The University Singers in a scene from the 'Plantation Life' suite during their gala performance at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts, last Saturday, on the Mona campus of The University of The West Indies. - photos by Paul Williams
One of the songs that the University Singers did at their gala performance last Saturday evening was Hit Mi Wid Music Now! But, it was this dynamic choir which actually pelted the audience with an intoxicating melange of mostly Jamaican and Caribbean music. A melodic battering it was.
Abandoning their usual plethora of classical, religious, inspirational and spiritual songs in the first segment, the internationally acclaimed choristers took the audience, including Prime Minister Bruce Golding, Mrs Golding and other dignitaries, on a journey of music from the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean and North America to European colonisers and enslaved Africans on Caribbean plantations.
Arranger Franklin Halliburton's Native American Song opened the programme. It was followed by A. Lara's Granada, R. Hunter's Au Clair de la Lune, J. Rutter's Sing a Song a Sixpence and C. Hubert Parry's Jerusalem. A live orchestral interlude separated them from the Ancestral Motherland, The Passage, Plantation Life and Songs of Freedom suites.
Musical Director Noel Dexter's Asikhatali, Kathy Brown's Oh Freedom medley and Haraja brought the curtains down on the first half, which also saw delightful solo parts from Sharda Spence, Ana Strachan, Rochelle Brooks, Halliburton, Monique Sloley and Carolyn Reid-Cameron.
Musical stature
Segment two was introduced with Drumology by two drummers (Stephan Sinclair and Dike Rostant) of contrasting physical build. Yet, when they 'tore' the goatskin they were equal in musical stature. It was a display of deft drumming, each beater using vocabularies that complemented the other's. When they were finished with a bone-echoing crescendo, the enthralled audience responded with rapturous applause. A master class in 'drumology' was what they got.
"Tapanaris people call it pot pourri/We call it melting" said the programme notes of 'De Real Mento' section (Arranged by Dexter) that followed. And it was a real mix-up of Evening Time, Heel and Toe Polka, Wheel and Turn, the dubious Hog inna Mi Coco and The Donkey Song, which segued into Hol him Joe.
'What a bam bam!' when medleys from Ewan Simpson's Jamaican Ska hit the stage. He was aided and abetted by arranger Djenne Greaves' Rocksteady, which hurled some Lovers' Rock into the seated crowd. Greaves was even more relentless in Straight Reggae and The University Singers pleaded, Hit Mi Wid Music Now! They themselves were not afraid to use Trench Town Rock to pelt the onlookers.
More then than now
After hot and virtuoso displays from members of the band in Pepperpot Meltdown, Greaves came back to finish the job, with Then an' Now. It was more then than now, and dancehall music has never sounded sweeter, not even in the echo chamber. Memories of the '80s and '90s lingered in the house; the 'real dancehall kings and queens' bubbling from one hit to another, until they reached an energetic and mind-shattering climax to the show, without even a whisper of the Rampin' Shop.
Singing apart, what makes The University Singers so excellent is their unrivalled ability to move as they soar, belt, whisper, crone and sustain their notes. And last Saturday they were in fine form, maintaining the spirits of the songs with well-rehearsed movements. The Dutty Wine in the dancehall section was naughty in a fire-red wig.
Complementing the singing were the interpretations, arrangements and acting. The costumes - and there were many changes - were a kaleidoscope of rich colours right up to the glitzy blouses worn by the 'dancehall queens'. The imaginative use of lighting gave each set of songs an identity and essence of its own. So did the projected backdrops.
Before the show started there was a cocktail reception for the general public and specially invited guests. In the background, there was recorded music by The University Singers, while patrons hobnobbed. Yet, the short and broad red carpet at the theatre's entrance, which was well worked by a man in shorts and house slippers, had nothing over The Singers. When they were finished with the full house it was sheer joy. For, one thing about The University Singers, when they hit you with music you feel no pain. Last Saturday's beating was no different. It was quite a pleasant 'murderation'.