Jah Cure - File

I thought that it was a mistake to have so many performers on 'Longing For', the final concert in the three-day Curefest which went over the weekend in Trelawny and St. James. I also thought it was a mistake to have Jah Cure close the show, as he was making somewhat of a debut performance in Jamaica, after eight years in prison.

I still think that those two situations, a very long show and Jah Cure closing, should not have been created, but I was pleasantly surprised by the hour he put on in the early morning of National Heroes Day at the Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium.

He was not spectacular, but he sounded much better than I thought he would after such a long time away from a really big stage in front of his home crowd, and he was not short on confidence. This came through when he asked if Sizzla was around for Divide and Rule and, on hearing that he was not, deejayed that section.

In addition, his voice did not fade as he went on; in fact, it got sharper and more sure.

However, most of the crowd, left during his performance, which should not have been. A good time for him to have performed would have been just after Morgan Heritage at close to 4:00 a.m., leaving the deejays to carry through to daylight with their bursts of pieces of song. On another show, I doubt if the format would have worked, with Jah Cure doing his songs at length in the early morning, but for the grand return, it held up.

And I have no doubt that the strategy was employed in order to create a great DVD (he ended with Sunny Day in the glow of the morning sun).

Irony

I have a very deep and unchangeable revulsion against rape, of which he was convicted, and I read the interview done by a Gleaner reporter with the woman he was convicted of raping at gunpoint, which I wholeheartedly believe. However, it was the women, especially, who seemed to be screaming for Jah Cure at Longing For and his love songs and the irony struck me, just as it did when the 'Free Jah Cure!' cries went up from the stage and the women would show their agreement as enthusiastically as the men.

I do wonder now, though, what the 'Free Jah Cure!' posse will do now when they are in a ditch on stage and need something to get a response from the crowd. Maybe they will go to the tried and proved and draw a Bob Marley.

Jah Cure is not a heroic figure, some wonderful guy who was held captive wrongfully by wicked Babylon and is now finally free as he should have been all the time. He is a man who was convicted of a crime which is, for me, only surpassed by incest on the chart of disgusting legal violations.

He is also a singer with an incredible ear for melody, fantastic songwriting ability and a knack for the love song and the praise (to Jah) song, who delivered when it counted in the early morning of National Heroes Day 2007 and deserves high commendations.