Alison Hinds - File

By Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

It was a night of sensational fun for many students last Friday night at 'J'ouvert', the Caribbean night's edition, held at the Students' Union, UWI, Mona. Wild dancing dominated the event as drunk, and tipsy patrons wined out the night to soca and a few dancehall and rap tunes before getting covered in paint to make their rounds round the Ring Road.

When the STAR team arrived at the venue at midnight, they were greeted with a never-ending line of patrons eager to get in and get on bad. Inside, patrons had already started enjoying themselves as the girls gyrated, jumped and put on a show for the cameras at the front of the stage. Coppershot set the mood with hits such as I Command You and Follow the Leader, among others. After a bit of soca, they slipped into a few dancehall tunes for the girls such as Macka Diamond's Bun Him, and Aidonia's Ukku as the ladies 'tick tocked' and the more adventurous ones hit the floor with a few acrobatic moves.

With the belief that what happens in the party stays in the party, some students went all out as the males lifted them up and hoisted them on the nearest wall, fence or tree. The Coppershot selectors mashed up the place with Beyonce's Irreplaceable with the counteraction To the Right before making way for Bloodline. By 2 a.m., the venue was packed as Bloodline brought back the soca vibe with Dollar Wine, and then went into a series of rap hits showing why they were hot. As they moved into Hustler, one young man cried out "I'm a hustler; I sold my ticket for $500 and still got in!"

Despite being a soca fête, dancehall was a regular on the turntables. However, the selectors got booed as they went into some Beenie Man tunes. Hoping to win the hearts of the crowd, they delivered some tracks from Bounty Killer, but these received the same treatment as the Beenie Man joints. Before changing the song, the selector cried "Unnu caan kill my vibes!" going to Erup's Seh Dem a Gangsta, to the pleasure of the crowd.

Around 3 a.m., it was time for Bass Xcess to take over, as they tried to mix in some 2007 soca music. While one or two went over well with the audience, the majority only seemed to kill some of the vibe that was steaming before. Patrons could be heard complaining as the selectors continued with purely new soca songs. One man said he couldn't wait for Kurt Riley so that he could go back on the dance floor once again.

The animal's back

He got his wish 30 minutes later when the party animal, Kurt Riley, brought back the party to fever pitch as he asked the crowd to make space in the centre of the dance floor. Persons with flags from various countries came to the centre and to Machel Montano's Torro Torro, they ran down the line created with their flags held high as patrons threw water in the air. Instead of carrying a flag, some students lifted another student in the air and ran with him/her down the line and back.

Riley prepped the students for the Bajan invasion, the surprise guest artiste, the queen of soca herself, Alison Hinds. It was Hinds' first time at a UWI event and the screams of excited patrons ushered her on stage. Hinds was energetic as she said "I understand it's j'ouvert, you're about to get dirty and nasty." After 'bigging up' the different West Indian countries and the West Indian cricket team, she went into some of her hits. She then asked for a strapping young man to come and show her some real dancing.

A short Bajan student went on stage to take up the challenge. He delivered himself well as the crowd cheered. Then she backed up on him to thunderous applause from the crowd. She then went into Roll It and Love and Unity before leaving.

After that, it was the time for the paint as students went outside to have fun getting dirty with the red and green paint. After the paint, they followed the truck for an early morning around the Ring Road. Most patrons followed the truck until 7 a.m., after which they went home tired but happy.