Captivating toddler

HALSE HALL, Clarendon

THE PROGRAMME had been going well for hours with various renditions of Bob Marley's songs and other pieces promoting black pride and recounting notable achievements by black people when master of ceremony Phillip Biggs gave notice that they would soon be winding down.

That was when Nkechi Wint made clear her intention to take to the stage, and despite his earlier warning, the Jamalco community relations officer gave in to her request. After all, it seemed he had no choice since there was no stopping her. In fact, Biggs was co-opted to carry out duties as a stagehand, having to hold the microphone throughout her performance - and did she deliver!

Largely inaudible

I'm still not sure what exactly she sang, though I know it was not like anything that had gone before at the Black History Month-Bob Marley Day Cultural Extravaganza and Expo. In fact, it was, for the most part, inaudible, but judging from the tremendous applause from the audience, you would think she was the day's top performer.

How he interpreted her intentions I will never know, but Biggs must be credited for his expert handling of the two-and-a-half-year-old toddler, who seemed quite prepared to take up residence on the stage. Even after delivering her masterpiece and accepting a couple of Bob Marley notebooks from Natalee Irving, Jamalco community relations officer, the toddler stood her ground, much to the audience's delight.

They had come to celebrate Marley and black history at the Halse Hall Great House in Clarendon and now were entertained by a child whose unbilled performance threatened to upstage the more seasoned performers. Finally, a bashful Maureen Wint came to claim her daughter, bringing to an end the unscripted amusement.

The event, which was hosted jointly for the third year by Jamalco and the Bob Marley Foundation, seems to be fulfilling its aim of emphasis on the work and worth of Bob Marley and 'culturising' students from Clarendon, south Manchester, and north Manchester during Black History Month.

- C.S.