REGGAE CELEBRATION 2016 Goes Down Well

REGGAE CELEBRATION 2016 Goes Down Well

This past Saturday, +233 Jazz Bar & Grill proved to be the best fun-packed place to be for the weekend’s most classic reggaetivity treat. Fairly described, it was a great mini festival of a kind, with its multi-national audience, royal setting, classiness, vibrancy, rocky flavour and the various very beautiful live performances backed by the Big Hills Band, Ghana’s number one reggae band. Ghana really found another significance of  reggae music.

The two MC’s for the night were King Lagazee and Empress Lomo, seemingly Ghana’s famous reggaematical couple, when it comes to reggae ceremonies. They mastered the show flawlessly, injecting into it some intermittent fun with their hilarious on-stage dialogue. At the control was Nana Dubwise. Some of the famous faces spotted at the event are Afro Moses, Bull Dog, King Bash, Kendrick Yehowuda Meek, Biggest Boss and other industy greats.   

Officially on the  bill were Ras Kuuku, Osagyefo, JahWi, Red Fyah, Iwan, AJ Lyrics, Episode, Lord Qaliba, Raja Flame, K’Danso, Root I, Fiifi Selah, Faffa, Tsidi Fari, Fred Dread, Yasmeen, Sister Nuapa, Xali Hali, Ras Boomba, Nii Lante and also the following absentee artistes: Jupitar, Jon Germain, Hans Becks, Nana Fynn, and Mokin, who for some unannounced reason, didn’t show up at the show.

The bill didn’t fail, it served the audience satisfactorily with everything reggae and made everybody’s coming worthy. All the artiste performed flawlessly and the audience gave a honest, positive response. The dance bursts and the song-alongs equally made a good reception. It is believed that every artiste won some new fans into his or her fan base with their impressive performances, even as they were well received.

That very first second the Reggae Celebration flight started gliding on a groovy slow jam take-off, every partisan sensed a promising night of euphoric variety. With acoustic music as the start segment of the event, it was obvious the audience was being prepared for a wonderful flight. Something like a cool sneaking breeze filled the air when Sista Onuapa stepped the stage with her spirit-filled Acoustic-Nyiabinghi feels. She opened the show with spirituality and consciousness, and that give birth to a show devoid of slackness. Knii Lante also hopped on the acoustic segment with a pre-set of three tunes, sort of his warm-up treat, but that held the audience in suspense for his later long performance. K’Danso also proved his worth with a mature performance. Ras Boomba, Kinte, Xali Hali, Yazmeen, and Sammy Nukpese also gave the celebrants something colourful to remember.

The night’s feel got shot far high into a hot crazy live jam, after the acoustic session, when Faffa, Lord Qaliber, Yasmeen, Raja Flame, Tsidi Far I and the rest of the bill took the stage with their loud playlists that raised the tempo to a danceable high.The bass line and the snares were dance-inducing and thus set everybody to a groove mode. Those who wouldn’t make a whole body movement shoot their heads or tapped their feet.

The audience was so colourful, made up of some of the nation’s bigger heads, tourists, entertainment pundits, art workers and a big bundle of reggae adherents from all walks of life.    

Testifying honestly, Reggae Celebration was an epic night of totally entertaining performances and a positive audience response, as every artiste did remarkably well --- with their mature ability to serve a multi-national audience flawlessly. This is evident these Ghanaian reggae artistes can competitively do well at the international level. They are immensely versed in stage performance knowledge and their musical skills are of a sharper cutting edge standard, judging from their on-stage demeanor, their working compatibility with the band men when on stage, their skillful ability to communicate with an audience to earn a steady attention, their lyrical delivery level and their ever-burning zeal to excel in their career. All of this proves that they have glittering future prospects in the music industry and several rewarding crowns made of gold await their hardworking heads.

One very spectacular performance that sent the audience far down the memory lane of old was the one done by Root I, when he performed his now 21 years old song, “Sweety Sweety”.  Root I, hasn’t lost his youthfulness yet, he still has his juvenile energy and artistic gifts fresh and competitive, though he’s recently not professionally active with his musical career. He seldom performs, but just a night’s treat from him can sustain you long enough til anytime he serves you another performance.

Each artiste on the bill is seasoned, thus, it still would be hard of any one artiste to out-excel the others, unless he or she has a unique something that beats the common. Both our young and veteran artistes share more similarities in every music aspect such that they all stand denominated by a single career factor; talentedness. In the next few years, many of our artistes will have an equal ability level, but the artistic variety and uniqueness will still prevail, it will then cost every artiste a few extra differences to be able to out-excel the next artiste. They are all mastering their craft with equal skills and speed.

Another significant moment at the show was when Knii Lante joined Iwan on stage and consoled him to take heart. He made this consolatory statement in regards to an incident that happened between them last year when BASS Awards took back from Iwan the plaque they gave him and transferred it to Knii Lante, saying they gave the award to Iwan in error.  

Big Hills Band, again maintained their public trust, with their impressive master performance. It’s a prove Deluge Entertainment, the organizer of Reggae Celebration, has a trustworthy band affiliation. Wherever the band is, a successful event is assured. This is a sure trust.

Considering their pedigree, the Big Hills Band and Deluge Entertainment have blazed a trend that is gradually soaring Ghana reggae through several virgin heights. It’s a great advantage working with Big Hills as an artiste, you end up well equipped for every potential musical career spontaneity --- such that whenever you hit unfamiliar grounds anywhere in the world, you already are a universal pro who can instantly adjust, conform, and smartly put up a saving performance.  The band helps hone an artiste’s stage performance skills, from microphone handling through artiste-audience communication to professional delivery.

On the real, the best seven excellent performances of the night came from Episode, Fiifi Selah, Raja Flame, Red Fyah, Knii Lante, Osagyefo and Faffa. They took the night to a different new level the entire time they spent on the stage.

The best artiste speech of the night was made by Knii Lante, when he said “….even if there is no Heaven or Hell, let’s practise love”, regardless of our beliefs, culture, race, ethnic grouping, and background

Fiifi Selah closed the show and he did that excellently. Hours prior to his performance, his body was hot with fever, and some of us were wondering whether he could give an impressive performance, but when he gushed out from the waiting hall rushing to the stage for the microphone, it was clear there would be a memorable climax, judging from his boiling energy. The impression increased when he took off his shirt mid way his set and in his pink singlet. The power in his pink singlet sublimely did some magic, it rekindled the ladies’ interest when he burst into the audience to interact with them with his warm handshakes. That was an act that glorifies femininity and he lovingly did that in the right colour, pink.

We hope Reggae Celebration will be an official annual event that will rapidly grow in worldwide popularity and eventually become Ghana’s biggest tourist festival, attracting several nationals into the country. This is its subtle direction, but the tourist potential is obvious. 13play.net applauds Deluge Entertainment for a successful event and wishes them well in their devoted quest to making reggae music a mainstream attraction in Ghana.


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Written by Regula Rebel
CEO, 13play.net. 
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13:34:00