Royal family pleases crowd at Argyle show

A tropical wave, which affected the island, caused the anticipated turn-out at Saturday night’s Morgan Heritage show to fall below expectations. However, the night will long time be remembered by fans who braved the weather and journeyed to the P’Tani Resorts at Argyle for the big event.

Since their stunning performance at the 1992 Reggae Sunsplash, Morgan Heritage, dubbed the Royal Family of Reggae, has become well known for touching the hearts and souls of fans across the Caribbean and the world over.{{more}}

Saturday night was no exception.

The fans got their money’s worth, and relished a top class performance. When Morgan Heritage brought the curtains down on the night, patrons were still calling for more.

With raindrops bathing his face, lead vocalist Peter Morgan paved the way for the scintillating performance from the very first line.

He was well supported by his brothers Roy “Gramps” Morgan on keyboards and vocals, Nakhamyah “Lukes” Morgan on rhythm guitar and Memo “Mr Mojo” Morgan on drums.

Gramps stole the ladies’ hearts with his soulful voice. He was their favourite and, singing the lyrics of “She’s Still Loving Me” from the 2003 Three in One album, clearly established this as the female patrons rocked to the music.

Singing one of their greatest tunes ever “Don’t Haffi Dread” from their 1999 album, Morgan Heritage, instantly aroused a consciousness among the fans, dreadlocks and non-dreadlocks.

“It is not a colour thing. It is not a dreadlocks thing. It is a divine conception of the heart,” sang Peter Morgan, stressing the importance of the content of one’s character rather than such concerns as hairstyle.

Though the band members are Rastafarians, Peter Morgan pointed out that one does not have to wear the customary dreadlocks to embrace Rastafarianism.

Morgan Heritage also used the opportunity to give the crowd a taste of their hit single from their 2004 Drop Leaf Riddim, where they underpinned the message that sometimes a lover is closer than a best friend. The lyrics told of a story where a best friend was enticing the lover of that friend to have an affair. Morgan Heritage followed this track with other hits off the Drop Leaf Riddim done by other artistes such as Sizzla, Jah Cure, and Bounty Killer.

The band did not fail to usher praise on modern stalwarts of Roots Reggae such as Luciano, Buju Banton, Anthony B, and Sizzla.

Born in New York, the band, which is now Jamaica-based, consists of five of the 29 children of Delroy Morgan, former lead vocalist of the Black Eagles.