By Tanya Batson-Savage, Staff Reporter
Dwight Parline, the first-place winner of the recent semi-final of the Tastee Talent Contest, is seen here performing his deejay entry 'Rum Head'. Dwight was also awarded the sectional prize for 'Best Original Entry'. The contest was held at the Tastee Outdoor Theatre in Cross Roads, St. Andrew recently. - Contributed
WHILE THE 'Saluting Our Youth' concert was proceeding at the Emancipation Park on Emancipation Day, August 1, many of the youths at the concert were running wild.
The number of announcements regarding children who had either lost their guardians or been lost by their guardians, indicated that several children were running around unsupervised. Left to their own devices and a few of them within sight of their adult supervisors the children were allowed to wet their feet, wash their hands and race plastic bottles in the pools of water that make up three aquatic displays inside the park, leading from the ceremonial gates at the corner of Oxford Road and Knutsford Boulevard.
The limited decorations around the park included a large green and yellow balloon with several smaller black, green and yellow ones streaming behind it. The anchored balloon floated close to the ceremonial entrance. Unfortunately, the balloons were dragged to the ground and the smaller ones stripped off.
The larger balloon was eventually removed by members of the park staff. This seemed to bring out a dangerously wild streak in the children. A gaggle of children decided that the two men removing the balloon were akin to the Pied Piper and chased them as they took the balloon away.
"Da man deh a tek di balloon," yelled a young boy at the head of the pack as he dashed after the men. The press of children ran across the edge of the pool. Amazingly, only a few of them ended up in it.
On the other hand, the youths on the stage demonstrated performances worth saluting. The up and coming singing group TO-ISIS put a wonderful cap on the evening. They began their performance with Now That We Found Love before performing two original pieces, Ghetto Pressure and Dream Weaver, both of which had the crowd screaming in delight. They ended the set with a medley, which began with a wonderful rendition of the 2002 carnival hit Turn Me On.
Most of the performers had been competitors in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission's (JCDC) music competition. Among them was the Glenmuir Festival Choir, which had placed first in the competition. The choir, which had earned a total of nine trophies, including 'Most Outstanding Traditional Folk Song Performance' and 'Most Outstanding Female Choir', performed Shout To The Lord and Win Di Sweepstakes.
Vere Technical Choir also delivered gospel and folk pieces, performing The Call and Tief Tek Ova Town.
Karim Chang of Lanaman's Preparatory, delivered the patriotic piece Jamaica My Pretty Island. His schoolmate Daina Ashley-Abrahams performed a solo and as part of a duet. For her solo piece, she performed the folk piece Quatty-A -Yard, while she performed When Mi Roas Mi Yellow Yam with Marsha McLeod.
The Calabar High School Choir also brought their festival entry to the evening with the traditional folk song Ah Zu Zu Wah. The audience was also treated to two brilliant sopranos, Carline Waugh and Ana Strachan. Strachan recently played the leading role in the Jamaica Junior Theatre's Scheherazade's Tale, where the power and quality of her voice astounded audiences. Waugh had been dubbed the 'Most Outstanding Female Soloist' in the JCDC music competition.
A touch of poetry was also brought to the evening from the JCDC speech competition. Jermaine Nairne, the winner of the Louise Bennett Trophy for the 'Most Outstanding Dialect' piece, delighted the audience with his performances of first Yuh Tink I Mad Miss and King Street Palaver.
