Calendar of Events

At Il Boccalino

Dinner concert with music by the Anjulis Trio

The Anjulis Trio, consisting of Juan E. Castillo (oboe), Reinaldo Alvarez (clarinet), and Ariane Castillo (bassoon), will perform at the Il Boccalino restaurant on 49th St., Bella Vista, at 7 pm on November 17 and 19.

The program will consist of: London Trio in Do Major, Hob. IV n. 1 (F.J. Haydn); Allegro, Adagio, Rondó; Trio OP 87; Allegro, Adagio cantábile, Menuetto, and Finale (L.V. Beethoven); Six Variations on a Swiss Song (L.V. Beethoven).

Tickets cost $30, include dinner, and are on sale at Libreria Argosy on Via Argentina or at Il Boccalino restaurant.

Top talent at Feria de la Rumba, Miss Reef contest

Contestants in the Miss Reef contest.

"Feria de la Rumba 2007" at Atlapa, Nov. 15 to 17, promises to be one of the most exciting musical events this year featuring top class national and international artists, fashion shows and the Miss Reef beauty contest final.

Former Playmate of the Year Colleen
Shannon now a celebrated dj.

The event, which is in its fourth year, begins on Thursday Nov. 15 with shows by the Mexican group, Nikki Clan, and the FX girls from Canal FX, including a lingerie model parade, and ends with a party hosted by "La Cascara", a local T.V. show and organizers of the event.

On Friday Nov. 16 the main event is the Miss Reef competition, a beauty contest featuring eight finalists, the first three of which will go forward to the Miss Reef International contest in March 2008. The winner of the Panama contest will receive a Suzuki Alto courtesy of Motores Japoneses and $500 cash.

Saturday brings the carnival spirit with such famous djs as Ivanno Bellini and Colleen Shannon from Alaska, a former Playboy Playmate of the year and host of various shows including "Wild on E".

For more information check: www.feriadelarumba.com

At Union Club

Gala event for Club Bon Apetit pollera contest

The Club Bon Apetit of Panama City is sponsoring its first Pollera and Camisilla competition in the Union Club on November 9 at 7:00p.m. It will be a big event which is expected to attract an audience of about 450 people.

The Pollera, Panama’s national costume, is one of the world’s most beautiful and possibly the most intricate. Hundreds of hours of work go into each dress as well as the design of head-pieces, neck ornaments, buttons and rings. Dresses fall into various categories and prizes are awarded for each type and for the various types of ornaments.

The male costume, an embroidered shirt known as the Camisilla, while less complicated, also has various categories.

To appreciate the work that goes into the costume, and also enjoy an evening of entertainment, tickets may be purchased at the boutiques In Motion and Maternity at Galerias Marbella. Tel: 269-0941 for more information.

Club Bon Apetit is a club for gourmets which meets once a month at various restaurants in the city, to enjoy good food, exchange recipes and learn new cooking tips. If you are interested in joining call 269-4141.

Dancing in (and over) the streets of the Old Quarter

To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the naming of Casco Viejo as a World Heritage site, a festival of contemporary dance will be held during five days between December 12 and 16. Dancer/athletes will come from France, Spain and Venezuela and several other countries to join a team of youngsters from San Felipe, Santa Ana and Chorillo which has been training intensively.

The presentations of dance, vertical dance and hip-hop, will be out-of-doors in the plazas and streets of the Old Quarter.

Continuing a Canal Zone tradition

The Christmas Bazaar in Gamboa

The ladies of Gamboa, l. to r.: Yira Jaramillo, Yolanda Valdés,
Nora Terrin y Sharon Devine.

Enjoy Christmas shopping with a difference at the Holiday Bazaar in Gamboa, a picturesque community on the banks of the Panama Canal. The event will take place at 266, Morrow Boulevard on November 18 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It is the brainchild of four friends who live in Gamboa. Yolanda Valdés, Sharon Devine, Yira Jaramillo and Nora Terrin are walking companions who, remembering the bazaars which used to take place in Gamboa before the U.S. citizens left when the Canal reverted to Panama, came up with this idea to promote their community and the many artists and artisans who live in the area.

Arts and handicrafts, massages, face-painting, cart rides, live music, food, bbq, and drinks are all on offer. Gamboa is a 30-minute drive from Panama City along the east bank of the Canal, famous now for the Gamboa Rainforest Resort. The ladies of Gamboa would like visitors to know that their community is equally worth a visit, especially when combined with a day of fun.

For more information call 314-9468.

Thanksgiving visitors can feel at home

The U.S. Thanksgiving Day celebration on the fourth Thursday of November each year probably had its origin in the European harvest festivals celebrated after the harvest was completed and food was stored away for the long winter ahead.

In the tropics, there is no such tradition but hospitality dictates that visitors should feel at home and Panamanian hotels and restaurants will offer Thanks-giving fare in abundance on November 22.

Worthy of note is the traditional Thanksgiving dinner at the El Panama Hotel’s Flamingo Cafe and Las Palmas Grill and Bar and that of the Bay View restaurant at the Intercontinental Miramar, and the Thanksgiving buffet at the Riande Granada Hotel for both lunch and dinner.

The American Society of Panama will hold its annual Thanksgiving Dinner and Dance at the City Club on Friday, November 16 at 7:00p.m. Cost for members $35.00, non-members $40.00. For more information call 315-2408/ 315-0565

PanaMen expatriate meeting

The PanaMen Expatriates group will hold the first "Happy Hour" of the winter season at the new Benihana Restaurant at MultiPlaza's new Las Terrazas beginning at 6 p.m. on Tuesday November, 6th.

PanaMen Expatriates is a secular group for straight men who would like to network with other Expat men. Former events have attracted up to 45 men to meet other expats and greet old friends in a social atmosphere. There is no cost for admission. Benihana was chosen for it's open air atmosphere, quality of food, free parking and quiet.

For more information call 391-1386 / 6747-3308

"Y Ahora, Cómo la Saco?: A girl gets pregnant

The Aba Theater will be presenting the funny comedy,"Y Ahora, Cómo la Saco? (Una Metida de Pata) from October 18 to November 25 at 8:00 p.m.

This hilarious comedy tells the story of a girl who gets pregnant and her parents have to hire a man to marry her. An insurance salesman is mistaken for the prospective groom. The groom is confused with a thief, who is an accomplice of the maid. The father is grumpy, the mother does not know what is going on, the salesman is a fool, the girl is a liar and the maid is a mischievous thief. Comic situations with a happy ending for the whole family.

Tickets cost $10.00 and are sold at the Aba Theater. For more information call: 260-6316.

Concerns about the planet

A pessimistic painter at Lachman Gallery

Rivers of blood.

The Arlene Lachman Gallery on Calle 1era, House #101 in the El Carmen district of Panama will present an exhibition of the Panamanian painter, Gabriela Batista, starting Thursday, November 8, at a ceremony from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

The exhibition is entitled "In Silence" and the pieces are inspired by the artist’s concerns about the problems that affect our planet such as wild-fires, hunting, animals in danger of extinction, contamination and global warming.

In some works striking use of color, especially red, on a white background imply blood, fire and destruction while silhouettes and details of animals facing extinction are superimposed in black lines. In others, trees without leaves or branches with falling leaves indicate sadness or loneliness in a world of desolation.

Argentine rock group Soda Stereo in concert

Soda Stereo, the Argentine rock group hailed by many as the most influential group of the "rock en español" genre, will be in concert on November 27th at the National Stadium in Panama City. The band, formed in 1982 by Gustavo Cerati (guitar and voice), Zeta Bosio (bass), and Charly Alberti (drums), broke up in 1997 because of personal problems and artistic differences of opinion.

Soda Stereo announced a comeback in June this year and began a tour on October 19th in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The band is scheduled to perform in Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, the United States, Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, Peru, and again in Argentina for their last performance.

Popular albums include Canción Animal (1990), Signos (1986), Ruido Blanco (1987), and Sueño Stereo (1995).

French and Panamanian ensembles

A night of Baroque music in the Old Quarter

The Casco Viejo, created in 1673 at the height of the Baroque period, will celebrate November ("mes de la patria") in a very original way on November 9th at the Teatro Nacional with "Noche Barroca" (Baroque Night), an event co-sponsored by the Oficina del Casco Antiguo, the French Embassy, and the Alianza Francesa. "Noche Barroca" will consist of a theatrical representation and live music by the Panamanian group Saltimbanquis and the Parisian quartet Il Convito Musicale. The theatrical representation will begin with a monologue which will trace the parallels of daily life between Panamanian and European institutions and societies during the splendor of the Baroque period.

Saltimbanquis
Saltimbanquis, created in 1992, consists of five Panamanian musicians who sing and play several musical instruments. They have performed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in Spain, and at the UNESCO headquarter in Paris, France. They also participated in the "Cervantes en todas partes" Festival and the Festival Internacional Cervantino, both in Guanajuato, Mexico.

Group members. Lizi Rodríguez: kazzoo, soprano, percussion. Mireya Salas: recorder, psalter, voice, percussion. Teresa Toro; guitar, voice, percussion. Margarita Troetsch: keyboards, voice, percussion.

Ariadna Núñez: violin, voice, percussion. Isabel Burgos: actress.

Il Convito Musicale
The French trio "Il Convito Musicale" came together in 2005 and consists of three musicians; Maude Gratton on clavicord/ organ, Clair Gratton, cellist and Stephanie Paulet, violinist.

The group encourages other musicians to join them and often expands to include flute, oboe, viola de gamba, bass and even voice in their concerts. The group has already performed in many musical festivals in France and this year took part in the "Sons of a Summer’s Night" festival in Sweden.

Goodies vs baddies in a fairytale world

A play from classical tales

"El Maravilloso Mundo de los Cuentos", a play where characters from classical tales unite in this story about the joys of being a child, will be performed every Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Aba Theater until January 27.

Pinochio, Gepetto, Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother, Hansel and Gretel, Peter Pan, Tinker Bell and other characters come together to fight Cruella, Captain Hook and all the witches, because they have stolen the smile of children and it must be recovered.

The play was written by Juan Manuel Ferrer, who is also the director. This is obviously a comedy aimed at children, but it can be enjoyed by all the family.

Aba Theater is located in Los Ángeles, Betania. General entrance $5.00. For more information call: 260-6316.

Exhibition in Diablo Rosso Gallery

Graphic insight into Panama’s Afro Antillan culture

"An Afro-Antillean Sentiment: Images from a Panamanian Culture" an exhibition of photographs by Rose Marie Cromwell will be shown at the Diablo Rosso gallery in Panama City from October 24 to November 25.

Cromwell, a documentary photographer, spent last year in Panama as a United States Fulbright Grantee. She interview-ed and photographed Panamanians of Afro-Antillean descent living in Panama City, Colon and Bocas del Toro.

During the early 20th Century tens of thousands of workers emigrated from the Caribbean to build the Panama Canal. Most never returned to their homelands, but instead settled permanently in Panama. Du- ring the past 100 years members of this Panamanian community have preserved many of their Caribbean traditions.

Cromwell's portraits tell the stories and personal anecdotes of Afro-Antillean Panamanians, while exploring subjects such as memory, nostalgia, cultural identity and pride.

The exhibition will be inaugurated on October 24 at 7:00 p.m. and can be viewed from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Diablo Rosso gallery is located in Calle 48, Bella Vista. For more information call 399-8825

Concert at Figali Convention Center

Mexican rock band Maná to share profit with Summit

Maná, the Mexican rock band with a green conscience, will give a concert in Panama on November 23 and donate part of its profits to Summit Gardens, Panama City’s Municipal Z00 and botanical gardens. The band, hugely popular throughout Latin America, Spain and other parts of Europe, embarked on a "save the planet" crusade in 1995 with the creation of the Selva Negra Foundation to help the environment through their music.

The band was originally formed in 1978 with the name Sombrero Verde, changing a decade later to Maná, which in Polynesian connotes "positive energy". Over the years, the band has developed different styles which have won a fair share of Grammys.

The most recent recording of Maná was made at the Hit Factory in Miami. The album offers 13 songs that respect the essence of the group but veers into new territory. This characteristic of renewal has allowed Maná to maintain their vitality indenpendent of current fashions and trends.