By Chaos, Freelance Writer
Nadz, left, and Abijah together on-stage at the Village Cafe, Liguanea, during 'Open Microphone' night last Tuesday. - Contributed
'LIVE MUSIC' is the name of the game at the Village Café's 'Open Microphone' every Tuesday and one attends with the anticipation of having no clue what to expect.
When The Gleaner arrived at just after midnight, Lavaska, backed by the Taurus band, was just wrapping up a five-song with the singer's rather good Messed It Up (Damn). They had followed the opening act of every night, the house band Ting Deh.
During a middling-long band change, selector Mike Ellington played Della Manley's Little Children and Jana Bent's Shadow Girl to keep the packed cafe busy while producer Stephen Ventura's M-phatic set up. Once that was done, Rupert Bent III introduced them by saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you have all been waiting for... and waiting for... and waiting for... Ladies and gentlemen, M-phatic!"
Lead singing in a guest star role was Mark Wonder, who demonstrated some disturbingly good vocal skills before giving way to another independent singer, the energetic Teesha.
Seemingly quite unable to keep still, she bent almost double, contorted, smiled and occasionally shouted as she exuberantly made her way through the opening bars of Kelly Rowland and Nelly's Dilemma and then segued into Jah Is My Light, Obviously and Bob Marley's So Much Things To Say. Her short and finely-plaited dreadlocks flew, her red-patterned wrap skirt billowed and she was obviously having a whale of a time, as were the patrons present.
The duo Kafinal and Sambo, who stated that they would prefer not to be labelled a comedic act, were next. If there is one thing the two know how to do, it is how to use the stage to great effect to entertain and that that they did. Interspersing lyrics with witty comments, commentaries and movements which matched their songs, the duo was an immediate hit with the crowd, closing with the hilarious hit Cooking Dat Pwile.
Camar, who has toured Europe with the band DUP, followed and he delivered a sterling set for those who love R&B and soul given a dancehall feel. With Mark Stephenson on violin helping out M-phatic 'Nieson' on drums, 'Smiley' on bass, 'Squidwork' and 'Jathniel' on separate keyboards, all of whom gave decent accounts of themselves. Camar played to the ladies in the audience and at least one responded up and close and personal, blushing when receiving a kiss on the cheek after a personal serenade. His set also included covers of the Marvin Gaye classics Sexual Healing and What's Going On, given a reggae feel which brought whoops from the crowd. His back-up singer, Kenville 'Kenny' Thompson, was excellent as well as he showed on when he shared lead vocals on Tell Me.
Camar then introduced the Jamaican fast-rising star, rapper Nadz. After a combination with Camar, Breakin' Down, she shifted into her original I Hate This. She then invited on-stage Abijah, who walked on singing Revelation to cheers, with Nadz kicking in with an intense cameo. Abijah then started on Rastaman Chant, with the crowd joining in on the Fly away home refrain. The duo's most recent single Why was next.
A surprise cameo from Alozade was next and he made no bones about speaking about his recent incarceration and the circumstances that led to it, leading to raucous cheers from the crowd, as well as giving snippets of his biggest hits to date, with the exception of the profanity-laden ditty which he seemed to carefully avoid.
Natalie Fresh, in a sinfully tight grey, black and blue dress, followed. Starting out with a calypso rhythm Alozade had requested before exiting, she did bits and pieces of Hot Hot Hot and Swing Yuh Engine before inviting someone to come 'wine' with her, a task café proprietor Robert Collins took up with aplomb and completed with energy, to put it mildly. Her introduction of Gloria Gaynor's classic I Will Survive prompted Collins to introduce up-and-coming deejay Royale (who recently combined with Mile High on the song For You), who delivered a clever and very funny counteraction to the dance hit to great acclaim.
Hard-worked but lacking performances from Wild Life and Platinum followed before Collins thanked the band and the people present for supporting live music. The house band Ting Deh - Rupert Bent III and David Lazarus both on guitar, Junior 'Bird' Baillie on drums, Richard 'Sven' Patterson on keyboards and Dale Brown on bass closed the show, first with an understated version of John Lennon's Give Peace A Chance before their show-stopping and show-closing cover of The Beatles Let's Come Together, bringing an end to another night where live music was king and its subjects loved it.
