Izaline Calister

Biography (last updated Nov 07th, 2000)

Izaline Calister started her singing career in her native Curaçao, where she was a member of a well-known children’s choir called Perlitas. With this choir she made many albums, performed in television specials and on stage.

At age eighteen, Izaline left for the Netherlands to broaden her musical horizons and study music at the conservatory in Groningen. During this time she started singing in different vocal groups and bands, specializing in Caribbean music and Salsa.

A meeting with renowned jazz pianist and keyboarder Jasper van ‘t Hof during her auditions at the conservatory lead him to ask her to join his band Pili Pili as the lead singer following Angelique Kidjo who had just left the band.

In this band Izaline worked with the likes of Tony Lakatos, Peter Weniger, Annie Whitehead and Bo Stief. With Pili Pili Izaline recorded two CDs and toured all over Europe.

Since 1997 Izaline is also a member of the German World/Jazz formation Dissidenten. With this group she performed twice at the world-famous Glastonbury Festival in England. In 1998 the live CD: "Dissidenten Live in Europe" was released. This CD included recordings of concerts given at the "Stuttgart Jazzopen 1997", the "Leverkusener Jazztage 1997", the "World Roots Festival 1998" in Amsterdam, the "Festival de la Diversidad" in Barcelona (May 1998) and of course the Glastonbury performances in 1997 and 1998. Among Dissidenten's guest musicians at these performances and on the CD were living saxophone legend Charly Mariano and percussionist Manu Gallo (Zap Mama). In 1999, Dissidenten performed live in the "Miles Davis Hall" during the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival.

Dissidenten just returned from a very successful performance at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark and are preparing to tour Brazil in 2001 where their "Fata Morgana" has (once again, after over a decade) been a top ten hit.

Since 1997 Izaline has been working with fellow Curaçao native, bass player Eric Calmes, merging music from their native island with jazz elements. This project led to two CDs, a very successful tour on the islands of the Dutch Antilles and much acclaim at jazz- and world music festivals in Latin America and the Netherlands. With this project, Izaline also performed on Dutch national television.

As a solo artist Izaline collaborated with Dutch guitarist Jan Kuiper's African project Sougoumougou (now the "Jungle Warriors"). With this group she performed with Julia Lo’ko and pianist Michiel Borstlap. With Borstlap, she formed the project Temple of Dance working on the composition and live performance of the music for an art show in New York.

Just recently, Izaline finished working on her first solo album called Soño di un muhé (One woman’s dream). This CD has been released in Curaçao in may 2000 and proved to be a big success, with 4 songs featured on the national top 40, including a number 1 position for the song "Fiesta di piskadó". With this CD Izaline Calister presents her very personal way of mixing the traditional music from her native Curaçao, with jazz modernizing it in a way that gives it an international allure.

Of her CD presentation (live performance) in Amsterdam on the 16^th of September 2000, the NRC Handelsblad wrote "Izaline Calister writes history in the BIM-huis". Of the CD "Soño di un muhé" (One woman’s dream) The Volkskrant wrote about the CD itself: "One of the most beautiful vocal recordings of these days"

Soño di un muhé will be released in Germany on November 13^th and is expected to be released in the rest of Europe later this year.

Discography
	Izaline Calister	Soño di un muhé	EXIL, 2000
	Jamesz	Fatuh	FATUH 66 PROD., 2000
	Trio Cross Currents	Sunu	A-RECORDS, 2000
	Dissidenten	Live in Europe	EXIL, 1998
	Grupo Zamanakitoki	Wiseguy	TOKI PRODUCTIONS, 1998
	Pili Pili	Nomansland	JARO, 1997
	Pili Pili	Dance Jazz live	JARO, 1995

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