Entertainment

Women make impact at 'Rebel Salute'

By MEL COOKE, Freelance Writer

Nadine Sutherland performing at 'Rebel Salute' held last Saturday at Port Kaiser, St. Elizabeth. - Carlington Wilmot

Western Bureau:

THEY CAME FROM 'yard' and 'broad'. They were established and not quite well known. They sang, they spoke, they deejayed.

They were the women of Rebel Salute 2004.

The speakers got in early, as Marsha Hall and Cherry Natural were among the poets who started the show at Port Kaiser, St. Elizabeth, off on a good note on Saturday night. Ms. Hall had, among her well received pieces, Wanted and Copyrights on Rastas.

Queen Omega out of Trinidad but sounding more 'yard' than anything else was in good form, starting out with Jahmazing Grace, a take-off of the popular hymn. From there she moved to Soul Rebel and then declared herself a Ganja Baby, singing:

I am a ganja baby

Sometimes my friends call me a ganja lady

With a cry of 'dash it whey', Omega ended her set with an a capella song of encouragement, telling the thousands inside the venue that 'we can make it if we try'.

From the 'broad' to right in the parish that Rebel Salute 2004 was staged in, Sweet C from St. Elizabeth opened with an appeal to the Almighty "to save I/Don't let them persecute I". She moved on to a song of repatriation, declaring that "we are Buffalo Soldiers". She reeled off the names of several African countries in rhyming pattern, moving easily from melody to hardcore rhythm riding.

She had words for the deejays who "keep up foolishness a STING" and encouraged Black women to take their rightful place.

Again Sweet C went into the rhyming of names, naming from Miss Lou to Winnie Mandela among the heroines.

Her latest release, a song about her man being insecure ("mi cyaan uinderstan' how yu so insecure/yu still correspon' wid yu gal a Portmore..") ended her set but Sweet C earned an encore for which she did a take-off of Faith, which she reworked as a marijuana ode.

The depth of the women on Rebel Salute was signified by the fact that Nadine Sutherland and Queen Ifrica came up in time slots where normally only men are seen on stage.

Ms. Sutherland kicked off the slot with Live Wire band after 3:00 a.m., opening with Babyface. As the audience rocked to the clear vocals on the heavy bassline, Ms. Sutherland said "I am going to sing some songs and if you know them sing with me Rebel Salute."

'Some songs' turned out to be a dip into Garnett Silk's catalogue, starting with Splashing Dashing and continuing with Zion In A Vision. The people at Rebel Salute definitely knew the songs as they sang along, then Ms. Sutherland turned I'm Alive into a reggae jam before cutting back to Babyface.

Then it was time for dancehall - the combinations, that is. There was Nadine and Buju Banton, Nadine and Beenie Man, Terror Fabulous and Buju Banton and Nadine and Terror again. They were not there, but a chuckling, dancing Ms. Sutherland filled in the deejays' sections on Anything For You and Action quite capably, at one time chanting:

A Nadine Sutherland pon de mike yu know

Mi jus' a deejay an a rock it so

The audience rocked right along.

Queen Ifrica was introduced as daughter of royalty at close to 4:00 a.m. and immediately opened with a caution against violence, singing:

Before you take your brother's life

Remember his children will be fatherless tonight

She alternately sang and deejayed, both to good effect.

"Mi a go cut mi set short tonight," Ifrica said. "Mi know sey de I dem ben cause Babylon tek whey oonu weed. When Rebel Salute sey no drugs we naa talk ganja," Ifrica continued. She went into a weed ode that ignited the audience, deejaying in a husky tone that sat perfectly on the rhythm. While the thousands of people at Port Kaiser seemed to love every moment they reached 'higher highs' when she chanted 'mi sure it mek man wuk propa'.

Ifrica wrapped up with another song against violence, declaring 'the streets are bloody/they just kill somebody'.

Earlier, Lady Saw was a great guest with Iley Dread on the two's remake of Walk and Don't Look Back.

As Abijah said when he came on, "mi love fi see show like dis cause we see more women. Yeah. Give thanks fi dat."