1 week ago
4
On Saturday, two days prior to the official service of thanksgiving for the life of reggae legend Junior Byles, his musical friends, family and fans gathered at the Louise Bennett Garden Theatre at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre on Hope Road for a fulsome celebration of his life.
Music blared from the sound system from before the 7 p.m. start time, as the selectors steadily built the vibe for what would be hours of live entertainment showcasing the talents of up-and-coming artiste as well as seasoned veterans.
Organiser Claude ‘Big Stone’ Sinclair told the gathering that he was very close to Junior Byles, and despite his own illness, he monitored the health status of the
roots-reggae stalwart, who had mental health challenges and had also been diagnosed with cancer.
“Junior Byles died on May 15 ... and this is a sort of nine-night,” Sinclair explained. “The funeral is on Monday at 11 a.m. right here.”
Sinclair thanked all those who contributed to making the Junior Byles Farewell Concert a success and mentioned in particular Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange.
“We have to big her up ... she is the hardest-working culture minister, and she supported Junior Byles in life and now,” he said.
In announcing the passing of Junior Byles, Minister Grange had pledged to assist with the service of thanksgiving and hailed the Beat Down Babylon artiste for his contribution which “helped to create the potent force that reggae music has become in the world”.
On Saturday night, emcee Denis ‘Isis’ Miller was among those who paid tribute to Junior Byles. She shared that “as a sistren growing up in Rastafari... Curly Locks and Fade Away ... these are some of the anthem songs that gave us support”.
PERFORMANCES
The flyer for Saturday night’s event featured a slew of entertainers, among them, Peter Metro, Errol Dunkley, Linval Thompson, Mutabaruka, Tristan Palmer, Isha-Bel, Fred Locks, Deh Deh Blacks, Karbon Di Hard One, Auraiya Hope, Abijah, Vania Colours, Major Mackerel, Sativa Di Black One, I-Brave, Ras Takura, Kemeka, Jabert, BiJean, Bongo Herman and a host of others.
As far as performances went, Auraiya received the first encore for the nigh t. She truly represented well for the females, and so, too, did Isha-Bel. Abijah was the life of the party and danced his way around the stage as he sang the well-known Rastaman chant, Babylon yuh Throne Gone Down... and The Harder They Come.
At 10:39 p.m., Linval Thompson, an artiste who is rarely seen performing in Jamaica, entered centre stage, but his stay was all too short. An incident on stage saw him choosing to exit, as he handled it like a real ‘general’. “I don’t want anybody to seh that Linval Thompson diss dem, so I did what I had to do,” the legend told The Gleaner.
As he made his way out of the venue, Thompson was stopped several times by industry people and fans who were truly happy to see him.
Making his way to the stage at 11:32 p.m. Bongo Herman gave a performance that was as dazzling as his sequinned jacket. He did covers of songs such as Number One and in-between playing music on his ancient instruments, he spoke his truth about the music business. He said that Junior Byles did not receive his fair share of financial rewards that was due to him and named two producers who used “badness” to intimidate artistes.
“Seh gwaan! Seh slew di beast!” Bongo told fans as he transformed his bag of “instruments” into a “bag of collie”.
Deh Deh Blacks later paid tribute to Junior Byles by singing the late singer’s first number one song A Place Called Africa.
AWARD
In Reggae Month, Junior Byles was honoured by the Government with the Reggae Gold Award. Grange said that she was happy that he was among the recipients.
A tribute album was also released by Byles’ lifelong friend, legendary guitarist Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith, whose Binghistra drummers will be part of Monday’s thanksgiving service. The album is titled Still Beating Down Babylon and features artistes such as Marlon Brown, Kai Wakeling, Binghistra and Donovan Josephs.
“Junior Byles was my brethren and I wanted to keep him alive,” Chinna told The Gleaner. “I really miss him. He was a good songwriter ... listen to his discography. Junior Byles was an intelligent youth.”
He added, “And I also need to express thanks to Rosie, his helper who stick with him all these years. I used to joke with her and say, ‘When him get better yuh haffi married him, Rosie’.”
English (US) ·