Fantastic support for Tony Rebel, Queen Ifrica, Kes & others!
Persons responded in their numbers to the line-up that included veteran Jamaican Reggae artiste Tony Rebel, “Lioness on the rise” Queen Ifrica and the ever hyped up Kes the Band out of Trinidad and Tobago. The original Showtime Band of the Virgin Islands also delivered as usual as they took the partying well into the morning.
The international artistes all belted out a mixture of smooth and high tempo music that resonated well with the mammoth crowd.
Tony Rebel took to the stage around minutes to 1 A.M. and put on a full hour of music that went back into the 90s and also sang a few songs by his fellow Jamaican reggae artistes, including Beres Hammond and the late Garnett Silk.
His more popular songs, including Fresh Vegetable and If Jah, were very well received as they probably rolled back the years for many of the patrons. He also sang one of his new tracks, Fire.
He also had some words for Premier Dr the Honourable D. Orlando Smith. “I find a solution to this country, I hope Dr Smith will listen to me…. He don’t want to legalise the good sensi,” Tony Rebel sang as the crowd burst into laughter.
Earlier, Queen Ifrica had lots of advice for especially Jamaicans living in the Virgin islands and also touched on the issues of slavery and racism in between her songs.
She told the expat Jamaican population to respect themselves and keep the peace wherever they go, noting that Jamaicans usually get in trouble wherever they go for whatever reason.
Queen Ifrica, no doubt a down to earth woman who calls it like it is, said racism was still alive many years after emancipation and it was very evident in the recent Trayvon Martin case. She noted however, there were many who condemned it including many Caucasians but called on them to speak out against it some more in order to defeat the stereotype that “whites” are racists. As for the Negro population and descendants of slaves, she said they should stop making slavery an excuse to complain and not progress as a free people.
Her hit songs included Lioness on the Rise, Below the Waist, Keep it to yourself and Daddy Don’t Touch Me there, which she said was a song against incest and sexual crimes against women. This was also sung in Spanish by Queen Ifrica, which impressed the very attentive crowd.
Other songs included Don’t Cry Mr Buntin, her new song Silly, Pot Haffi Bubble, the love single Far Away and Vampire.
Queen Ifrica also said she read on the news that there were some 14 fights at the Festiville on Tuesday night and urged the Territory to not follow in the footsteps as Jamaica where violence is concerned. She noted, however, that “Tortola” was still very much violent free compared to Jamaica and that was because it was not filled with “full alcoholics”. To the women, Queen Ifrica urged them to stick to their men or husbands through the thick and thin times as life is not always a bed of roses.
But when it came to full party mode at the Ira Oliver Skelton Festiville, it was Kes the Band who led the way. The band from Trinidad transformed the atmosphere of the Ira Oliver Skelton Festiville into full festival mode with their hit song Wotless and Bunji Garlin’s Ready for de Road among others and may certainly have patrons looking forward to the August Monday Parade and Jouvert.
The ability of the band to sing almost any song was most amazing and the energy of their performance was quite a good injection for patrons at 2 A.M. Among the many artistes imitated were Barrington Levi- Too experienced, Buju Banton- Driver, and Beenie Man- Drinking Rum and Redbull.
Among the night’s opening performers were Razor Blades; Shatta and the Crew; Maccabee, whose songs included Move with the flow of life, Call on Jah, Turn the lights down low and Where is the love?; and Shine-I, whose pieces included Have u ever?, From the Ashes??, Johnny be good and I got it Bad from his album Foundation. He also made sure to leave a few cds of his album behind with patrons.
There was also a brief appearance by Hashim Lewis.
Fight can't stop Showtime!
The final act for the night was the popular Showtime Band who did quite a good job of maintaining the tempo set by Kes the Band and holding the crowd. However, their performance was interrupted briefly when a fight broke out at one end of the crowd. The band members were obviously upset at the incident and could be heard calling on the police to intervene as punches were being thrown.
A swarm of police officers soon had the situation under control and one of the alleged offenders was seen being escorted in handcuffs out of the festiville. Determined to not let the fight spoil their fun, patrons quickly fixed their attention back on staged as Showtime continued skillfully where they left off.
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11 Responses to “Fantastic support for Tony Rebel, Queen Ifrica, Kes & others!”
Great Show, Kes d boss. looking forward to tonite
Looking forward in seen Richie Spice & Etana tonight. Tortola already running red and nuff ah brown skin out tonight, matter fact! the plane just land, Richie Spice to the world, Etana, we go way way way away way so looking forward and see she live tonight. yow leave home the toys we need that all all in tola tonight, be mindful of other, please Rude Boy, please for you & I and all of we, if you going out, come with a mind to having fun.
Booooooooooooooooooooooooooom BVI Festival Big UP'S