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Jakarta Golf Championship, Il Divo, Muse, Java Jazz revitalize Jakarta


Sunday March 04, 2007
Jakarta is indeed a resilient city. Barely one week after flood waters inundated some 70% of the capital, Jakartans are back on their feet in droves listening in awe to the reverberating voices of Il Divo, cheering to the music of Muse, and enjoying the Jakarta International Golf Championship, the latter held here from 15-18 February, although a couple of times play was stalled through intermittent rainfall. These events were followed suit by the international Java Jazz that livened up the city from 2-4 March.
Some 200 international and local jazz performers gathered in Jakarta to take part in the Java Jazz Festival, the biggest jazz affair in the world, claimed Festival chairman, Peter F. Gontha. 27 stages were set up for the three-day event at the Jakarta Convention Center.
Legendary bossa nova singer of Brazil, Sergio Mendes, who attended the press conference said: "I'm proud to be here. It's my first time. I will present songs from my past albums as well as from my new album," Mendes performed in the Plenary Hall Music Dome on first day of the festival, reported the Jakarta Post. Singers Jeffrey Osborne, best known for the hit Eenie Meenie, and Daniece Williams of the U.S., and British jazz fusion band Level 42 and other big names such as Sadao Watanabe of Japan, John Scofield, Rick Braun, Michel Paulo and Austin Peralta of the U.S., the Jorge Diaz Trio of Chile and Richard Bona of Cameroon are also present at the Festival. 
Also performing are Indonesian singers, musicians and bands such as Ruth Sahanaya, Tompy and Groovology, Balawan Trio, Benny Mustafa, Oele Patiselano Project and Rien Djamain. On Saturday, music diva Chaka Khan and Daughters of Soul from the U.S., and Gino Vanelli of Canada performed in the Plenary Hall. Prior to Khan's performance, Japan's Sadao Watanabe, along with a 200-strong international choir of Indonesian and Japanese children, presented a lively musical and dance piece entitled Children are the Future.
Local singers and bands performing on the second day were Dwiki Dharmawan and World Peace Project, Park Drive, Elfa's Singers and Rieka Roeslan.
One of the biggest names at this year's festival is Jamie Cullum, who performed on the third and final day along with Level 42, David Benoit, Frank McComb, Super Fusion featuring Jeff Lorber, Rick Brown, Eric Marienthal and Dave Weckl.
The third day of the festival saw international musicians collaborating with Indonesian artists, such as David Benoit of the U.S. with the Magenta Orchestra and Lica Cecato of Brazil with Idang Rasidi.
Earlier, Head of Jakarta Tourism, Yusuf Effendi Pohan told the press that the tourism sector is estimated to have suffered losses near to Rp 13.5 billion during the February floods, since during the two weeks of floods many airline schedules had to be postponed, and many tourist establishments inundated.