With more concise sets imposed on this year’s

27th staging of Rebel Salute, many artistes may choose to take the selfish

route, excluding guest appearances from their set. This is not the case for

reggae, ital crooner I-Wayne, who plans to use his set as a platform to expose

emerging artistes.

“Mi ting spontaneous and unlimited,

sometimes mi work solo and sometimes mi have some young artistes weh mi a bring

so patrons can expect fi see mi a give some young talent a chance,” the Lava Ground singer told BUZZ. “This mean seh mi goodly

rush through the first part of the set just fi get to the part weh mi can give

them enough strength cause me get enough already, so mi waan share the strength

and share di stage with some young talent. That’s my main thing.”

I-Wayne is slated to perform on night two of

the festival (January 18), being held at Grizzly’s Plantation Cove, St Ann. He

is expected to highlight aspiring acts Mr Bertus, with whom he shares the

collaboration They Have No Love, and

Dusty Vibes, a featured performer on his song Hundred Spliff released a year ago.

‘Dem sound good’

The Rebel Salute stage has proved fruitful for young acts over the years, most notably with Koffee who formed part of Coco Tea’s set at the 2018 staging.

I-Wayne is no stranger to promoting upcoming artistes, and he didn’t disappoint when he brought singer Jahnell Eccles on stage at Tarrus Riley’s free concert in December.

“Sometimes mi trod wid some ones weh nuh really know it so well, but sometimes mi trod with some real professionals,” he said. “Sometime people seh some of di artistes dem nuh good, and a just mi friend weh mi waan help, but mi sure seh Jahnell can sing, and the team weh mi a trod wid now a some professionals and dem sound good too.”

No religious warfare

For his own performance, fans can anticipate the hits and I-Wayne’s usual unapologetic forthrightness about his Rastafarian beliefs. Interestingly, he is pleased that gospel artistes are also on the roster to sing about their own beliefs.

“Mi really admire the fact that dem (festival organisers) nuh limited by no type of religion or no religious warfare. So when mi see dem invite gospel artistes like Stitichie and Glacia Robinson over the years, a nuh religious war, yuh a give dem a chance to free up themselves,” he said. “Some of the ones weh a keep dem gospel ting can free up themselves too and know seh dem can call Rasta to come sing, we nah start no religious war.”