London, Holland, Las Vegas, Brazil, China, Surinam people from countries around the world visited our beautiful island to attend the sixth edition of Curacao North sea jazz festival.

John Legend, Juanes, Oscar d’leon, the Isley brothers, Enrique Iglesias, Usher, Lionel Richie, Emeli Sande, Charles Bradley, Cassandra Wilson, Gregory Porter, Bettye Lavette, Stanley Clarke band, Wyclef Jean, The pointer Sister and Randy Newman were this years performers. The choice of stars was remarkable I must stay. There was a performance for every type of person. I had the chance to be present at the festival and I must say that even though festivals aren’t really my thing I had a blast.
North sea jazz offered a variety of artists and by your own interest you could choose which performance you really wanted to see and which you wouldn’t mind missing. When I first set foot on the nsj area I first thought: Really people pay 400 bucks for this. And all the walking to the different stages was exhausting. But when Charles Bradley went on stage And later when Enrique iglesias (which is someone actually known to me) performed I got what all the fuss was about. People where clapping and dancing and singing along and having fun. And interacted with each other as if they were the best of friend. Which wasn’t the occasion since they had just met. I had the privilege to talk to several people and some would come to the festival every year. And there isn’t really a certain age that goes to the festival, there were people of 16 some 20 some in their 30 and 40 but also older. I met a 76 year old woman.
There were also fans of the artist who would sit and wait for hours in front of the stage until the artist they love and support performed. This happened especially when usher had to perform. The artists gave great shows come would single someone out some would jump off the stage. Then there was usher who would throw his sweaty cloths in the audience. And some fans loved it (nasty). The festival was provided with lots of bathrooms, great food and beverages. And even though all of it was really expensive people would say it was totally worth it. The festival was well organized and even though some artist (Enrique) were late you could see a lot of work was put into this. They would show the process on different kind of platforms which I thought was amazing.
Every performer at the nsj festival mentioned how beautiful our island is. So did many of the visitors. Some had never been here before but just followed their favorite artist around and said they would definitely come back. So the moment I asked what they thought was so amazing about our island they said. The beaches and the people. Some americans would say dushi hendenan with their accent. And it was beautiful to hear and see that people all over the world appreciate our island. There was this young woman who brought our flag along to the festival and when Usher saw it he asked for it and waved our flag to show us as a country his respect which was a beautiful gesture. The festival helps putting Curacao out there. Many of the visitors will try to come again and invite their friends. There were so many people present at the festival so that’ll be great publicity.
I have to admit that the youth present at the festival specifically came for the well known artist as Usher, Enrique Iglesias, John Legend and Emeli Sande. And if they weren’t present they wouldn’t have gone to the festival.
All in all the festival is created to lure all kinds of people in, is well organized, has great food and beverage, is really expensive and brings people all over the world together to enjoy and appreciate music.
I had fun and it’s a unique experience I’ll  never forget.
Thank you Curacao North sea jazz for the opportunity.

Cheyenne Felizie