The Kingston College Chapel Choir performing at CPTC's Drums and Voices, held at Emancipation Park on December 17. - Colin Hamilton/Freelance photographer

Guided by their mandate "to preserve our heritage and culture," the Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC), as part of it year-long 25th-anniversary celebration, undertook a mammoth task in staging a free concert, dubbed 'Festival of Drums and Voices', held at Emancipation Park, New Kingston.

But, alas! The first flaw began with the show's late, shaky start and a technical glitch. There was a hasty invitation to stand for the national anthem - perhaps due to the chant of "show time!" by the otherwise well-behaved audience, but the moment was saved and the anthem was sung by a male vocalist to the accompaniment of the abeng.

Following short welcome speeches by Christopher Samuda, chairman of the CPTC Board of Directors, and Senator Warren Newby, the 'Festival of Drums and Voices' got under way.

dub poets and choirs

There were performances by dub poets and choirs. The choirs were led by the National Chorale, the Carifolk Singers and Nexus, which performed songs of different genres, including Christmas carols, pop songs and reggae.

Nexus was on a roller coaster. Starting with a fantastic rendition of Oh Holy Night, they rocked to Michael Jackson selections, such as Man In the Mirror.

The Carifolk Singers, clad in costumes and brightly coloured bandanas, performed the ever-popular Christmas Ah Come Mi Want Mi Llama, the beautifully written Little Donkey, and ended with a spectacular presentation of Run Come Quick.

The National Chorale gave a classical twist to Three Little Birds and the ballad Oh Santa Claus.

The other choirs were not to be outdone, as the Kingston College Chapel Choir gave the audience a taste of the classics. Adorned in purple polo shirts, they sang Go Tell it on the Mountain and Jingle Bells. St George's College, Oberlin High and Vauxhall High also shared their voices.

Budding dub poets from Clan Carty High gave an excellent performance of their original poem, Jamaica Pon Top Again.

versatile Nomaddz

The versatile group Nomaddz was on hand. The selections were poignant social commentary that vividly described what it was like Trodding Jah Road and rationalised some of Jamaica's foibles in It's Justified.

The drummers and their drums were just as communicative. The popular choices were the conga, the bass drum and the djembe, depicted in Presence Africa and Presence China.

Presence China came in the form of the Weing Long Kung Fu group, who put on a spectacular exhibition. The performance was But it was the Charles Town Maroons who began the riveting conversation about Africa. They were followed by the energetic Inswood High Drummers who went off script briefly to engage the audience. The L'Acadco Drummers and the Bobo Shanti Band were also there for the drum talk.

L'Acadco, with their predominantly djembe drums, were explosive in Drums Explosion, while the Bobo Shanti Band was mystical and ritualistic as the group's robed vocalists chanted praises to Jah Ras Tafari.

The Kingston Drummers were also fantastic! The lengthy show ended with a celebratory dance by the L'Acadco Dancers but, unfortunately, by then, most of the audience had left.

Emcees were Denise 'Isis' Miller and Sydney Bartley. While both were entertaining, they were overbearing, and their chit-chats after each act were lengthy. This contributed to the lengthiness of the show and shortening the number of pieces by the later performers.

'It was the Charles Town Maroons who began the riveting conversation about Africa ... while the Bobo Shanti Band was mystical and ritualistic as their robed vocalists chanted praises to Jah Ras Tafari.'