Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
Left: The Winner of the Red Stripe/Irie FM Big Break competition, Natasha. Right: One of the guest performers, Little Hero, at the Red Stripe/Irie FM Big Break Finals, held at Ken's Wildflower Club, Portmore on Friday. - PHOTOS BY WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
WHEN THE rhythm started for Natasha from Denmark to 'ride' from the big stage set up outside Ken's Wildflower Lounge on Port Henderson Road, Portmore, St. Catherine, on Friday night, the jam-packed audience cheered.
When she started deejaying they cheered again; the same came when the mixing started and as Natasha delivered lyrics to support the refrain "tell me why, so much innocent people die", stepping lively but not extravagantly on stage, the cheers came at regular intervals.
And when the time came for the winner of the 2006 Red Stripe/IRIE FM Big Break contest to be announced, by far the largest cheers came when Natasha's name was announced third of the 12 contestants.
NO SURPRISE
It was no surprise the cheers that the winner of the competition received. She will receive a slot on Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest 2006, which runs from July 16 to 22 in Montego Bay, St. James, as well as a music video and a professional photo shoot, among other prizes.
The camaraderie among the contestants was immediately obvious, Prophet Elijah hugging Natasha to start a round of congratulatory and conciliatory hugs all around, before all but Natasha left the stage. The rhythm started again and Natasha delivered lyrics about the state of the island, the audience cheering as she deejayed "Jamaica too nice fe politician gain fool/Jamaica too nice fe gangster do wha dem a do."
There was only the final guest artiste, Chuck Fendah, to go and he delivered a blazing performance, the torches and hands going up regularly.
LARGE AUDIENCE
With a sound system that did not get clearly to the fringes of the large audience at the free event, especially with music from other parties at either side, apart from Natasha there was little in the way of immensely enthusiastic response to the Big Breakers by the entire audience on Friday night. However, all were shown appreciation for their efforts. Irie Love from Hawaii started the proceedings just after midnight, Dillon Murray's guitar and percussion backed observation It's a Money Thing hit the spot and Redz Wonder declared life a mystery.
In the wake of Natasha, Mystic Roots sang of reggae being Positive, I-Nubia delivered Blessed, Prophet Elijah employed a host of straw-hat clad dancers to delight the audience and Iwana ask all to Take a Look. Harry Chapman's frenetic leaps, more so than his 'rat-a-tat-tat' stirred the audience and those close to the front got the impact of Leslie's Love Slave.
