By Chaos, Freelance Writer'OPEN MICROPHONE' night last Tuesday at the Village Café, Liguanea, featured acts such as Diva Mafia, Kai, Busta, Balino, ICE Water, Stone Cold, Donald Anderson, Infinity and Jason Raphael.
The voluptuous Diva Mafia was raw and raucous and a delivered a comprehensive list of sexual acts she has no intention of performing while deejaying on the Diwali rhythm. Later on, she teamed up to freestyle with ICE Water and Stone Cold and delivered another set which had the café crowd screaming, shouting and giving kudos.
Another female rapper, Busta, dressed in somewhat masculine attire, was equally effective as she rode the 'riddim' to great effect, stating that It takes one night/One night fi mek a woman breed, later on calling for the 'Escalade' rhythm which she again created havoc on.
THE STAR's January 'Soundalike' competition winner Balino also put in an appearance, deejaying about achieving your dreams among other topics.
Multicast was perhaps the biggest hit of the night as they 'flowed' on-stage, getting 'gun fingers' and simulated gun shots in response to their delivery. An encore performance saw much of the same, alcohol-influenced people jumping and slapping the nearest available surface as the duo delivered lines straight out of thin air, including one perhaps misheard lyric about hanging out with supermodel chickens.
New act, the attractive Kai, sang two songs. Although her vocals could be stronger, she demonstrated that she does have the ability to sing and write as she performed the originals Melt and Echoes to acclaim. Somewhat nervous, she stared at one particular spot in space and smiled in obvious pleasure at the enthusiastic response she received at the end of her set.
Comedian Donald Anderson wore another coat on Tuesday night and was also contradictory, deejaying paeans to 'thug life' before saying "Mi nuh encourage violence, mi jus' sey defen' yuhself" and going on to denounce gunmen. Daniel Edwards, a.k.a. 'Infinity', was the penultimate act for the night and deejayed about his desire to wear the clothes and live the life of the rich and famous, given how hard he has worked and his lack of desire to continue taking public transportation.
The deejay trio GDB showed they have potential, easily riding the rhythms provided and harmonising with some degree of skill. With practice, and if the largest member of the group refrains from saying - loudly - phrases such as 'Boom!' and so on apropos of nothing, they just might have a future. It would also be advisable to refrain from shouting unnecessary instructions to a band they have never played with before.
Jason Raphael showed that when he sticks to his range and really lets go, he can be impressive, as his covers of Bob Marley's No Woman Nuh Cry and Third World's Try Jah Love indicated.
The acts were backed by the house band Ting Deh, which on the night consisted of Cliff Bonds on drums, David Lazarus on lead guitar and Jason Raphael, also playing guitar, and Mark Stephenson on violin, and as usual was excellent, combining well at after two in the morning on The Beatles' Come Together to bring another 'Open Microphone' to a close.
