Scores of reggae lovers recently flocked to ‘Future Reggae’, a boutique reggae show held at Johnny’s Place in St Andrew to herald the emergence of a new generation of reggae artistes.

The talented Zhayna closed the show with a tight set that reflected her maturity as a performing artiste as she commanded the stage with her sparkling personality and her silky smooth vocals.

She wowed the audience with ‘Runaway’ before pausing for some light chit-chat with the crowd.

“You and the person ever a war but oonu love each other?” she asked the crowd as she introduced her next song.

She then belted ‘Love And War at Christmas’ and her ruby red earrings were a nice touch as she spoke about a domestic break-up-to-make-up scenario at Christmas.

Zhayna paused again to chat with the audience.

“This ah fi all the man dem who feel dem can do what dem want to do and don’t get ketch. Mek mi drink water first,” she said to shouts of “believe” from the audience. Then she powered through a remix of the Bounty Killer-Barrington Levy hit, ‘Living Dangerously’ with her own special flourishes.

A consummate performer, she even showcased her own Bogle move, much to the delight of the audience which whooped and cheered. Then she did ‘Outside’ where she once again showed off her impeccable stage craft by inviting an audience member onstage to do Latin dance moves.

Zhayna raised the temperature inside the club with a sex-soaked version of Attention with the help of artiste DL, and then closed strongly with ‘Baby I Love the Way’.

The show started off about an hour late with all four of the performers doing songs together. The festivities started with Zhayna singing Dawn Penn’s ‘No No No’ like a hurt female with an accusatory tone, and then teamed up with King Diel to do ‘I Wanna Love You’, while Sobah did ‘Leaving’, and teamed up with Prince Malachi to render a delightful version of ‘Turn Your Lights Down Low’.

Later, all four would return to the stage as an ensemble showing tight harmonies and great chemistry, even singing each other’s songs with perfect pitch, to bring the curtains down on the event.

Sobah, the daughter of reggae artiste Lymie Murray, impressed during a bubbly delightful set which included renditions of Tina Turner’s Proud Mary, as well as, ‘Just the Two of Us’, a duet with her father, a barefooted Lymie Murray. She saved her best for last with ’10 Fly Dumpling’, a charming romantic song about love and food.

King Diel showed great promise with original songs like ‘Sorry’ which he interspersed with Kartel’s Virginity, and closed strongly with the standout song, ‘Pretty Little Melanin’ which had the girls in a tizzy.

Last weekend’s showcase of ‘Future Reggae’ appeared to be teasing the possibility that a new reggae movement is in gestation, bubbling with energy in utero, just waiting to be born. The producers used flouroescent table stands, and even an AI-powered emcee to create a futuristic feel. They also used dual TV screens with short interviews of each artiste which was broadcast before each individual set. It was like a bookmark, a milestone announcing the start of a new epoch of reggae.

“They are the future of reggae, this is Future Reggae,” a female computerised AI-sounding voice announced.

“Please prepare yourself. Future reggae begins now.”
That futuristic AI voice may just be right.