By Mel Cooke, Freelance WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
NABBY NATURAL literally lit up Weekenz Bistro and Bar on Tuesday night, bringing a light show of his own to the Constant Spring Road, St. Andrew, regular poetry spot.
In fact, he wore his personal display, with a string of lights wrapped around his body, which, when plugged in, flashed at regular intervals.
However, Nabby, who came on relatively late in the proceedings, was not there for decoration but to make a statement. "I an I no inna no talkin', no preachin, a jus' raw reality," he said.
That 'raw reality' consisted of lengthy discourses on the seasons and reasonings on numerology, as well as a dissection of the seasons, in between poems.
"All de while we singing bout 96 degrees in de shade an dem no tell yu how de 96 degrees come," Nabby Natural said, his deep voice rolling over the sparse audience. Nabby said that the 96 degrees were from the Tropic of Cancer to the Tropic of Capricorn. "We are de black survivors who survive de great apocalypse," Nabby Natural said.
COMPILATION
He delivered Mr. Bigness Man, which was originally recorded in 1981 on a various poets compilation recorded by Mutabaruka and put out by Heartbeat Records.
He pointed out that Jamaicans have a very strong oral tradition so strong that it is audio-visual. "Till we have a ting name cellular phone an people dey pon it a sey 'Yow, yu see me!'" Nabby said.
Mechanistic Society could have been made for the Matrix series, the last of which was closing at the Carib 5 cinema that day. However, his lights flashing all the time, Nabby stuck close to the human as well, explaining that with four weeks of seven days each, "the women don't have a problem with the 28 day cycle. Is we bredren who divorced from de heavens, who fightin de war." Nabby brought Seasons Greetings before departing with a sung clip from Could You Be Loved.
Nabby Natural was followed by Tahkule, who host Connie Bell introduced as being in the process of recording an album with Junior Reid. He started with Live De Bes' of Life, which declared:
Life is a gift
Dat Jah give to man
No tek it mek
No contention
Tahkule continued with his poetry in much the same format, featuring a refrain with short bursts of words in between. "Me see nuff black people a move off-key an mi no like dat," he said, going on to deliver Black People Rise, in which he exhorted "stop bleach out yu face black people, stop bleach out yu face".
He did Judgement Yard for those who "try depress Black people," saying:
Righteousness a it yu a fight
Filthiness a it yu a hype...
Tahkule insisted on doing a 'last piece', despite signals to wrap up, and in fact may have saved the best for last as he looked at the different lives of the rich and the poor, saying:
De rich man dead lef a will
De poor man dead lef a bill...
Teka came to do one song a capella and her low, husky tones beat back the chill of the night as she sang I used to love him, but now I don't.
Mutabaruka took over fully from the control tower, as the sudden chill proved to be the usher of a sudden sprinkling and, as he played Brown Gal In The Ring, the week's edition of live music and poetry coasted to a stop.
