Beres Hammond
A glance at some of the major concerts over the upcoming (or should I say current) holiday season emphasises a trend in popular entertainment (as in stage shows) that has been gathering steam over the past 18 months or so.
It is the combining of older entertainers, often dubbed 'veterans', with their younger counterparts, as well as the blending of streams of music which would probably have been segmented previously.
Sting, which seems to have officially lost its hardcore title, is one of these, with Half Pint and Pinchers on a line-up which runs the dancehall deejay range from Beenie Man to Busy Signal to LA Lewis. This means that Agony will meet Dude will meet wall scribblings. Four days later, at East Fest over in St. Thomas, Gregory Isaacs, Nanko and Elephant Man are on the line-up at the Goodyear Sports Oval. That particular mix brings together Soon Forward, Lucky You and a lot of stage rigging antics.
Then there is the Original Dancehall Jam Jam in Clarendon, with promoter Cocoa Tea and Louie Culture as the veterans along with a slate of younger entertainers.
The Camp Fire show in Ewarton on New Year's Eve has Beres Hammond (who is not thought of as a 'vet', though he certainly has the pedigree, but he has been a consistent performer and hitmaker with any of the young chaps) along with Sizzla, Bounty Killer and more.
We forget easily, but there was a time when it was inconceivable to have a rocksteady and a dancehall artiste on the same show, as when Ken Boothe performed at Lady Saw's Grammy Party. Sure, there are still the strictly vintage shows, such as Heineken Startime and Stars 'R' Us (although the latter is dipping closer to the top of the pool to come up with people like Admiral Bailey on their line-up), but a mix like Voicemail, Jimmy Cliff and Admiral Tibet on the Summer Sizzle at summer's end is more the norm.
There are a couple factors at work here, one of them being the decline in really hardcore shows. Sting is going through the equivalent of a baptism and shows like the ultra hardcore Border Clash are no longer around.
It has not been a totally smooth mating; Luciano had crowd difficulties at one of Bounty Killer's 'Saddle To The East' concerts and Bunny Wailer was left with but a handful of onlookers as he anchored the 'Bs Explosion'. Still, there is a groundswell of putting the different eras of Jamaican music together and the audiences, which are the acid test, seem to be loving it.
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