IT was an evening of reggae/rock last Friday at Redbones Blues Café where no less than six fusion bands performed on the third Rock Paper Scissors show.

It was staged in partnership with Kingston On The Edge (KOTE) Urban Arts Festival.

The event got off to a quiet start with poet Moje, daughter of influential drummer Oswald ‘Count Ossie’ Williams. She entertained with Your, I Can Be, Divine Love, and A Message.

She was followed by Abbebe, another spoken word performer who saluted the late “ganja-logical” poet Jason ‘Ganja’ Cruickshank with pieces like Forever Now, Original Nyah, Rail Up Nubian, and Schmood.

It was then time for the bands, led by Skaibrid performing Next Door Neighbour and Roman Arcade. From The Deep with lead singer/guitarist Inilek Wilmot, performed an interesting set which included Bob Marley’s Work, and the originals Afrocentic, Kingston Hot and Common Sense. Random Chaos, with leader/vocalist/guitarist, Dominique Brown, founder and organiser of Rock Paper Scissors, delivered an enjoyable set built around Someone to Love, Fury Oh Fury and Shameless. But it was the heavy metal of Downstairs that really reverberated with the large audience. Opening with Dennis Brown’s Should I, Downstairs maintained their intensity throughout on Sweet Dreams, Legs On My Shoulder and Gregory Isaacs’ Love Overdue, their encore.

It was a hard set for the Black Colt band to follow, but they were up to the task, scoring with another Dennis Brown anthem, If I Had The World and Ghetto Struggle.

Dubtonic Kru wrapped Rock Paper Scissors in fine style.

Frontman Kamau’s conscious lyrics and popping percussion was on par with throbbing basslines, psychedelic guitar riffs and steady drumming on We Shall Overcome, Murderer, Marley’s Roots, Rock, Reggae and Black Uhuru’s Shine Eye Gal.

The event was not limited to music. Works by visual artists Stefan Clarke, Phillip Clayton and Brendon Wesley were on show as well as body organics by Racquel D’Cambre, Petrus, Esther Beckford, K Kegan, Wright, and Lynch.

Brown told the Jamaica Observer she was pleased with the performances. “I just wanted an event that all my mad friends could show their arts. And I also wanted to showcase some of the great underground music and musicians of Jamaica,” she said.