Byron Lee (right) gives DJ Beenie Man a hug at the launch of Jamaica Carnival Soca Calypso Tent at Le Meridien Jamaica Pegasus Hotel last Thursday. Beenie Man will be performing alongside Sparrow, David Rudder and Machel Montano at the Soca Tent, Cinema II, on Thursday, April 19. - Winston SillWESTERN BUREAU:
IF THE police hadn't called time at 2:30 a.m., Byron Lee and The Dragonaires (BL&D) would probably have played until the dawn of April Fool's Day.
And the crowd at Risky Business, negril, would have danced, waved and wined right along with them.
Playing on the second night of Jamaica Carnival Negril 2001, the soca-centred, but very versatile, BL&D started the proceedings at 11:00 p.m. Save for a half-hour break, the band kept the crowd in a frenzy, with the magician Oscar B leading the charge as they wove a spell which had the crowd obeying their every command.
For dancing purposes, the crowd was just right -- large enough for collective ecstacy, but not so large that there was no room to move. And move they did... the women showing a higher level of fitness than the men. There was a nice blend of visitors and residents, making for some interesting pairings and dancing.
Approval
With the horn section sounding tight and light, BL&D opened up with soca, the neon green and black clad instrumentalists in perfect step with the blue and red outfitted singers. The women roared with approval when Oscar B declared:
"If he caan use he wais'
Make up wit' de face!"
To add crust to the pie, he proceeded to demonstrate the facial 'make-up', after which he called a man from Pennsylvania, United States on stage. After failing miserably with the waist, the impromptu performer proceeded to put his face, torso, legs and toes into the 'make-up', to the delight of the audience.
When the band sang Ol Woman We Takin' Home, a baby in pink suit and tam proceeded to skank her way through a section of the crowd, monitored by her adult escorts.
Socarobics gave way to Chi Chi Man and Risky Business exploded. Chants of "More fire!", a la Capleton, preceded a return to soca.
The band ran the gamut from rock and roll to "Happy Birthday"; from soca dances to the Bogle, Angel, Prang Jerry Springer and Zip It Up; from lovers' rock to roots-rock-reggae. But soca was at the core and soca 'bussed' the place with an appeal to "Show me your flag" at the end the show.
The party then shifted to the Jungle nightclub a few hundred metres up the road.
Couples
One of the more interesting couples was a large man, who kept pulling up his stomach with both hands, as he 'attacked' a small woman from the back. A male tourist tried to learn how to "hol it dung" from a well-endowed Jamaican woman, but without success.
The police and security guards kept a significant, but non-intrusive presence.
There were booths and there were booths and then there was Lotto's Pick Three set-up. A cadre of well-endowed females in shorts, that redefined the term and sports bra tops, kept the men as interested or more in their figures as those listed as prizes on the spinning wheel.
Jamaica Carnival Negril 2001 continued with a Road March and a 'Las Lap' fete at Chances.
- Melville Cooke
