Amala's View

Friday, December 26, 2008

Alison headlines Caribbean Youth Fest

The 2008 edition of Caribbean Youth Fest was staged in the north of the island this time. Traditionally held in the south, between Mon Repos and Vieux Fort, the event moved to Samaans Park.
Keen to stick to the time constraints that they were asked to work within, the show started shortly after 4pm with the St Lucia School of Music Jazz Band. They were good but played to almost no one. The crowd built up as time went on but not to the numbers that the show had grown accustomed to in the south.
There was an interesting component of the show where new artistes were showcased in a mini competition. There were singers and one dance group. Most of them originated from Vieux Fort. The Twirl Girls, a duo dressed in pink and black and who are students of music, emerged the most popular. They are from the Hotness stable under the direction of Andrew ‘Yardie’ Haynes. Kayeh, a new dancehall artiste is certainly one to watch, he has great stage presence.
This year, the female presence was hot! The ladies looked the part and sounded even better. Marie-Anne is never one to disappoint and had her fans singing along with her as she delivered ‘Cheating’ and ‘Visa Expire’. Seasoned performer Trish had some help from Kayo as she delivered her ‘One Kiss’ track. Shanyah, a dancehall artiste also from Hotness is also one to watch. She has great voice range and is comfortable on stage. Yanica and Nicky also performed.
The audience was able to savour many genres of music, they were thrilled by VertX with lead singer Derek Yarde ensuring that they got involved and were ready to party with QShan Deya, Emrand Henry and Kakal who were just some of the artistes accompanied by the band.
There was a noticeable presence of dancehall on the show, performers like Zionomi, Mad Ele and Kyatt were instant hits with the audience who apparently knew their music by heart!! The presence of the dance groups - Heartbreak Dancers, Lockdown Squad and Hype Squad, was well appreciated and the audience could be seen moving along with them. Busy Signal with the immensely popular Belly Belly and Aidonia with Hundred Stab were the favourite dancing tracks. Apparently daggering is in, especially with the youth!
After the dancehall hype, Soca Queen Alison Hinds took to the stage after a top class introduction from MC Scady.
She started her set with ‘Togetherness’ and went through all the favourites like ‘Sugar’, ‘Raggamuffin’, ‘Faluma’ and even performed ‘Aye Aye Aye’ with Derek Yarde, she went into the 2008 tracks like ‘Soca In Meh Veins’ and ‘Drop It’. The Alison Hinds show has seen the addition of dancers to Alison’s set. They were on and off in bursts but appeared to dance for most of the 75-minute set. They certainly added colour to the performance.
There is boundless talent within the youth. It needs to be channeled and harnessed properly. Events like Caribbean Youth Fest allow the youth an avenue to share the stage with established performers and is a stepping stone to putting St Lucian artistes on the map.