The City of Knowledge, the educational-scientific complex located in the former U.S. Military base of Ft. Clayton, is getting ready to become the regional headquarters of the United Nations (UN) for Latin America and the Caribbean.

After considering the Panamanian Government's proposal, which stated the country's benefits, such as its geographic position, political stabilit, and the presence of other international organizations, the United Nations, sent a letter of acceptance signed by Kernal Dervis, Director of the UN's Development Group (UNDG).

The objectives of the new center include the coordination of the various universties and research centers operating in the City of Knowledge, in addition to monitoring the social, economic and political situation of the region.

The relocation of the UN's Latin American headquarters to Panama will entail the refurbishing of the organization's present facilities on the Isthmus, which represents an investment of $2.5 million.

Robert Gyemant (right) with his father. Robert fell in love with Panamanian "Combo" music.

For Robert Gyemant, a young attorney from San Francisco, U.S.A it was Panamanian which music motivated him to relocate to Isthmus. It also prompted him to compile, in a single album, a large number of tropical rhythms of years gone by, first released between 1965-1975. The album is currently being marketed round the world, including Japan and Europe.

Between the late '60's and the mid 1979's –a period that roughly corresponds to the country's strggle to regain control over the Panama Canal Zone-- a unique sub-genre of tropical music appeared throughout Panama. It is called the era of the "National Combos" --small, but extremely popular ensembles mixing African, European and Latin rhythms with a unique Panamanian flavor.

Gyemant fell in love with this music in early 2002, while visiting the city of David, the capital of Panama's province of Chiriquí. There he met Antonio, a quiet man who amassed a collection of hundreds of Lps of the old "Combos".

"I picked up a few of these records and noticed that the labels were completely unknown to me, nothing to do with the famous Latin recording companies of the day. I also noted their strange musical combination: 'funk-salsa', 'merengue-soul', rhumba-jazz," he said.

Gyemant immediately contacted his friends in Europe and the U.S., and began the compilation process to create a CD entitled "Panama! Latin, Calypso and Funk on the Isthmus"

This CD is currently being marketed in places like Japan and Europe.

According to Gyemant, Panama's music is unique due to its special cultural blend –the result of the country's role as the "Crossroads of the World". During the construction of the Panama Canal and the Panama Railroad, thousands of blacks from the Caribbean arrived to be hired as laborers, bringing with them the smooth sounds of Calypso. By the 1940's, the city of Colón, a bastion of Afro-Caribbean culture, boasted 14 well-reputed jazz bands, which entertained tourists off the ocean liners and the thousands of U.S. Military personnel stationed in Panama back then.

Panamanian Jazz ensembles during the mid-20th century not only drew influences from Calypso, but also from Cuba and Puerto Rico, two countries which influenced the creation of present-day salsa. Local musicians, also fond of U.S. music and fashion, also incorporated the styles of well-known pop entertainers of the 1950's and '60s, such as The Temptations and other groups –all of this without forgetting the country's native rhythms, such as Cumbia.

This gave rise to groups such as Bush & Los Magnificos, Los Mozambiques, and the Beachers, which entertained at virtually every dance hall and "quinceaños" until the advent of disco, pop and rock, towards the late 1970's.

Gyamant's CD is for sale at Amazon.com

View of Boquete, a mecca for expats and retirees.

Panama’s Ministry of Public Works (MOP) recently announced the construction of two additional lanes at the David-Boquete highway, in the province of Chiriquí. The public bid will take place in the next couple of months and the actual construction is expected to start in 2007.

According to Minister Benjamín Colamarco, the expansion of the highway is due to the growing number of communities in the area, most of which are marketed among the expats and retirees that have moved to the area in recent years. Nineteen of these communities have been built between David, Dolega and Boquete in the last five years.

The urban corridor between the city of David, the provincial capital of Chiriquí, and the mountain resort community of Boquete, 36 km. away, is one of the fastest growing urban areas in the Republic.