Princess Orelia Benskina: The Honoree Of The Panama Jazz Festival 2025
(MENAFN- Newsroom Panama)
The next edition of the Panama Jazz Festival will take place from January 13 to 18, 2025. Every year, this event brings together a series of activities, including music clinics, concerts, jam sessions and more. It was founded in September 2003 by Grammy-winning Panamanian Danilo Pérez,“with the mission of improving people's lives through shared musical experiences on stage and in the classroom,” they share on their website.
At each edition of the festival, an artist is honored; this year, the festival is dedicated to Princess Orelia Benskina. According to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, Princess Orelia, born Margarita, was a Panamanian poet and jazz musician born in Colón in 1911 to Barbadian parents living in the Canal Zone, administered by the United States.
According to the Smithsonian, Princess Orelia and her family immigrated to New York in 1922. There, she began dancing at“well-known clubs” such as“The Cotton Club, the Elks Rendezvous, and other venues in New York, the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean.” Later, in 1934, she was cast in Dance with Your Gods on Broadway.
By 1940, the Panamanian was known for her“African” and“Afro-Cuban” dance performances, primarily as part of a dance duo billed as“Princess Orelia and Pedro,” with which she toured the United States, accompanied by an orchestra, according to the museum. In the 1950s, she produced albums, performed and occasionally toured with Charlie Rouse and Julius Watkins' band, Les Jazz Modes.
Princess Orelia passed away in 2002.
Some interesting facts about the artist were shared on the festival's social media, including that she shared the stage with Louis Armstrong and that she was an influential figure in jazz. She was also a pioneer of the Cuban shake, a dance style that combines rapid body movements and shaking to the rhythm of the Cuban song.
You can learn more about her career at the Panama Jazz Festival 2025 .
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