- FILE
The Mighty Diamonds delivered an excellent repertoire at the Asylum Nightclub in New Kingston last Thursday night.
Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE TRIO of Judge, Bunny and Tabby lived up to the saying 'diamonds are forever' at the Asylum Nightclub in New Kingston last Thursday Night.
Collectively known as The Mighty Diamonds, the trio delivered excellent harmony to an appreciative audience for what, in Jamaican night-life time, is known as 'the earlies', starting at just past midnight.
'The earlies' or not, an appreciable audience steadily built up to the selections of Stone Love Movements, with Geefus and Iceberg at the controls, the sound system bringing the audience up to date with Drifter, Entertainment, Ballistic Affairs and Wild World, going back to the jungle for a pair of Tiger cuts.
There were a couple false starts to showtime, one of which was filled by Leroy Gibbons' version of Cupid, which Geefus adapted to the setting, asking Cupid to 'please let your Guinness flow'.
When he introduced the trio with a repeated, emphatic 'mighty', the Stone Love selector urged the audience to applaud. No prompting was required when they stepped on the small stage with the opening harmonies of Right Time, the mostly young audience, with women in various stages of dress and undress, cheering.
Their movement limited by the size of the stage, which they shared with the sound system to their right, The Mighty Diamonds put all the emphasis on singing. It was not a matter of volume, though, but control and harmony, their voices loud enough to be heard, but not overpowering in the relatively small space.
The first line of Have Mercy prompted a 'forward', the audience singing along on the restart, emphasising the line 'man was made to suffer-.'
WITHOUT MUSIC
The Diamonds ended the song without music, their harmonies coming through clearly as they requested to be an "everlasting example, we pray Jah man".
They upped the tempo a notch to observe "pity dem no know wha a gwaan when de right time come", Geefus playing an imaginary trombone along with the hornline, moving on to a measured delivery of I Need a Roof.
Kutchie had an extraordinary effect. It had to be restarted without the Diamonds even singing a word, the audience exploding in cheers with just the start of the music. And, even the second time around, all the Diamonds had to do was sway and smile, as the singing of the audience filled the Asylum. They came in on the chorus with "it haffi bun!" - and again the Asylum erupted.
Stone Love played the music low on the second restart, The Mighty Diamonds singing now, edging up the volume on the chorus and mixing it dancehall style.
Dancer Labba Labba took the stage and did well timed moves to the music, building the pace of his dancing until he hit the floor in a split and the audience cheered.
The Diamonds left the stage with a "bless" and "honour", but when Geefus asked if more was required the audience said 'yes'. They returned to do Juvenile, easing into a series of choruses on the same rhythm to end with Amen, Geefus chanting "Might Diamonds" in the same melody as Stone Love took over again.
"Young people you must know these songs. Learn that!" he said, as the sound system started up again with Dennis Brown's Foundation and Wolves and Leopards, the audience singing along happily to Who The Cap Fits as more people came in for the later, dancehall segment, which was slated for a performance by deejay Al-Beeno that night.
