Beres clean bowls Courtney's bash

THE BIG MAN: Courtney Walsh (left), salutes the crowd as Zumjay (centre) does the musical honours. Curtley Ambrose (right) flashes his trademark smile. - Michael Sloley

WOMEN screamed in excitement and men jumped and danced for nearly an hour as one Jamaica's greatest balladeers ever thrilled the audience at the Courtney Walsh Birthday Bash, held at Mas Camp Village, Oxford Road, on Saturday.

Beres Hammond could do no wrong as he reeled of hits from his catalogue of songs.

Gracing the stage at 3:00 am to screams from the women, he wasted no time in stamping his class on the willing patrons. Performing in one of his rare local shows since the start of the year, a smiling Beres Hammond took the stage and said: "Mi long fi si unu". This drove the crowd into even greater spasms of ecstasy - and from then on, it was all Beres.

Starting off with What One Dance Can Do, he quickly had the audience singing along with him and eating out of his hands. Men sung and danced as much as the women, as Beres sung his hits from the 80's.

Showing that he is the consummate performer, Beres deejayed Buju Banton's part in Who Say?With the crowd craving more Beres, he sippedfrom as bottle of water and quickly launched into his other hits. Women clutched on to their men and danced while others sang out as if they were part of a choir as he performed Love Means Never To Say That Your Sorry. The cuddling continued when he performed No Disturbance. Beres was joined by Oscar B, who filled in for Buju Banton.

Beres Hammond was called back for an encore, in which he performed Rock Away and several other hits. The audience was still not satisfied and they called for him again. He obliged with Ain't It Good To Know before exiting for the final time.

David Rudder also performed, doing a short stint which had the audience dancing as he did Rally Round The West Indies and High Mas.

Earlier, Tony Rebel had the audience singing as he delivered. He performed If Jah in both English and Spanish as the audience applauded. He was also joined on stage by Courtney Walsh who showed his deejaying ability. No Tony Rebel performance would be complete without Just Friends which he did with Swade before Ifrika did the female version.

Prior to this, Zumjay had got the ball rolling with his new song Get The Girl and Big Man Inna Cricket, Courtney Walsh joining him on-stage for the latter.

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