
WESTERN BUREAU:
DELLA MANLEY drew a different kind of response from the audience at Red Dut Showcase, St. Elizabeth.
While they showed appreciation for the other performers with laughter, whistles, firecrackers and 'skanking', when Della performed they stopped, listened attentively and then clapped after each song.
Coming on between Yasus Afari and Aaron Silk, Della performed three songs, City Lights, Barbican Square and Bittersweet. Accompanied by Rupert Bent from Third World and beginning with a soft-spoken greeting, her second longest statement on stage was:
"I cannot take the credit for the guitar work on my album", she said.
Her longest greeting, which was hardly more wordy, was the introduction of her second song, during which she spoke about passing through Barbican Square in the night and being moved by what she saw.
Apart from that, it was all music.
Under a full moon, the two guitars and Della's voice filled the venue, caressing the audience into a musical euphoria from which they descended only to applaud each song.
And when she finished, without fanfare Della said good-bye.
M.C.