WESTERN BUREAU:
A LITTLE Coco Tea went down well at daybreak on Sunday morning, as the small singer with the sweet voice thrilled the audience at Red Dut Showcase.
He was warm as he had to be, coming on after a blistering set by the 'empress' Marcia Griffiths.
Opening with Rastaman Chant, he went into a slew of 1980s' and early 1990s' hits, before doing a superb piece about the US election impasse. At one point, he sung instructions to the house engineer asking that his monitor be turned up.
Those who attended the show, held at STETHS, had to wait a long, chilly time to see Coco Tea and after him Freddie McGregor, but were treated to performances by a diverse set of performers.
There was modern-day dancehall from General Degree and Saba Tooth, as well as ska from Toots Hibbert; guitars and lyrics from Della Manley along with roots music from Admiral Tibbet and Yami Bolo; comedy by Owen Ellis and Tony 'Paleface' Hendricks and lovers' rock by Lukie D; original dancehall singing from Pinchers and dub poetry by Yasus Afari, who organised the show through his House of Honour.
Louie Culture ignited some of the numerous firecrackers with an impressive set, running from Gangalee to Grab Yu Lass An Come.
The small audience did not match the impressive line-up.
The Cambridge, St. James, based positive vibes aggregation opened the proceedings at about 9:45 p.m. Mackie Conscious did songs from his recently released CD, while Natural Black got a good response, especially for Songs With Feeling.
Junior Rankin and Finnigan's offer to certain women pleased the audience. The musical flow paused for two worthy causes honouring the Lititz Mento Band and launching the STETHS Appeal Fund. In addition, Aaron Silk asked for a moment of silence on the anniversary of the 'sacrifice' of his brother, Garnet. And he got it.
- Melville Cooke
