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Buju Rocks Kensington Oval

Ten years is a long time. It’s even longer when you have to go without hearing the gravel sounding voice of reggae legend Buju Banton live and direct. Barbadian fans were relieved from their agony on Saturday night when the strains of ‘Our father, who art in Zion’ echoed through Kensington Oval. Some opening lines backstage of Destiny and then finally the tall figure of Buju glided effortlessly across the stage as he chanted ‘I wanna rule my Destiny’. While he certainly has a chance now to rule his destiny in terms of the choices he makes going forward, for an hour and fifteen minutes he ruled over the masses at Kensington. Hit after hit poured forth effortlessly, and it was lapped up by a crowd thirsty for good reggae music.  It’s Not an Easy road gave way to strains of Close One Yesterday.

There was one breathtaking moment when the band went quiet, then the poignant strains of a saxophone broke the haunting silence with a riveting intro. The guitarist then proceeded to strum the first strains of Untold Stories. It was at this moment that you knew that Buju had soared to the level of reggae spiritual stardom reserved for an elect few. ‘When mama spend her last and send you go class never you ever play’ he chided, a sobering reminder of the quality of his lyrics and intended impact on society. A voice crying for the masses while imploring change to leaders and inspiring the downtrodden.

The lovers were not left out. Wanna Be Loved, Love Sponge and One to One were delivered with aplomb. It was a performance Barbados had waited for and interspersed with some bashment selections whetted the appetite of the dancehall minded partygoers of the 90s era. Mr. Nine reminded the youths of the dangers of guns and introduced a spiritual dialogue where he encouraged the youths to not fall prey to the pressures of society. It was telling that Murderer would follow later.

What more is there to be said? I could go on and on but the full will never be told.  Welcome back Buju as we wait patiently to welcome you back again.

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Sweet Soca Dilemma

What is Sweet Soca? Is it soca that is groovy or just simply soca that is sweet? The criteria restrictive stance adopted by the organisers of Soca Royale has resulted in the decimation of the category so soca that was once the main drawing card at the event. Is it to say that a party song has to be fast? The category of Sweet Soca was designed just for those slower songs. Yet we have a case where Sweet Soca was won by a song more suited for the Party Monarch category. The very songs that the Sweet Soca category was created to protect had no answer to the infection sped up version of “Boat Ride”. Time to relook the restrictions on the Party Monarch category.

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Foreday Morning Letdown

The stage was set for the biggest jump every in the history of Barbados. This has been bumper year for crop over 2015 with the music offerings being of exceptional quality and event after event catering to sellout crowds. Deejays had no end of music to select from. To the dismay of the thousands looking on at the merry revelers there was no steady diet of crop over 2015 offerings. Deejays inexplicably chose to play Trinidad carnival offerings, even going in the archives on occasion to drown the masses in CSME servings. Am I saying that only Bajan music should be played? Yes I am. Unless it is a tune released specifically for Crop Over Ricardo Drue on the rhythm take a bow with Professional Drinker on the Groove Theory rhythm then it should not be played. Not when people like Fadda Fox are sounding so nice  but can’t even get a look in by the deejays. Owning a radio station can help with getting airplay. Maybe artistes now need to own their own foreday band to get their tunes heard on road for Foreday morning. Let’s hope there will not be a repeat on Kadooment day.

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