JAVAA scores big with Ja 50 Salute
THE Jamaica Association of Vintage Artistes and Affiliates (JAVAA) concert at the Red Bones Blues Café in New Kingston on Friday night was a celebration of Jamaica’s 50th anniversary of Independence.
It was real top-class entertainment of reggae’s timeless numbers.
The Unique Vision Band backed all the acts through the various genres that have featured over the past 50 years. With band vocalist Andrew Cassanova kicking things off with Left With A Broken Heart and Travelling Man before passing the baton to Andrew Francis, the stage was sit for a night of vintage music.
Francis sang the Spinners’ 40- year-old hit Could It Be I’m Falling In Love, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap’s Young Girl (stay out of my mind), and Al Wilson’s Show and Tell to a receptive audience.
Apart from her opening number, Adele’s Someone Like You, Charmaine Limonius’ stint was mainly a musical suite of Jamaican festival songs. Accompanied by her guitar, it was now Baba Boom Time (The Jamaicans’ Festival Song of 1967), Desmond Dekker and Aces’ Unity, and Eric Donaldson’s Land of My Birth.
Veteran balladeer Keith Lyn could do no wrong.
Starting with his perennial Empty Chairs, the former lead vocalist for Byron Lee’s Dragonaires, was not “all alone” as patrons sang along with him. Like Empty Chairs, no performance of Keith Lyn can be completed without Jamaica Ska. Demonstrating his agility, he also worked up storm as he took his leave with another ska number I Don’t Love Anymore (Bye Bye Baby I’m Gone).
Dwight Pinkney, veteran guitarist/singer/songwriter, who best known for his hit on vocals Nengy Nengy, with which closed his set, was his usual smooth self. He did justice on the fretboard in salute of Bob Marley and the Wailers’ Nice Time, Jammin, No Woman No Cry as well as his originals How Could I Live (instrumental version) made popular by Dennis Brown and Dwightlight Zone which is a take off from the old standard Twilight Zone.
The night’s other female performer Keisha Patterson was a hit with Etta James’ At Last, I Rather Be Alone but her delivery of What About Me, answered the question. It revealed her musical finesse. Baggadito brought the show to a close on a high note, performing vintage numbers like Book of Rules, My Love Call, Wide Awake in a Dream and Behold.
