Clash of the Bands – a night of nostalgia

by Dexter Rose

It was spectacular night of rhythm, song and yes, nostalgia, as the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC), last Saturday staged Clash of the Bands, the second of four monthly offerings leading up the 40th Anniversary of June/July Vincy Mas.

The show kicked off early, with the pride and joy of Barrouallie, Resurrection, with a very spirited set of mostly covers that took one back to the seventies. Their vocalist displayed remarkable versatility as he moved through their set, which could not exclude their “Going back to Firewood”.

This show proved perhaps more attractive to the over-40 public and harked back to an era when Vincy Mas was dominated by live bands on the streets and the dance halls offered live entertainment. Thus, the audience converging at the Arnos Vale Sporting complex was slow in arriving, on a rather cool evening of a day which had seen a morning of downpours.

Such was the anticipation that SEARCHLGHT began streaming Live on Facebook, only to be stopped for a brief period.

Better sense, however, prevailed and the Vincentians in the diaspora were permitted to share the moment in real time, as their appetites were whetted for what certainly would be a homecoming for many for July Mas 40.

The Sion Hill Steel Orchestra provided a pleasant interlude, but as often happens, their mastery of the pan was not properly felt, hampered as they were by the challenges of microphoning. One heard much more clearly the tenor pans, with the bass lost in the mix.

Then it was the turn of an ensemble which, since their emergence from the BDS sound stables, had undergone several permutations from Blacksand to HottSand to HSPhaktor. It was Phaktor, then, which exploded onstage. A broad repertoire of mega hits flowed from the talented vocal trio of Madzart, Shaunelle McKenzie and Bomani. The Phaktor played, danced, harmonized and performed an exciting set, which took the audience back to their beginnings with “Jump like an African,” sung by the band’s bassist, and moved through signature songs “Poor People Song”, “Who Am I” and “Wet and Wild,” which launched what are now successful solo careers for all three of the band’s frontline singers.

One wishes another solution could have been found to ensure a flow from one band right to the next without breaking the visual impact onstage. The wait, however, was not too long before two artistes, in the persons of Luta de Crowd Motivator and the evergreen Pat Ragguette who flew in from her Virgin Islands base to SIGNAL from whence both had come. Pat looked not one year older than she was when this band first graced SVG dancehalls with Papa Das upfront. Both performers were appropriately dressed: Luta in his white baggy pants and headband and Pat in shorts and flowing tresses. Theirs was a set that took us back to “BamBam Rollers” and “Busy Tone,” alongside covers of popular hits of the day.

The crowd, sadly, refused to really grow in proportion to the quality of entertainment on display. The CDC must certainly be evaluating whether the $50 asked in the middle of the month was too much.

X-A Dus took the stage, first with a moment’s silence in honour of their fallen frontman Gerard ‘Rasum’ Shallow and then welcoming back from the United Kingdom Ken ‘Wizzy’ Wiseman, to dig into their treasure chest of original hits, including “Perseverance” interpreted by Marvo Morgan, one of the two female vocalists (the other being Sheri Smith Cuffe), “Swivel Dance” and “Baila Sanka”. For good measure, Wizzy performed a ballad “Don’t let the Sun go down,” before ending with “Doh Bend Down”.

The last of the bands of yesteryear was the very special, five-man, all-original-playing TOUCH. This band still remains one of the cleanest sounding set-ups this nation has produced and it showed in their superb compositions, vocals and musicianship. Gideon James (drums) and Ifill Shortte (bass) were back to join guitarist Godfrey Dublin on vocals, with the steady wizardry of Willis Williams and Bryan Alexander on assorted keys to please. These are the “Loving Can’t Done”, “Jam Dem”, “Back Off”, “Man Cyah tek Butt” and “Kangaroo” crew at their best. What Touch lacks in showmanship, they compensate for in musical and vocal excellence and their fans rocked and grooved through their set which, as always, proved to be too short. Always a pleasure listening this un-TOUCH able set-up.

KNetik of today, with musicians from yesteryear, rounded out the night with Soca and Road March Monarch Hypa 4000 and Fireman Hooper putting a fitting end to a great CDC effort. Vincy Mas 40th Anniversary promises bigger things yet.