Monday, September 29th, 2008  |  NO COMMENTS

Ganja love at reggae show

Two performers at the Anthems of Love concert had opposing views when it came to marijuana.

Messenger of Love Junior Kelly told the Queen’s Park Savannah audience on Saturday night, “I am not endorsing smoking weed in public, but we are all big people and we are responsible for our actions. If you smoke in the confines of your home that is different. Maybe Babylon might not be able to get you, but if you smoke in public you stand the risk of being caught.”

Kelly also spoke of the region as being “One People, One Caribbean and no matter where a victory is won-be it in the Lesser Antilles, Trinidad or Jamaica-it is a victory for the region.”

It was about 2.25 a.m. when Junior Kelly burst out with his first number-one hit, “Love so Nice”, and had the entire audience singing.

Jamaica’s Fyah Mama, Queen Ifrica, was forthright, she told her audience, “I make no apoligies, legalise marijuana.”

This came after she took time to “rap” to her “people”.

Ifrica, who has an overwhelming presence among the downtrodden in her native Jamaica, said, “We have something to celebrate. Look at what we achieve at the recent Olympics in Beijing. Whenever one achieves something no matter whom, it is like we all win.

“But right now, right now, both of us are going through rough times. We are too violent as a people but Trinidad and Jamaica can bring back unity to the Caribbean.”

Directing her words towards her female fans, Ifrica said, “Sisters you have to support you men, help them. Don’t let them shoot their brothers. Ghettos in the Caribbean cannot wait for any government to help them; they have to rise up for themselves.”

Queen Ifrica has a stage presence second to none and was always in command of her audience even when she invited a male patron on stage to be a part of her act.

She also introduced Trinidad’s own Chocolate Allen, who performed a song “Friends” with Ifrica; a song they both recorded in Jamaica. In return Allen asked Ifrica to sing a soca song-Trinidad being the home of soca.

The band moved into Destra Garcia’s “In the Sky” and both Ifrica and Allen did a wonderful job.

Throughout the night there was a message of love and unity from the artistes who performed.

Before Queen Ifrica and Junior Kelly, the man with the golden voice Sanchez came on stage at 12.45 a.m. and immediately sent his audience into a “Frenzy” as he started “Here I am”.

This is one of Sanchez’s trademarks. He always turns his audience into a mass choir as they sing hit after hit during his performance.

Current chart-topper Duane Stephenson, who also performed, told the Express, “First time I hear about someone else writing my song ‘August Town’ was when I arrived here. But I not on that. I am enjoying my success and have been on tour. I just came back from the USA and before that I was in Europe – France, England, Germany. I toured for two and a half months.”

Stephenson also said he had never met local calypso icon Gypsy, the man everybody says his voice mimics to the note.

“But one of my friends from Chicago called me and told me about the resemblance of our voices.”

The 31-year-old Jamaican singer says he has been singing as a solo act for the last three years and is constantly working on building his career.

“I am not a Johnny-come-lately, I have been singing with a band called To-ISIS for nine years. I am glad I was able to do an album which took off. But even more, one song has propelled me into the limelight.”

Farmar Promotions achieved what they wanted to do with Anthems of Love-bring about love and unity and this was underscored by the performers on the night who all performed on a massive stage with international sound and lights systems in a very peaceful way. All this for an audience which showed appreciation for every song they heard on the night.
Source: Newsday

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