Hyatt
Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
FRIDAY NIGHT'S edition of JAVAA Jammin' at Jamaica Vibes on Haining Road, New Kingston, moved from the six-member Unique Vision Band in song to Owen 'Blacka' Ellis in speech, as he brought the night to an end with poetry under a full moon.
The show moved briskly, under Junior Sinclair's guidance, through the excellent combination of Shemai on guitar and vocals and Joel Ellis on poetry, Charles Hyatt with a wealth of experience in 'folkery', Keisha Patterson hitting the notes and moves to wonderful effect on Evening Time, a barrel of laughs from Prince Edwards and Noel Ellis crooning about stretch marks.
MUSICAL JOURNEY
Unique Vision took the audience on a musical journey ended up Half-Way to Paradise, their pair of lead singers handling the reggae of She's Loving Me and Grooving My Girl as well as the R&B medley that included Let's Get It On and Sexual Healing.
A lone guitar replaced a full band as Shemai took a seat to play and sing of love, his strong voice carrying the message well, but going soft for the expression where required. The calm that fell over the audience was broken by applause when he ended, Shemai moving from a description of "a personal relationship with Jah" to a more intimate kind of affair as he informed a lady "you are a pretty flower/in the jungle of thorns/everybody wants to pick you..."
Shemai's guitar was the accompaniment for Joel Ellis' poetic description of the happenings in the dancehall, where "reggae hardcore/gender divides dance floor". There was laughter as he strung the names of popular dancehall figures into a sequence that began with "the Marshall not doing his job/called in a bounty....," ending with "it's good to go".
"The first poem I do I have to give thanks to Daddy, Blacka Ellis, is him write this one," Joel Ellis said, moving across the stage as he did the poem of self-reliance which urged "work for prosperity/hold on to your dignity". The audience showed appreciation for the sentiment with strong applause.
Charles Hyatt greeted his "friends and neighbours" and in a conversational tone told the tale of a farmer. He gave extensive treatment to the folkery of Miss Lou and the Jamaica Folk Singers, among others, the folk inside Jamaica Vibes chuckling merrily along.
MUSICAL SUPPORT
Keisha Patterson gave Evening Time wonderful treatment, the Unique Vision providing the musical support after her a capella start. She left the stage to come a little closer to the audience, closing with one last, excellently delivered 'time' to the keyboards and bass of Unique Vision and stirring applause.
Evening Time brightened into Summertime and she closed with At Last, which brought many in the audience out of their chairs for a standing ovation when she finished.
Prince Edwards was a riot, delivering his rib-tickling bombs with a straight face in an extended stint on stage. Edwards ventured into sports with a tale of three Caribbean people who wanted to get into the Olympics free. The Trinidadian went for a stick and declared himself a pole vaulter. The Barbadian went for some iron and got in as a weight-lifter. The Jamaican took up a roll of barbed wire and declared that he was into fencing.
A pair of Ellis' brought the night to an end, Noel Ellis first singing about the Hot Gal and ending a treatment of Stretch Mark with "me done talk" and then Owen 'Blacka' Ellis delivering poems and engaging the audience in a spot of call and response with Tick Tock, which ended in the dancehall with "one way or the other/people dead!".
