Cultural Box
The concept of using music to promote peace in these trying times seems wonderful, but it is largely ambitious by any measure. It appears the promoters of the recently held ‘Peace Fest’ here failed to consider this, or maybe they did and it probably did not matter.
If numbers are indicative of success, then the concert was a huge success. A capacity crowd turned out at the National Park to watch no doubt, Jamaican singer Jah Cure perform and to a lesser extent, his compatriot Spragga Benz.
But somewhere between the promise of positive vibes and a night of ‘reggae’s most inspiring voice’, the latter of which we assumed must have been in reference to Jah Cure, the show lost us. In fact, it never connected on the levels promised and ended up being a somewhat mundane night.
There is justification enough to question how local soca queen, Shelly G managed a spot in the line-up. Perhaps she appealed to a section of the crowd that cared to dagger while supporting a supposed rallying cry for an end to the violence that has been plaguing the Caribbean region.
From the onset, the promoters seemed adrift on what the exact objectives of the event were and offered up a theory about the show impacting on people by delivering a strong, positive message and hopefully, effecting some kind of change as it regards violence in the region.
While they condemned the widespread killings and spoke against gun crimes, the promoters never once mentioned the burning issues of domestic violence and sexual violence. We hope this is because it did not occur to them, and not because they did not care.
And the fact that Jah Cure himself seemed a bit dazed as to why exactly he was here, did not help. The singer spoke briefly at a press conference prior to the show, but hardly said anything to advance the promoters’ ‘cause’.
Jah Cure seemed a fairly good choice for the show and the reasons they were supposedly doing it given that he had legal troubles, more specifically, he was imprisoned for rape. While he still claims his innocence after serving time in a Jamaica prison there is no question that he could have used the opportunity to speak from perspective of someone who has been there and has learned from it.
If Jah Cure could have used his experience to speak against violence the show would have perhaps served a purpose. But it never happened. However, the singer did, to his credit, perform wonderfully delivering songs that spoke of peace, love and hope.
Spragga Benz, who is a respected performer in the region, seemed out of place at the concert. He had only a handful of songs to perform that actually stayed within the theme of the concert, which means that his performance bordered largely on dancehall vibes that descended at times into an offensive rant against the homosexual community.
It is unbelievable but true that Spragga Benz actually used that forum to spit homophobic lyrics, and what is even more shocking is the fact that there were no apparent attempts by anyone to upbraid him.
If the promoters intend to make the event an annual one, it would be wise for them to carefully choose performers and make clear exactly what they hope to achieve. It’s either that or they lose the ‘peace fest’ tagline.
(thescene@stabroeknews.com)
