By Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
The Mighty Sparrow in performance at Cinema 2, New Kingston last Saturday. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE MIGHTY Sparrow closed off a night of sheer verbal artistry at the Mas Camp, New Kingston on Saturday night with nimble words from his lips and flexible prods from his hips.
Sparrow seemed to turn time in the same direction as the blue cap reversed on his head on a night when he opened with the classic Jean and Dinah and closed with Don' Do Dat which is exactly what the dwindling audience asked him not to do.
At 2:30 a.m., though, and after an early, flying start by the Fabulous Five Incorporated, followed by uptempo soca from Macho Kid, lyrics galore courtesy of Lord Laro and Lloyd Lovindeer, the strength of Singing Sandra and riotous ribaldry of Calypso Rose and nearly an hour of Sparrow, it was time to go. There were probably three classic Sparrow moments that night which went beyond being simply snippets of performance to defining a man who looked and performed as if he was much younger than the 48 years in music he was celebrating. As his backing band, The Troubadours, swung into Drunk and Disorderly he put his left ankle on his knee and hopped backwards to the beat; on Saltfish he took off his cap and held it to his heart in pledging undying allegiance to the 'salt ting'; and he did consecutive lines of Only A Fool Breaks His Own Heart in the styles of Nat King Cole, Billy Epstein, Louis Armstrong and Tom Jones.
Sparrow also showed that he was up to date with happenings in Jamaica, declaring the statue in Emancipation Park to be his big brother Oomba of Congo Man fame. There was also a confession of sorts on the song, as when Sparrow declared that "without computation, without contradiction, me is the only man here tonight who never eat a white meat yet." When faced with the inevitable response of 'Yu lie!' from the audience, Sparrow conceded "OK, once. But apart from that, never never never!"
The Troubadours were in fine nick, the hornsmen getting their instruments to neigh on Congo Man.
FINE NICK
That band, which also played for Singing Sandra and Calypso Rose, was not the only one which was in fine nick on an evening which flowed smoothly, when even the switchover of musicians was tolerably brief. The Fabulous Five Incorporated, in addition to their soca hits Yu Safe, Feelin' Horny, Ringroad Jam and All Night Party, injected a touch of reggae with Here I Come and Revolution from Dennis Brown, with a 'mixdown' of Barrington Levy's Broader Than Broadway as well.
Macho Kid employed talent from his hometown of Portmore, after opening alone with Soca Screechie, then confessing that "Joe Grine inna me life." A dancing stint by 'Portmore's number one go-go dancer' Bully Beef went over well and the Portmore Dancers helped out as Macho Kid declared Nah Go Dung Deh.
Lord Laro was a riot, recalling the 'rent a tile', bigging up Caribbean carnival, creating a lyrical picture of women running the world ("...have hard face man like me, walking across the stage inna bikini..."), outlining the path to the Lover's License and berating the Foreign Press. For his inevitable encore, Laro sang a bawdy tale of not fighting Mike Tyson, because "I don't know what part of me he gwine bite." Lovindeer was not embarrassed about his Shortwood, but after removing the 's' from 'scratches' and declaring some woman's dependence on said object, taking Mas Camp to church with One Day Christian (complete with vocals from Grub Cooper) and Pocomania Day, he was careful to tell the audience to pronounce their 'hs' as they enjoyed Happiness In The Park. The people did not seem to be watching their pronunciation too closely, as they enjoyed the play on the statue in nearby Emancipation Park. Lovindeer did Wild Gilbert for his encore.
WAIST MATTERS
The pair of ladies, Singing Sandra and Calypso Rose, came after the band change and preceded Sparrow. Sandra opened with Voices From The Ghetto, but showed she was as adept at matters of the waist as well as head space, as she referred to her growth since she last came to Jamaica. "Is not de size a de woman, is de way she wine!" Sandra said, demonstrating just what she meant. The immortal Dignity, including a humorous challenge to Sparrow, was well received, before she went uptempo.
Calypso Rose, five months shy of her 64th
birthday, was well up to the Punta, declared No Mister and dug up You Got To Come Back To Rose from 1969. With lots of 'wining' of her ample frame, the Rose wrapped up with Fire, which hit Belize and many other places, and the audience demanded an encore, even as the MC tried to keep the programme moving.
