In addition to the guitar, Julian Marley also plays the keyboards and drums. - Contributed

By Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Julian Marley sounded eerily like his father as he sang Natural Mystic, before Ky-Mani stepped forward to honour Dear Dad as, along with Stephen and Damian, they performed at the Nine Miles Community Centre, St. Ann, on Saturday night.

However, just after Ky-Mani switched to Crazy Baldheads at the 'Smile Jamaica' concert, the lights on the large stage went out and the sound system went silent.

There were groans of disappointment, but no one moved.

In fact, Ky-Mani Marley kept moving, dancing in time to the unamplified deat of the drummer, the hissing sound of the cymbals faintly reaching the back of the large audience, which was largely quiet, watching the stage.

Flying high

A red, green and gold flag, which was being waved during the Marleys' performance, was kept high and flowing, the flagman twisting and twirling beside Ky-Mani, the white flash of a camera occasionally freezing the moment.

The audience was not to be left out, as some persons started clapping rhythmically. But it was not only the hands that spoke, but the voices, as those closest to the stage started singing the Marley song, that many who stood in front of the Berlin Wall, as parts of it were being dismantled in 1989, also sang to express their feelings.

"Don't worry, about a thing," they sang from Three Little Birds, Ky-Mani dancing and the banner flowing, its horizontal bands of colour set against the vertical swathes of black, green, gold and red that formed the backdrop to the stage.

Seven minutes after the lights went, they came back up and there were cheers, which went even higher and louder as Damian Marley leapt forward with "tell dem no draw me out" from his Confrontation, before he went into his father's War, the smiles firmly back in place at Nine Miles, St. Ann.