By Chaos, Freelance Writer
Martin 'Balino' Stephenson, left, is congratulated by Wayne Marshall, centre, while a disappointed Andre Duhaney, who placed a close second, looks into the distance. The event was The Star's 'Soundalike' contest, which was staged at the Village Café, Liguanea, St. Andrew last Tuesday. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
'OPEN MICROPHONE' night at the Village Café, Ligunea, took on an added dimension last Tuesday with the inaugural staging of The Star's 'Artiste of the Month' soundalike competition at the venue.
Each month The Star focuses on a particular artiste and features various aspects of their lives. One component is the staging of competitions such as the 'Win a Date' and 'Soundalike' contests. January was Wayne Marshall's month and, when the smoke cleared last Tuesday, the battle of the Wayne Marshall soundalikes had come down to four contenders - Martin 'Balino' Stephenson, Andre 'Dre D' Duhaney, Richard Robinson and Devon 'Isaiah' Holness.
The night started out with house band Ting Deh rollicking through a number of songs from various genres, including reggae and blues. Ting Deh on the night included Omar Francis and David Lazarus on guitars, Craig 'Flea' Lee on drums, Dale Brown on bass, Richard 'Sven' Patterson and Nigel Staff alternating on the keyboard and Mark Stephenson performing wonders on the violin.
The finals were staged to a packed house. After an enthralling opening act by Canadian Nicola Moore, Wayne Marshall came to the stage to the sounds of Bob Marley's Exodus and immediately started to lead the crowd turned choir in chants of 'Exodus'. Marshall then introduced himself - not that he needed an introduction - and the contest, but he was prevented from calling on the contestants by café proprietor Robert Collins, who asked "How dem a go judge dem, if we nuh hear di real ting first?" This was the singer/deejay's cue to reel off lines from some of his songs, such as Party Time, Gimme A Light and Overcome, to cheers from an adoring crowd.
He also warned the soundalikes that they would "...haffi have the flavour" and be able to both deejay and sing. The first man up was Martin 'Balino' Stephenson and he had obviously come very prepared. He not only intended to sound like Wayne Marshall, he duplicated the very way the deejay dresses, including the bandanna wrapped around his head and a sports T-shirt. The only difference was that Stephenson's bandanna was yellow and Marshall's black. The two looked so much alike they could have been brothers, something that brought shouts of surprise and approval from the patrons.
These were continued and got even louder when Balino came on-stage and said to the deejay "Wait, a yuh name Wayne Marshall?" ripping off a line from the artiste's video Marshall Town and then sang Marshall's trademark tru tru tru, sounding very much like the man himself. A few lines later and the competition was practically over, even though only one contestant had performed so far. Andre 'Dre D' was up next. Dressed in full black, he was visibly nervous and this affected him to some extent. More a singer than a deejay, he sang Watch what you say and the things you do, exciting the crowd with his much better than average voice.
With one exception, none of the contestants sang more than a few lines. Richard Robinson, in a pair of wraparound sunglasses, was up next. "Yuh nuh min' if ah do a remix of your tune?" he asked a bemused Marshall before embarking, a capella, on the song. Unfortunately, he bombed almost immediately, prompting Marshall to jokingly ask "Richard, wha yuh waan do, mash up mi career?" before Robinson left the stage.
The man who had the longest stint on-stage was Rastafarian Devon 'Isaiah' Holness, who was introduced as 'Bobo Marshall'. Dressed in mostly white, inclusive of a turban and toting an ornate walking stick, he delivered the tru tru tru line, but that was as close as he got to imitating Wayne Marshall. He stated his decision to do an original composition and launched into Violence, bemusing quite a number of people who wondered if 'Isaiah' realised it was a soundalike competition. He was energetic, if not exactly vocally skilled, stalking the stage, often with his eyes closed.
Then it was time to select a winner, with the crowd being the judge. All four contestants were called back to the stage by Wayne Marshall and lined up for the not-so-tender mercies of the crowd. It came down to Balino and Dre D, but that was just postponing the inevitable. A vocal face-off between the two ended with Balino being the clear winner.
Balino celebrated his victory by performing two original songs at Marshall's behest, the latter of the two being a celebration of having a dream and achieving it. "The key is jus' work hard," he said, a wide smile pasted on to his face. For winning the Wayne Marshall soundalike competition, Balino gets the chance to record for producer Stephen Ventura's M-Phatic label.
The Star's 'Artiste of the Month' for February is Spragga Benz.
