JAMAICAN folk songs have the ability to express every single emotion and tell a myriad of stories.

This was evident during the recent staging of the annual concert season of the Jamaican Folk Singers held at the Little Theatre in St Andrew.

The legacy of the group’s founder, the late Dr Olive Lewin, to protect and preserve our folk through music is rich and enduring throughout the more than two-hour performance.

Kudos are definitely in order for the entire cast who put on a splendid show, but in particular to musical director Christine McDonald Nevers, who continues to shoulder the yeoman task of preparing the group for its season, as well as lending her efficient contralto to every song on the night’s programme.

This year, McDonald Nevers and her team presented a virtual history lesson through folk music and it was interesting to see how it all played out under the various themes.

The first half of the show saw themes such as food taking centre stage. Folk favourites and standards such as Mango Time, Solas Market, Linstead Market, Cocoa Finga and Mi Cahfi, all represented local gastronomy to a ‘T’.

However, the singers should be careful to preserve every aspect of the genre. In Finga to Finga, while naming various types of bananas, Gros Michel was pronounced based on its French origin (grow mishel) as opposed to the colloquial interpretation ‘gross mitchell’ which lies at the heart of the music.

Relationships are another integral park of folk music and whether it was looking for love, being in love, or falling out of love, there was a folk song or two to express this. One Firetick, Fanny, Lizzie Jane Sunday Day Clothes were among the songs rendered to perfection. And when the audience thought it could not get any better, the perennial favourite, Fi Me Love (Lion Heart Gal) was dropped in for good measure.

The games children play interspersed with duppy stories was also told through Boogo Yahma, Duppy Laugh, Come to See Janie, and Banyan Tree.

The second segment saw McDonald Nevers and her singers offering a tutorial on the genre.

The presentation would wrap with a spirited presentation which looked at folk music through Rastafari, Revival and Kumina. The latter truly brought the house down.

— Richard Johnson