Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
Twin of Twins performing at 'Backyaad Crack-Up: Comic Controversy' at Backyaad, 126 Constant Spring Road, on Wednesday night. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
WESTERN BUREAU:
ON A Wednesday night when rain sprinkled the Corporate Area, liberally a full house turned out to the May edition of 'Backyaad Crack-Up', held at 126 Constant Spring Road, St. Andrew.
The event takes place there on the final Wednesday of every month.
With storyteller Amina Blackwood-Meeks, and newcomer Tubeless, among the performers in the first segment, there was a mixture of dramatic movement from Dance Xpressions, vocal impersonations and serious social commentary from Twin of Twins, who were ecstatically received, and undiluted comedy from the final performer, Wacky News.
With a slight drizzle adding to a general movement to the exit after Twin of Twins performed, Wacky News did well to stand his ground and hold the attention of a substantial number of persons at Backyaad, running a lively sexual race (complete with sound effects) and ending with the tale of some homosexuals testing out new prospects by identification of inserted objects.
They were all easily identified, so Wacky News said "dem go fi di ting whe dem use inna de toilet ... Whe it name again?"
FINAL LAUGH
And when some people shouted 'Plunger!' he said "Oh, so you did deh deh too!" It was the final laugh of the show, which ended at about midnight, Rennaissance taking over with a Twin of Twins dub plate.
Dance Xpressions opened the second half of 'Comic Controversy' with a depiction of a relationship between a young Jamaican couple, the music supported actions of the two at total odds with the meticulous English narration. "He shares his earnings," the narrator said, and the man handed over a key to the woman with "See me grab a cyar key deh. Go look fi de cyar."
There was laughter around the venue. When he was leaving again, his loving goodbye was a slap, to which the young miss went on the phone, smiling and said "Stacy, Clive jus' box me. Hi love, me yu see!"
The Twin of Twins were obviously highly anticipated, as when the night's host, Elva, said "The next act, they are the hottest thing on the market," there were howls of delight and she said "Oonu know a who."
"Let us welcome the duo that goes by the name ...," she said, and the hundreds chorused 'Twin of Twins'.
COMMOTION
The first 'My God!' from behind the curtains caused a commotion. And then they appeared, moved to the front of the stage and the one said "So Mr. Mutabaruka ..." and the distinctive voice answered "Yes, we deh ya people." There was another round of cheering.
True to their recordings, which have caused a storm on the streets, one half of the duo played oftentimes incredulous host and occasional very effective quipper to the other, who spoke predominantly in the voice of poet and talk show host Mutabaruka. And while there were outbursts of laughter throughout, there was as much careful listening to serious issues and the Twins made something clear very early, that "the most important ting to Twin of Twins is the message dat is
being sent."
In case anyone missed the point, further on one member of the duo said "We no come fi gi joke. We talk an if yu laugh a so."
They also declared commitment to their roots with "We say Kingston 13 continuously, from de womb to de tomb."
And they did speak for an extended period, the voices of Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, Renato Adams and Bounty Killer hitting home in a sometimes seamless transition through the 'host'.
But there was applause also when they made a personal statement, that "we are not alcoholics and we do not smoke." Marcus Garvey's name also came up for mention when they extolled self-reliance and said "De running of the country is up to the people."
STRESSED THEIR SELF-RELIANCE
The one snippet of the strong
language that laces some of their recorded material came when they were stressing their self-reliance, in addressing Beenie Man's grouse towards them in Mutabaruka's voice.
"We respect Beenie Man. Dis is not a retaliation against Beenie Man. This is a reasoning to what Beenie Man said about the CD ... Beenie Man sey Twin of Twins dis 'im, cause we neva mek him win no argument ... If yu notice de CD is a ting where it talk life itself. Realistically, we neva see Beenie win a argument yet!" And there was applause.
The Twins addressed the hot girl and Candy Shop syndrome, saying "Yu see di girl whe look like monkey, me wi tek care a my likkle monkey an fed har. No pretty gal naa go abuse me!"
Twin of Twins also deejayed two sets of lyrics on a recorded track to good results.
See The Star for more details on the performances.
