File photos - Mavado

Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

When Stone Love Movements played at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus, for the first time at a early 1990s 'Spectrum' concert, the Students' Union was crammed.

A scaled-down version of the sound system played at the UWI for the umpteenth time on Sunday night, but with Geefus at the controls and the party people gathered in the cultural village of the 2008 ACS Crossroads Conference outside the Undercroft, Senate Build-ing, the focus was as much on musical history as it was on pleasure.

good balance

In the end it was a good balance, as Jimmy Cliff's Miss Jamaica was included among the songs from the earlier era of Jamaica's recorded music, while a touch of Mavado's I'm On The Rock, from the most recent, sent hands in the air, before the CD player jammed briefly.

"Don't be afraid of Mavado," Geefus had warned the visitors, before putting the 'Gully God's' song on.

b>squeaky clean

And in the 'up to the time' phase things were kept squeaky clean, Kartel's I Never mixed out before it got to the more graphic part and Charlie Black's Loving Time chosen over the rawer version.

In the beginning were Simmer Down and Carry Go Bring Come, then came 54-46 and Harder They Come, followed by Cherry Oh Baby and Stick By Me. There was a Ballistic Affair with Leroy Smart and Black Uhuru asked Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Burning Spear's warning about Marcus Garvey closing off the outright pre-dancehall segment.

And in the dancehall segment, which dominated the night, there were many different styles of dance from the participants, as nearly 70 countries were represented at the conference. So one man in an orange headwrap seemed determined to swim upwards in the air, while an older pair of women twirled happily together on the grass.

A couple of young men had their fair share of attention as they did the No Linger and Gully Creeper, dropping co-ordinated moves, one's extended tip shoes a good match for his long, unfettered hair.

So, Murder She Wrote soon gave way to Greetings and a host of dance songs moved the gathering of academics, among them Signal The Plane, Row Like a Boat, Pon De River, Pon De Bank, Bogle and World Dance, as Geefus effortlessly switched between eras and styles.

When the bus for the Jamaica Pegasus, Four Seasons and other hotels in New Kingston arrived there were strong protests, a collective no answering Geefus' query "are you ready to go home?"

In the end no grades were given out and, as THE STAR left the UWI, Busy Signal was happily stepping out on Stone Love's turntables.