Beenie Man

With dancehall kingpin Beenie Man reportedly pulling a record number of music fans into the Mindoo Phillip Park on opening night and British reggae band UB40 performing on closing night before the largest crowd seen at the historic Pigeon Island, the reggae sound Jamaica was the main ingredient at the beginning and end of the 2005 edition of the St Lucia Jazz Festival.

Arriving in Castries for the final weekend of the 10-day fiesta this writer was greeted in the St Lucian capital with rave revues of Beenie Man's performance with one news magazine describing his every move, chant and song as "a moment of great entertainment".

Other Jamaican acts that added spice to the 14 year-old festival, were Little Kirk, Dean Fraser, Seretse Small, Monty Alexander and Ernie Ranglin. The fireworks which lit the night skies signalling the end of what was an exciting event, were indeed a fitting end and the appropriate icing on the cake for the festival.

But in a real way, the fireworks started when every song by UB40 was celebrated with riotous screams and great frenzy as the band celebrating its 25th anniversary set the stage ablaze with their remake of some reggae classics like Lord Creator's Kingston Town (one of their best-sellers), Johnny You Too Bad, Wear You To The Ball, Come Back Darling, Red Red Wine, Falling In Love With You as well as a taste of their new album, What You Fighting For, which include The Manhattans' smash hit, Kiss and Say Goodbye. After leaving the stage for several minutes, during which time the crowd kept shouting for UB40, they returned to do two additional numbers.

But the festival wasn't all about reggae. There were other delights, such as the 2004 American Idol, Fantasia (Barrino), who after a year, is seen as a rhythm and blues superstar.

The North Carolina-born pop diva, who beat out 70,000 contestants for the US$1million contract with Clive Davis' J Records, warmed the crowd with her winning entry I Believe and body-moving rhythms.

After nearly an hour of utter frenzy, it was evident that her stardom will last, as Fantasia boasts the charisma and charm to support her wide-ranging voice, and it's a virtual guarantee that we'll see and hear more of her in the years to come.

Crowd-pleasing performances also came from the Isley Brothers who, like the title of their album Mission to Please, did just that with vintage songs such as Love The One You're With and Bob Dylan's Lay Lady Lay, It's Your Thing, among many others.

Tracy Hamlin, the soulful lead vocalist from Pieces of a Dream, also gave a satisfying performance. So too the New Edition who rendered a party set on Friday evening with some old-school favourites, guitarist Earl Klugh with some cool modern jazz numbers, saxophonist Dave Koz in that vain as well and St Lucia's rising star Robert Zi' Taylor, the dreadlocked saxophonist/singer who in the early 1990s opened for such reggae acts as Buju Banton, Beenie Man, Beres Hammond, Steel Pulse and Maxi Priest.

Cameal: Sittin' On Top

Laws of Men

Alton Ellis hailed a musical icon