Music Is The Rod, a show dedicated to Garnet Silk, takes place April 3 at Footprints Cafe in New Kingston.

The show features five artistes who will perform original songs as well as their favourite song by the singer, who died in December 1994 at age 28.

Bridgett Anderson, Silk’s former manager, told the Jamaica Observer that Aaron Silk (Garnet’s younger brother), Nature Ellis, Marlon Brown, Jah Nelson (from Suriname), and Ama from Ghana are the confirmed acts.

Anderson said the show is a ‘Earthstrong’ celebration for Silk’s family.

Garnet Silk, his father, and son Garnet Smith Jr, were born on April 2, 1 and 3, respectively.

“It’s not a Garnet Silk tribute, what I’m doing in my own right as somebody who worked with Garnet is to take one of his songs, which is Music Is The Rod, and ask the artistes to sing about truth and rights which is what he stood for,” she explained.

Anderson first met Garnet Silk in St Thomas in 1992 as he was preparing to perform at a dance in that parish. She said he was keen to break out of the sound system scene and become a serious artiste.

Born in Manchester, he was previously known as Bimbo, a deejay who performed with sound systems in his home parish such as Destiny Outanational. He got to show his mettle as a live act in 1992 at Eastern Consciousness in St Thomas.

“When he began singing Seven Spanish Angels it was magical, angelic. Tony Rebel introduced me to him and Anthony Rochester, who was Garnet’s writer, and I started attending dances after that because Garnet was still a dancehall artiste at the time,” Anderson recalled.

She began managing the singer in 1992, which was his breakout year. Silk scored with songs such as It’s Growing, Fill Us Up With Your Mercy, and The Rod.

He was at the peak of his game at the time of his death. Silk was scheduled to be one of the headliners for Sting on Boxing Day 1994 along with Tony Rebel, Luciano, and Capleton.

On December 9, three days before his death, Garnet Silk performed
Fight Back, his hit song with Richie Stephens, alongside that singer at the Mirage nightclub in Kingston.

Anderson said she last saw and spoke with him two days before he died in a fire at his mother’s house in Manchester.