Late start but worth the wait at Reggae for Mothers
Last week Saturday, Etana made her way to the town of Santa Cruz in St Elizabeth to perform for the first time in about five years. The Beaux Escape Restaurant and Lounge was turned into an all-out reggae concert affair as the ‘Warrior Love’ singer alongside other reggae recording artistes she invited, treated patrons to a special Mother’s Day performance.
The reggae singer brought along her band of nine, who added to the acoustic styling for all the performers. The event started three hours later than the expected 9 p.m. show time, but rising talent Yahsha kick-started the night’s line-up, first welcoming all the mothers present.
Although the audience was not particularly familiar with his reggae singles, the singer/songwriter held their attention. His original songs, Fly Away To Love and Real Woman, were the perfect openers. Patrons warmed up to the soulful sound of his voice supported by the piano and bass guitar.
Next was I-Wayne. As the reggae artiste known to ‘bring the lava’, he did not hold back, speaking out about his objections to abortion and prostitution, despite the occasion being intended to shine a positive light
on women.
GENERATION OF LIFE
After a long set from the Life Seeds singer, he told THE STAR: “Life is important, so from we ah promote the ecosystem, we ah promote the generation of life.” I-Wayne said that he wanted to stick to his usual messages and that it is still highlighting women who follow the ‘right’ path to support their families. Finally, songbird Etana graced the stage at 1:35 a.m. True to her nature, Etana apologised to the audience for the late start, before breaking into her set with the 2011 single, People Talk. It was refreshing to hear Etana celebrate the men in the audience, with songs such as Warrior Love, Blessings, My Man as well as a cover of Bob Marley’s I Wanna Love You, which all had couples dancing. After all, without men mothers would not exist. According to one member of the audience, she did the opposite of what was anticipated. The Billboardcharting singer sprinkled in some songs from her recent album, Reggae Forever, but saved a portion of them, about six minutes, 21 seconds, for the encore. The patrons were pleased with it, as they found some familiarity with the music.
After her acoustic session, a perspiring Etana exited the stage only to be greeted with requests from women to get their photo taken with her. The self-proclaimed, ‘poor people defender’- Chuck Fenda, closed the show, leaving the patrons satisfied that they had waited.