillip Park on the Friday, in the past Fond d’Or Jazz followed on the Saturday.

However this year a decision was taken to scrap the Mindoo Phillip Park event, which traditionally brought local and regional acts for a Caribbean party which over the years drew thousands. This decision caused some controversy, with some sighting the change merely on political grounds and being done single handedly by the Minister of Tourism Senator Allen Chastanet. The minister had recently revealed that the opening of Jazz traditionally lost money, serving up a loss of a whopping EC$150,000 last year. Last year’s event was organized by the St Lucia Chamber of Commerce.

However, judging by the crowd which turned up on Saturday at the Fond d’Or opening, one can count on more losses for the event. The STAR spoke to Emrand Matthew, committee member of Fond d’Or jazz who told us that they are disappointed with the turn out. "Our preliminary estimates show that the numbers this year were way below what we had last year and below what we expected this year especially given the fact that this event was highlighted as the opening," Matthew says. He also indicated that it was his view that the traditional opening was associated with a lot of hype and acts like Machel, Kassav and Beenie Man in the past attracted a large young crowd.

"For our event I do not think the hype was there and even the number of young people we saw at Fond d’Or in the past, did not materialize this year," he stated. It was just five weeks ago that the concept of hosting the opening was put to the Fond d’Or Jazz committee. In the past the group financed the event through sponsors with the St Lucia Tourist Board covering the cost of the headline acts. This year the SLTB had responsibility for the foreign acts which included a Cuban group and a Mexican band sourced through the Cuban and Mexican embassies here respectively. This year, Fond d’Or Jazz was sponsored by The St Lucia Tourist Board, Cable & Wireless and 1st National Bank.

Fond d’Or Jazz got underway this past Saturday May 3 at 2pm. The first act on stage was the Royal St Lucia Police band who put on a superb mix of standards, classics and Caribbean numbers. They were followed by Harvey Miller and b-Sharp who opened up with a praise song from Mahalia and gave their audience a mix of blues and Jazz. Miller’s group was followed by Senor Mandril of Mexico who did not live up to expectations from many who had come to hear the traditional Mariachi music and some "Tejano." Instead the audience was treated to a blend of Pop, Techno and World Music with several of the beats being sampled and not being played "live."

In between the main acts Cable & Wireless Diamond Steel kept the upbeat mood with their diverse and energetic sounds on steel pan. Ronald "Boo" Hinkson and Friends with special guest Arturo Tappin were on next and did a nice job of raising the spirits of the crowd which for the most part had remained luke-warm for the greater part of the day. The group played a set of mainly original numbers, blending the indigenous sounds of the island with Jazz improvisations.

Cuban Group Danny Engoba closed the event somewhere around 8pm and did their best to give the crowd a good send-off, but it may have been a little too late for many. St Lucia Jazz 2008 continues this week with Jazz on the Square and the main stage events which get underway from Thursday May 8th at Pigeon Island.

Caption: Tourism Minister Allen Chastanet being interviewed at Fond d’Or. No doubt he was asked about the low turn out.