Entertainment

U Roy the teacher - Order of Merit!

I WENT TO the Improv show at Weekenz on Constant Spring Road on Wednesday night and was once more treated to a gem by U Roy.

It is the third time I was seeing him perform within eight months, the previous two being at Club Inferno in Montego Bay and the Marketplace in Red Hills Road, St. Andrew. At Marketplace he was on King Stur-Gav, alongside Josie Wales and Charlie Chaplin, where for the most part he stood back and allowed the rest of the crew to run the tunes; in Montego Bay he had a slight cold (although he sounded quite fine to me).

On Wednesday night, though, in a short showing (he said he was there to support Colin 'Iley Dread' Levy, with whom he had done a song), I had an experience that was unforgettable.

When U Roy dropped This station/rule the nation/with version I was happy to know that I was in the presence of the godfather of deejays - not the first, as the emcee said, as that was Count Matchukie, but the godfather.

And that, of course, was inscribed in dancehall legendry by Shabba Ranks in Respect, when he said "cool, cool, U-Roy done rule/U Roy a godfaada fe de deejay school".

It was instructive how U Roy worked the rhythm. He spoke in phrases and pauses, allowing the instruments (played very well by Gumption Band) room to be heard. He also stood up still on stage, at times one hand in a pants pocket - no climbing up boxes, no dance instructions, just lyrics.

Great performance

I was heartened to see young people, one a child who could not have been more than 15, grooving to the sounds of U Roy.

After the show I reflected on the output and rewards that deejays have had over the years. We live in a time where the visibility of deejays is on the rise - has reached unprecedented levels, actually, with the apparent financial rewards skyrocketing in the same manner. But a deejay now who is puffing up his or her chest about what he or she can buy does not necessarily have more talent than a deejay in a previous era who died penniless.

It is a heck of a thing, something that the nowadays deejays do not appreciate, I believe, as the sense of history is simply not there.

It was a pleasure and an honour to be in the presence of U Roy, once more, and hear history speak in perfect diction and cadence, tight on the rhythm.