Christmas Joy in the Bass 2017 was a great success. So said Major Richard Cooke, president of the Joy Town Community Development Foundation, host of the event, which was held on Thursday, December 21 at the Old Ambassador Theatre in Trench Town.

“All the artistes were well received by the packed open-air theatre, with crowd favourites being Ernie Smith, Carlene Davis, Alaine and Kevin Downswell, representing a wide genre of music,” said Major Cooke. In fact, among the performers making their debut appearance on the Ambassador stage that night were: Ernie Smith, Rondell Positive and Naomi Cowan.

Major Cooke said one of the highlights of the evening was when Naomi Cowan and father Tommy Cowan, joined mother Carlene Davis-Cowan on stage to sing ‘Santa Claus do you ever come to the ghetto’, with Tommy following on with a performance of ‘Flash My Dreads’ — a take of ‘Jingle Bells’ — written by Tommy and performed by Barrington Levy in 1981.

All artistes delighted the full theatre and those watching Ready TV’s big screen outside with their strong performances. Ity and Fancy Cat helped to bring joy with their jokes and excellent rendition of excerpts of some of Bob Marley’s songs. As always, Dean Fraser blew away the audience with his mastery of the saxophone.

“The event achieved its mission to bring joy to residents of Trench Town and to focus on Christ, who is the reason for the season,” said Major Cooke.

Kevin Downswell had the members of the audience on their feet throughout his performance and got a strong response from the young people to his altar call, during which he encouraged them to transform their lives to be more caring and loving, by choosing to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

All of the 13 artistes who were booked for the show performed the event, and was free to the public. They are: Carlene Davis, Alaine, Rondell Positive, Kevin Downswell, Ernie Smith, Ity and Fancy Cat, Dean Fraser, Naomi Cowan, Carey Sayles, Spanner Banner, Ziggy Soul and the Portraits of the Word dancers, Trench Town United Men’s Choir. They were backed by the Transformation Band, sponsored by the Agency for Inner-city Renewal.

The show was produced by Glory Music, in association with Kevin Downswell Ministries, with support from Phase 3, Grizzly’s and Member of Parliament Mark Golding.