Bongo Herman did not leave his famed chamber pot behind as he performed on Monday night's 79th Haile Selassie coronation anniversary concert at the Bob Marley Museum, 56 Hope Road, St Andrew. - photos by Mel Cooke

The relatively small stage at the Bob Marley Museum, 56 Hope Road, St Andrew, could hardly contain a leaping, stalking Capleton as he closed Monday night's 79th coronation anniversary celebration of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I.

The performance, which saw the 'Fireman' sometimes reworking his material on rhythms other than those they were released on, began with a transition to Jah Jah City on the rhythm to Tony Rebel's If Jah (Is Standing By My Side), Rebel having taken over from Queen Ifrica. Ifrica, opening with Yaad To The East, had been the night's first performer to cause members of the average-sized audience to cluster at the front of the stage.

And they were not disappointed about moving from other parts of the venue, to see Ifrica a smiling "lioness on the rise" as she did her songs at length.

Brief performances

The rest of the event, though, may have been a letdown, not because of the quality of the performers but the cramming in of many singers and deejays into a limited time frame, leading to the inevitable. The performances were all too brief, the concert never developed a sense of cohesion and there was a roller coaster effect as highs were not sustained.

Before the blazing end, those high points included Fredlocks' True Rastaman and Seven Miles of Black Starliner (he was the first to really get the audience exuberant), Errol Bonnick's delivery of Peter Tosh's Rastafari Is, Hezron's appeal to the ladies, Lymie Murray's version of Soul Rebel and Iya Blaze taking his lady out to Saturday Night at the Movies.

The most touching moment was by far Born Free, who has multiple sclerosis, singing from his wheelchair. Bongo Herman won hands down for most comic, his standard chamber pot playing not left out of the coronation celebration.

And the greatest disappointment by far was for Lutan Fyah - not because of his performance - but because at parts of two songs it was all too short. It underscored the time constraints, MC Denise 'Isis' Miller complimented Lutan Fyah on his discipline in adhering to the stipulations.

Still, that was scarce comfort to the audience.

Time-constricted structure

There was a surge to the front to see Queen Ifrica perform.

Miller also pointed out several times that Emperor Haile Selassie I ensured that Empress Menen was crowned beside him, remarking on the night's balance of male and female performers. So Nelly Stharre's passion was evident on Peace and Love and Keteis sang the glory of "Ethiopia, the land of my forefathers". Fyakin's slow, lilting style went over well as he urged the confined to "break free".

Taken as a whole, though, Monday night's 79th anniversary celebration of Haile Selassie's coronation was choppy and inconsistent due to its time-constricted structure, the blazing end not enough to make up for what could have been. The police arrived at 11:30 p.m., half-hour past the stated ending time, Kulcha Knox asking for an extra minute as he tried to put across a last lyric. The audience was not interested, though, and started drifting away.

Still, the charity purpose of the concert was not negated, with principal Lorenzo Ellis of one of the beneficiaries, the Haile Selassie High School, expressing his gratitude publicly.