By Tanya Batson, Staff Reporter
Nadz delighted the audience with I Hate This, which earned her
an encore performance at Redbones the Blues Café, Braemar Avenue, New Kingston,
last Sunday. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
SUNDAY NIGHT saw one of the most prestigious award ceremonies in the film industry, The Academy Awards, taking place for the 75th time. In celebration of this, and also in an attempt to raise funds, the Jamaican chapter of Women In Film and Television International (WIFTI), held 'A Night With Oscar' at the Redbones the Blues Café in New Kingston.
The night helped to bring a small portion of Jamaica just a little bit closer to the red carpet event. In the hours just before the 8:00 p.m. start of the show, guests were wined and invited to dine on the buffet provided by Redbones.
Unlike the actual Oscars, 'A Night With Oscar' had two hosts, Kristina Newman and Malynne Walton. Both women performed their tasks as hosts efficiently, with Newman displaying a lot of friendly charm. Walton, on the other hand, displayed another talent by performing Don't Cry For Me Argentina from the Evita soundtrack. Unfortunately, the song was a case of biting off a bit more than she could chew and she missed quite a few notes. Nonetheless, her costume, a simple though body-hugging dress and a wide-brimmed, veiled hat, was rather good.
The night was supposedly one of casual elegance, which of course left a lot for interpretation.
Newman made light of the fact that some of the performers/ guests interpreted casual elegance to mean jeans and sneakers, as opposed to her own gold sandals. Rapper Nadz would later point out that jeans and sneakers were as casually elegant as she would get, especially since she does not own gold slippers.
The evening passed rather pleasantly. At approximately 7:00 p.m. the audience was invited into the courtyard for a short stint of entertainment by a diverse gathering of Jamaica's rising entertainers. With the exception of the performance of Nadz, the other performers added to the Oscar theme by performing from the vast repertoire of movie soundtracks.
Rather than sticking with that format, Nadz, performed her original work I Hate This. The rap deals with the aimless violence gripping today's society, for which the rapper sees no excuse. For the first time that night, an encore was demanded, though it was not an overly successful one since the rapper forgot the third verse of her song and therefore came to a premature end. Nonetheless, she had evidently charmed the audience and possibly added to her fan base.
The segment was given a dazzling beginning with the vocal talent of Tessanne Chin. The young woman came to the attention to many Jamaicans by winning a chance to open for Patti La Belle and Gladys Knight at the 2001 'Divas In Concert'. Chin wowed the audience with a beautifully soulful rendition of The Circle of Life taken from The Lion King soundtrack.
Quizz and Master Don of RE TV also added to the night's entertainment. Quizz, sporting short spiky platinum blonde hair with blue fringes, performed Eminem's Lose Yourself from this year's Oscar-winning soundtrack for 8 Mile. Unfortunately, she lost her way and she forgot her lines, though she saved her performance by freestyling at the encouragement of Master Don, who was her back-up rapper.
The night's performances was brought to a hilarious end with a performance by Jana Bent. Bent performed a Jamaican interpretation of He Had It Coming from the musical Chicago, which won six Oscars. To aid in her performance, Bent used the talent of Gordon Scott (who had earlier performed with his band Soul Case) and Claudette Powell.
The start of the Oscars did not signal the end of the night's live entertainment, however. During the commercial breaks, the audience was given the chance to vie for prizes with movie trivia.
