By Tanya Batson, Staff Reporter
Patrons at Beaches Grande Sport's 'Caribbean Night' revel in the music of Byron Lee and the Dragonnaires. - Contributed
'CARIBBEAN NIGHT' at Beaches Grande Sport, Ocho Rios, St. Ann, took on a more robust flavour last Friday. The night was in essence the 'after party' to the Sandals Travel Agent Recognition (S.T.A.R.) awards ceremony which was held on the same night.
The S.T.A.R. awards, held in the hotel's High Mountain ballroom, saw 156 awards going to travel agents and their companies from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The awards ranged from 'New Comer of the Year' to the 'Top Producing Agent Worldwide'.
At the end of the awards ceremony guests were asked to follow a 'carnival queen', who led them to the front lawn for dinner. Dinner was served a la carte. Although rain had fallen earlier in the evening and left the chairs and tablecloths wet, it did not mar the event.
The tables were adorned in white tablecloths and a Jamaican touch was added with squares of bandana cloth, which were placed in the middle of each table. The effect was complemented by shaded candles.
Much effort and creativity had evidently gone into transforming the lawn into a authentic Jamaican market of yore. Although sections of the menu were displayed on regular tables topped with ice and fruit carvings, the rest smacked of Jamaica. The dishes being served by chefs and other servers were ensconced in mock push carts which were painted in the national colours, yellow green and black. Palm fronds were then used to cover the carts.
Some of the food was also served on bamboo stalls, also covered in palm fronds. Persons could also choose fruit which was prepared on the spot from a bamboo fruit stall, laden with various fruits which were as much for the eating as they were decorative. The guests could choose their pineapples (which were then peeled and sliced) or their coconuts, still in their husks, and have that too prepared. The other stalls displayed several dishes in Dutch pots set atop coal stoves.
A wide variety of Caribbean food was also offered. As such a 'likkle bit of dis and plenty of dat, with nuff peppered shrimp' weighed down several plates. The choice of dishes included curry chicken and roti, ackee and saltfish, bammy, stuffed tilapia, jerk chicken, jerk pork, chicken souse, conch fritters, conch salad, potato pudding, gizzada, cocunut drops, grater cake, peanut pie, and a myriad of other dishes. In short, one could 'eat until yuh belly buss' and still keep going, especially since an entire cow was spitted and
roasted.
The Caribbean flavour was also enhanced by a miniature craft market. Various local vendors and artisans were brought in to sell their wares. These included sculptures, paintings, jewellery, clothing, bamboo flasks, pipes and several other items.
After the guests had feasted themselves and were seated, Byron Lee and the Dragonaires put the icing on the banana cake with an energetic round of soca and reggae that had most of the audience dancing for over two hours. 'Wave rags' were distributed to the audience, which had not been aware of the carnival law which states that not having a rag is a punishable offence. Nonetheless, they quickly caught on to how to use the essential party tools, though only a few displayed the dexterity of the experienced reveller.
The band's performance (as is usually the case with Byron Lee and the Dragonnaires) was a case of 'follow the leader'. As such their performance was replete with songs such as Wine Down and Touch Your Toes. The instructions went beyond the soca segment. The band led the audience through such dances as the 'Screechy', 'Log On', 'Drive By', 'Higher Level' and the 'Online'. Although some of the audience members' moves hardly looked like even 'distant cousins' to the dances being shown, they were evidently having a blast.
The band gave a mix of old and new music. They smoothly blended old classics such as Hot! Hot! Hot! and Tiny Winey, with the more current The Road is Mine and Sak Passe. Byron Lee and the Dragonaires also brought in a bit of ska with A Little More Oil In My Lamp, Sammy Dead and If I Had Wings Like a Dove. Contemporary reggae and dancehall were also played. The band treated the audience to If Love So Nice, Down By the River and possibly the worst rendition ever heard of Gimme de Light.
