Artistes deliver at night two of St. Kitts Music Festival
By Suelika N. Creque
Editor-SKNVibes.com
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - ALTHOUGH the second night of the St. Kitts Music Festival appeared to have a much smaller crowd compared to past Reggae Nights of the event, the artistes that were scheduled to perform delivered the goods.
Patrons, who did not take heed to the Festival Committee’s warning of attending each night on time, risked the chance of possibly missing some of their favorite acts.
Last evening was testimony to that, as only a few people were present to hear and support local performers Mykal Somer and the Kassanova Band, both of whom had made their debut performance in the history of the event.
“Perhaps they need to look at featuring our own artistes a little later in the show instead of using them as opening acts,” commented a young female who said she was looking forward to the local acts. “I mean, it is hard enough already for them to perform onstage and live up to expectations, and I feel that to effectively give them the exposure they truly need they should perform on the event at a later time when the crowd is much larger.”
The next performers were some legendary Jamaican artistes who were very popular in the 1970s. One after the other they performed hits that are still alive in the hearts of many today.
Boris Gardener was the first and serenaded the audience as he sang “Wake up with You”. The artiste is described as one who has had a long and distinguished career in reggae music.
He however did not seem to move the crowd too much although some were singing along to familiar tunes, such as his big hit “Elizabethan Reggae”. But Ernie Smith did manage to motivate a section of the audience with “If I had the wings of a Dove” and “I Can’t Take it”, also called “Tears on my Pillow”.
He then came back onstage to do a duet with Pluto Shervington, who was the third Jamaican artiste for the night. This was Shervington’s second consecutive appearance at the Festival.
He was well received by the audience who enjoyed listening to “Your Honor”, as the artist’s bellowing voice did justice to his witty reggae tunes.
Billy Ocean was the next performer to grace the stage at Warner Park.
On release of the Festival’s lineup some months ago, many individuals in the Federation were asking questions such as “Who is Billy Ocean? What songs does he sing?” and “Does he have any song other than Caribbean Queen?” However, after last night’s performance there were no questions but, “I couldn’t believe he is the one who sang those songs.”
It was a changed atmosphere, charged with Cupid’s little arrows when Billy Ocean took the stage. The artiste, who is in his late 50s, showed no sign of slowing down the pace as he made everyone fall in love all over again.
His voice and music was incredible and the way he sounded was no different to hearing him on his album. Although his dreadlocked-appearance didn’t make him seem the type of artiste who possesses such mellow voice and singing the songs he did, everyone enjoyed his act. He was the longest performing artiste for the night; he spent over two hours onstage.
“There’ll be sad songs to make you cry”, “Suddenly”, “Get out of my Dreams”, “Colour of Love”, “Without You”, “When the going gets Tough” and the Caribbean women’s unofficial anthem “Caribbean Queen” were some of the songs he belted out.
After Ocean’s performance everyone got ready for the Pressure who was up next.
Pressure is a promising reggae artiste from the US Virgin Islands and is blessed with a smooth melodic voice. His lyrics are conscious and uplifting, and although the audience was not too familiar with his songs they did not hesitate to sing along with his hit “Love and Affection”.
Following Pressure’s performance was dancehall music time.
The female artiste coming all the way from Jamaica, Macka Diamond, a.k.a. Miss Money O, not only entertained the audience with her music but had the most entertaining performance of the entire night.
After singing some of her songs, including the popular song “Done Already”, she invited local artiste Ashkenaz onstage to assist her in singing one of songs, “Bun Him”.
This performance was the highlight of the entire show, where after she sang her part of the song “Bun Him” and passed the microphone along to Ashkenaz, he sang, “Macka want a man from Zion, roaring lion…”
This had caused uproar among the crowd that cheered and screamed for the local artiste, who had managed to include the Jamaican artiste in his local hit, “Man from Zion”.
Diamond then moved on to the onstage cameraman and told him she would take his camera while he takes the microphone and sing the part of Blacker, who is featured in the song. She told the crowd that the cameraman’s name is Whiter.
The crowd began laughing once again as the two switched roles and the Jamaican artist became the camerawoman while the cameraman danced.
Before leaving the stage, she sang “Hula Hoop” and threw out an invitation for anyone among the audience to be onstage to dance with her. A young woman, going by the name of ‘Nak-Nak’, took up the challenge and showed off her dancing skills as Diamond told her to do various popular Jamaican dance moves which the young lady did, and before leaving the stage she performed a split that had the crowd frenzied.
.jpg)
Busy Signal, who many said they were interested in seeing, was the final performer onstage. He entered the stage with lots of energy at around 4:30 a.m. and the crowd was lyrically inclined to the artist as he sang songs about reality and his life in Jamaica.
Signal also spoke about being criticised for his music, especially by the media that he claimed do not seem to give him credit when he donates to charity.
Some of his songs contained explicit lyrics and also gangster lifestyles but, while onstage, the artist said, “No song can make anyone commit a crime.”
In spite of the negative comments and the artiste’s explanation, the crowd dance and swayed to some of the shortened version of the songs he sang, including “Step out”, “Badman Place”, “Not going Down”, “Unknown Number”, “Nar go a Jail Again” and “These are the days”.
Just before he ended his performance at about 4:55 a.m., Signal said he loves strictly women and echoed “Big up the sexy gal dem”, and shortly after dished out “Pon Di Edge”, which is the ladies favorite, and encouraged them to “wine pon de edge”.
After he left the stage the crowd seemed disappointed as they craved for more of his lyrics.
A few days ago, SKNVibes published an article stating that the Festival’s Committee said all those artistes who are known for their explicit lyrics and would be performing at this year’s Music Festival would be censored. However, most of Busy Signal’s songs were explicit.
The Festival, which is in its 12th year, will come to an end tonight when artists such as John Legend, Ja Rule, Mario, Russell Thompkins Jr. and the New Stylistics take the stage.
CLICK FOR MORE PHOTOS
Entertainment 
Archives |
Print
Email
Save
RSS
