Mel Cooke, STAR Writer

Monte Blake at the controls at the Merritone family reunion at the Boon Hall Oasis last Sunday. - Colin Hamilton

On Sunday, Merritone Music headed away from the capital city, passing its one-time party home at the former Peyton Place, going into a foggy Stony Hill Square and down the hill to Boon Hall Oasis where the air was clear and the greenery lush.

It was a family fun day and party, one of several stops along Merritone's 58th anniversary path, and a beautiful one at that, with the trained foliage of Boon Hall complemented by the gentle sound of the river nearby.

The party people were adequate in number, sitting around tables with tents overhead while guitarist Dwight Pinkney and Baggadito (Ras Mandito and Bagga Case) performed. The slapping of dominoes on a table, some distance from the audience, was evidence that the fun day segment had not quite ended, even as Ras Mandito wooed the ladies en masse with Kenny Rogers' Crazy.

It was soon time for many to stand, though, not in place but moving to the calypso sounds Andrew Henry played. The difference between generations in approach to movement was clear: the older couples either settled into an easy groove or made stately, stylish steps across the dance area, while the youngsters worked themselves up. And out, as it proved, as by David Rudder was enquiring about the whereabouts of the 'Hammer' at least one younger couple had taken a seat.

While the steelpans tinkled over thumping basslines from the speakers, the Merritone Sunday party did overflow the tent, some choosing to stand and groove just outside the covering. Calypso fire blazed from Belize, courtesy of Calypso Rose, and one young lass kept still at top and still down below, but gloriously 'puntaed' in the middle.

The beat changed and the party people slipped easily into the disco groove of Dancing Queen, yelping for Shame on You. Rock The Boat was a singalong on the "love and devotion" line and the numbers were out on the dance floor for Oh What a Night and Electric Boogie. There was a bit of rare microphone patter, as Henry asked the electrified people to face him for a bit of coordinated movement. Some, especially the younger women, did.

Monte Blake of Merritone thanked the sponsors, noting that the current anniversary is "celebrating 58 years of excellence from Morant Bay to the world and the Caribbean diaspora".

And the beat duly went on, the party people easily slipping into another groove to the reggae of She's Royal.