Boquete Jazz and Blues Festival

The Highlight of the Chiriqui Highlands, Panama

Nestled high in the hills of the western province of Chiriqui is where you’ll find a charming little town called Boquete, a well loved vacation spot in Panama and host to some pretty fantastic festivals as well.

Boquete, a naturalist’s paradise, is located right on the Caldera River and in the middle of the Green Mountain Highlands, which as you might imagine by the name, provide a stunning backdrop of emerald hills everywhere you look. Lush with well-fed foliage thanks to the same rich soil which grows some of the world’s finest coffee, you’ll find yourself constantly reaching for your camera! Because of its agreeable location and climate, Boquete is perfect for just about any outdoor activity, and there are plenty of things to do in Boquete: canopy tours, rafting, hiking, and bird watching for the infamous Quetzal to name just a few.

But we’re here for the Boquete Jazz and Blues Festival, baby! This is an annual festival held near the still-active (yikes) Volcan Baru, in Boquete’s Valle Escondido (in English: Hidden Valley). It takes place in a Mexican hacienda-style replica of a Greek amphitheater overlooking the valley below. It. Is. Spectacular! Which is good, because its mission is to promote the musical arts, draw international attention and place Boquete Panama firmly on the map as a world class Jazz and Blues Festival destination. Now in their 9th year, the Boquete Jazz and Blues Festival is well on its way to the attention they seek, with the help of some top shelf talent from around the globe of course! The 2015 Festival already took place this past January, but tickets for the 2016 Festival which will run February 25-28 just went on sale June 1. If you should decide that your New Year should include a trip to Boquete (it should), you could be treated to shows by the legendary Tommy Castro, blues harmonica icon Curtis Salgado, and Canadian artist Shakura S’Aida (Associate Producer of the Festival), among many others.

While the setting is idyllic and the talent is immense, it is also worth noting that the Festival itself is generously presented by the Boquete Jazz and Blues Festival Foundation; a charitable, private, non-profit foundation dedicated solely to supporting and enriching cultural life in Boquete. It is run entirely by unpaid volunteers! From start to finish, the sole intention of the Foundation is to promote creative expression and consumption… to showcase music, arguably the most universally appreciated of all the arts. Hosting people from all over the world during this annual festival is their only high profile function all year; the rest of the time they are on the local level in area schools promoting music to the youngsters. What amazing heart! We salute them, and the tireless work they do. Unpaid, even! Because they believe in it that much.

The Boquete Jazz and Blues Festival is not only a chance to experience a collective international music sensation in a setting straight out of a fairy tale, it’s also a chance to give exposure to the Boquete Jazz and Blues Foundation themselves… thereby allowing children the exposure they need, to those rhythms we so love. Could the next international music sensation be from Boquete? With inspiration coming to them annually in the form of this worldly festival, and with them daily alongside their studies, something tells me we’re in for something good in Panama.