Left: Singer Sanjay performs at a benefit concert for Dare to Care Hospice for HIV-infected children, held at Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts, UWI, Mona, on Wednesday.Right: Co-hosts Steppa and Jennifer 'Jenni-Jenni' Small provide comic relief. - photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Singers stood on stage and members of the audience stood in the amphitheatre to join voices - and in some cases hands - on Lean On Me, as three evenings of music for children affected by HIV at the Dare to Care home in Spanish Town, St. Catherine, ended after 11:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

It was a strong end after a very late start at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts, UWI, Mona, Frank Jansen on piano and his wife Vallimar on vocals closing a mixture of reggae, dance and dancehall with jazz. And it was the jazz that formed the musical bridge to the 2007 Ocho Rios International Jazz Festival.

The Ashe ensemble fused song and dance in celebration of The Circle of Life to open the concert before a two-thirds capacity audience, much of which also turned out late. The percussions of a four-member band were strong as a male and female lead singer stood back to back, dancers swirling around them in a circle.

Iron Lion Zion started out with two male and two female singers, the composition changing smoothly to introduce small groups of male and female dancers in an uptempo jam before returning to the original quartet.

They made way for a pair, hosts Jenny Jenny and poet Steppa, and it would not be until the closing husband and wife team that there was a return to live music.

No 'prison wife'

Gee-Whiz was in a lover's mood, crooning "I don't want to see you cry", and deejay Dazzla commended "me rate de yute whe live de prison life/hol' de faith an no look no prison wife".

A smiling Sanjay was a fountain of lyrics, promising "I will be a man of my word". "As dancehall artiste sometime we spend so much time a sing so much frivolity it is good to be a part of something you can deal with something substantial," he said. After deejaying "people know your name, still you're not known" he said "Me a one a de artiste whe haffi look hard tru de book fi fin' some tune fi de occasion."

He closed more in his ladies' comfort zone, running through the things that a man does for his girl, at the end of which she should "tell Paul lef' yu pon me step".

Etana's voice cut through a thunder of cheers, her steps deliberate and strong as she sang "every step you make you bless". There was another roar for Wrong Address and Etana went uptempo with Roots before closing a cappella with the advice to "live and love life".

Isaiah crooned "I'll be right here waiting for you" to a less than appreciative response.

Uptempo ending

Nazarene, who got a name change backstage, was active on stage, combining with singer Alfred for an uptempo ending, and singer Ameek took the slow and easy route with Take It Slow. Biggest Mistake was next in one of the night's more extended performances, a very smooth transition bringing to To-Isis, the group's singers emerging from different points of the theatre to join in on It's Just Life.

Their own Real Ghetto Pain came before a round of songs to Jamaica Youth Ambassador's Keisha Effs, Dream Lover among the songsthat hit home and laughter coming as one member sang "yu no smell like camphor ball...". They surrounded her on the closing harmonies of Bryan Adams' Heaven before going uptempo with Cooyah.

Mek dem talk

It was more of the dancehall with Peppa, whose dismissal "mek dem talk" hit hard, Lexxus coming up for a medley of popular songs.

Then a piano was pulled out and the Jansens were on, Vallimar's lyrics about her wayward handyman becoming clearer to a mostly young audience when she sang "the flesh is weak".

Fever sent the musical temperature up and she invited Astle Grey on stage to do sign language on You Raised Me Up, Effs taking another turn on stage as it was sung directly to her. Bodies moved on Gotta Move before the closing Lean on Me.