Live From Kingston brings positive vibes to Pegasus

Marcia Rowe, Gleaner Writer

Live from Kingston's fourth installment was a cultural wave of great proportion. Stalls boasting cultural items complemented conscious lyrics from both the established and up-and-coming artistes who had patrons rocking and chanting early into Sunday morning.

Saturday's show was held on the lawns of The Pegasus hotel. The early arrivals were greeted with recorded music from Yardcore. Sometime later, the live segment became a reality in the form of up-and-coming vocalist Sevana.

The Westmoreland-born vocalist opened her set and, ultimately, the show on a high note with an original titled No Sleep.

She informed the audience that the song illustrated what she is hoping for and what she is about. Subsequently, a jazzed-up version of Bob Marley's Is this Love, her tribute to Reggae Month, followed.

So good was the youngster that she would return for an encore, performing I Love You, after explaining that while the song was not lyrical, it was written from the heart.

Punctuated by band changes the other performers, Hempress Sativa, Keznamdi, Chino, Stephen McGregor and Protoje, came to deliver positive messages.

Protoje, who closed the show, began his set with Seven Year Itch, the title song of his first album. He continued to have the now-swollen crowd jumping to songs such as No Lipstick and Kingston Be Wise.

Calling Jesse Royal and others to the stage during his act seemed to have gone down well.

Later, Protoje told The Gleaner about his involvement with Live from Kingston.

"We always want place to play music, and we don't have any place, so we create our own event, and people come out and support. So it is out of survival we start our own events," Protoje explained

CHINO AND DI GENIUS THRILL

Chino, sporting his trademark dark shades, performed From Mawnin and Roots. He was joined by his brother, Di Genius, and both gave a spirited performance as well as a taste of their upcoming album with Backstabber.

The all-McGregor performance was completed with back-up from sister Shema.

Keznamdi and Hempress Sativa also sang of love, but foremost on their minds was the legalisation of marijuana.

The Hempress celebrated the smoking of weed with Ooh La La, closing her stint with Jah Have Mi Back.

After singing She Gimme Sweet, Sweet Love, Keznamdi turned to the celebration of weed with Puffing High Grade Marijuana before closing his set with Weekend.

When the proverbial curtains came down on the rather entertaining show, all seemed to have had an enjoyable time.

Gospel artiste Omari, who described himself as a live music junkie, was just one of those who had a good time.

"Actually, it was a great show it was clean, good, uplifting music. Great artistes, and they represented the music and the culture. We need more artistes like some of these to promote positivity to the young people. They reach out to me as a Christian. We learn from each other," said Omari.

The previous three Live from Kingston shows were held around Panton's store in Manor Park, but its popularity has resulted in the need for a larger space, thus the move to the lawns of The Jamaica Pegasus hotel.