IF THE concert presented on Saturday night in honour of the founders of deejay music, who were named as Count Matchuki, King Stitt and U-Roy, was any indication of how Jamaicans really feel about them, then Jamaicans must not appreciate their contribution at all.
This as poor attendance by patrons and performers, combined with poor organisation, played their part in making the event as unenjoyable as possible.
The concert was held at the University of the West Indies, Mona, St. Andrew, Students' Union, and was supposed to have closed the fourth annual Don Drummond symposium, held at the institution that same day.
BILLED ACTS
Under the theme, 'Honouring The Founding Fathers Of Jamaican DJ Music' the billed acts were Lone Ranger, U-Roy, Tanya Stephens, Beenie Man, King Stitt and Lady G. Four of the six scheduled acts in the personages of Lone Ranger, King Stitt, Tanya Stephens and Lady G were present, however, only the two former acts performed. U Roy and Beenie Man were absent, while Stephens and Lady G left before it was their time to take the stage, and who could blame them.
The show was scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m., however at the supposed start time, not more than fifty persons were in the venue. Thus, the waiting began. At 9:15 p.m. a lone Rastafarian started to sing the refrain for Garnett Silk's Mama Africa, when he finished the song some five minutes later, a few more patrons trickled in.
At 9:35 p.m. the Studio One band took the stage and provided some much needed music. They stopped after three songs and the bass man told the very small audience, "That was for you people," a lone female voice at the rear of the venue answered "Thank you". Her sentiments were shared by the other patrons.
Finally at about 9:50 p.m. the show started. The night's MC, Abidan, had his work cut out for him. He started by announcing the opening act as Lone Ranger, but was soon called off-stage to adjust his running order.
ADJUSTMENT
The adjustment made, the show opened with a band called Centre Stage featuring lead vocalist Montano from the Edna Manley School of the Performing Arts. The young group was very good. They played with the confidence and skill of veterans and Montano sang very well in their mix of cover songs which included Morgan Heritage's popular She's Still Loving Me and Beres Hammond's Pull It Up. They also performed two original songs.
Up next, was the 'Ready Fi Buss Crew' out of Louise Bennett's stables. In actuality, the crew was a motley group of singers and deejays, who, to their credit, performed all original material. However, the stand out members of the crew were two young men called Passenger 57 and OBJ. Their soulful dancehall number She's Gone Away garnered an encore with one female patron screaming "Sing it more sexy this time". Unfortunately, the duo obviously never heard her as they performed a different song which did not get as much response. The next performers were the dancehall comedians, Kafinal and Sambo. The hilarious duo performed as though they were performing for a packed house, they even joked, "Look how much people deh yah, mi cyaan even see roun' a back."
They started their three-song set with Drive By, then moved into their first hit, Cooking Dat Pwile and then closed with Inna di Lane.
By the time their stint was over, so was Lady G and Tanya Stephens' stay at the venue - they had officially left the building. So had a few other patrons.
RASTAFARIAN CHANTERS
The St. Auben's, a family of Rastafarian chanters out of Connecticut in the United States, took the stage. The family of five featured three boys on drums, the patriarch and his daughter, who could not have been much older than six years old, on microphones. She was the real treat, with several responses of "Jah, Rastafari" and chants of several Rastafarian epithets, she spoke like a true young empress.
The next performers were Lone Ranger and King Stitt, who performed with backing from Studio One. Lone Ranger kicked off his performance with the phrase "Run it mek wi done it," and went through songs like Girl I Know and Love Bump. He earned an encore, but got more response with his previous songs.
The night was closed by King Stitt, one of the honourees. Not as powerful as in his younger days, he still managed to do his usual talking over heavy ska beats and the few patrons left danced away. Just like that the night was over.
