If you are a Jamaican and love Sports and the Arts, it is
quiet likely you look forward to four (4) premium events annually. Jamaica Jazz
& Blues Festival, Champs, Carnival and Reggae Sumfest. Now, I am not for a
minute suggesting that the high end parties like Osmosis, Smudge, Absinthe,
Good Times, Yesterdays and the like aren’t super events, but truth is, they are
just parties or as some would like to say “one night stands”.
For those of you who weren’t there, Sumfest 2012 was a good
look… good stage production, quick band changes when it was necessary, good
stage sets by majority of the artistes and excellent use of the venue for some
sponsors, namely; Pepsi-Cola, Red Stripe and Craven A who all had excellent
executions.
Now, I am ole-school and firm in my belief that Shabba’s
mastery of lyrical content and his unbelievable ability to flow lyrics on just
about any rhythm (as Jamaica’s would say; “di man a ride di riddim wicked”),
makes him in my opinion the best dancehall DJ ever. When Shabba hit the stage
in the early hours of Saturday morning, it was his first time performing on a
Jamaican stage in 11 long years, a hiatus that made many wonder if the two time
grammy award winning dancehall artiste had lost touch with the music.
Well, when Shabba touch the stage and declare himself
present with his trademark intro… “A me man, big dutty sticking Shabba” di
place mash up... Dun… Kapput!!! Compared to the night before which is the
dancehall night on the festival, Shabba tun
up di decibel to a whole new level with hits after hits… ‘Get up, Stan up & Rock’, ‘Peenie Peenie’, ‘X-Rated’, ‘Hall fi
Buddy’, ‘Womb Turner’ and ‘Bed Wuk’ had me and the rest of the fifteen
thousand plus in Catherine Hall in a blaze.
As I said before, I am ole-school so you know me and my
brothers were waiting for the roots and culture segment of the performance and
the man did not disappoint at all; di man real off, ‘Oil up all a di gun dem’,
‘Just reality’ and ‘Roots and Culture’ and I thought it was all over by the
shouting, only to see the amazingly beautiful and super sexy songstress Cherine
Anderson joining the Ranks on stage for a series of duets, that included: ‘Telephone Love’, ‘Mr. Lover Man’, ‘Twice
my Age’ and ‘Gyal yuh Pretty’. People I will not lie to you, I was a little
jealous since I have a small soft spot for Cherine, but yuh dun know, mi just
gwaan ole it an ting (LOL).
Suffice to say, Shabba made an epic return to the dancehall
stage at a time when there is such a huge void in the business, but what was
truly masterful about his return wasn’t just his performance of the songs, but at
the end of his performance when he was presented with a special award by Lisa
Hanna – Minister of Youth, Culture and Community; Shabba showed his years,
maturity and class when he invited on stage with him, his wife Michelle (you will
recall Michy Boo in many of his songs) and his two grown sons both of whom he
told us are University honor students. At the end of his introductions, he
remarked; “This is wha mi de a farin a
do” and went on to say “a nuh gunshot alone come outta di ghetto”.
I don’t know about anybody else but I felt proud of the man
and his achievements with his two sons at a time when so many influences are
upon on our children and living in a household where your father is a dancehall
god with some of the most explicit lyrics ever written and produced, yet his
boys are mastering academia. Proud of you Shabba… keep doing your thing boss
and we are all now waiting on some new recordings to start dropping fast,
dancehall need you now!!!
Thank you Reggae Sumfest for introducing in my opionion, Jamaica’s
greatest exponent of dancehall to a generation of youngsters who have never
seen Shabba Ranks before much less watch him perform live and in living colour,
you’ve done the music a great service.
Love & Respect!
Follow me on twitter Maninja2
Find me on Facebook Donovan White
Nice article. I was front and centre at Sumfest watching Shabba perform for the first time and I must say I was quite intrigued and entertained. Definitely understood what my older counterparts meant about 'a new generation seeing what a real performance is'. And of course I loved the fact that he promoted the idea of education and family values - hopefully it serves as an example to the youths wanting to be artistes that they need much more than a voice and a record.
ReplyDeleteStacy, you definitely had a birds see view and as to what a real performance should look like, you and all consumers of entertainment need to demand more of what you saw in Shabba from every entertainer... nothing more or less just value for your money.
DeleteExcellent article. Well written. Respect Shabba. A man who worked to elevate himself and his family. The younger artist can learn from him, if they make it their choice.
ReplyDeleteThey definitely can on so many levels, let's hope they take the opportunity to watch and learn from the man who has done it all.
DeleteHe was an excellent performer on stage as well...made good use of the stage and constantly engaged his audience by taking them on his well orchestrated musical journey. The best I have seen him performed on stage.
ReplyDeletePLK
I wouldn't say it was his best performance I have ever seen because I have seen him do some awesome things on stage back in the days, but this one ranks way up there.
DeleteExcellent piece, well said. In my opinion one of the best performance of the 3-days' staged event. As an avid fan of Shabba, one who has been listening to his collections over the years and only seeing exerpts of his performance on television, it was a whole new and exciting experience to have bird's eye view of this stella performance. As Donovan rightly said Cherine added the strawberry to the icecream, matching Shabba's act toe to toe.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tania... The man is a winner in every sense of the word. Don't forget his presentation entering the stage in a black and white tux full bow tie ensemble... cho; pure class if you ask me!!!
ReplyDeleteShabba is beyond excellence and I hope that show organizers see that we have stars that rival international artistes in audience pulling power and performance. Now for them to bring Supercat so I can relive the best years of my youth.
ReplyDeletePure excellence Charms... and Oh yes, Supa Cat needs to toy don the stage locally again... real dancehall!!!
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