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HEARTBEAT CULTURE SPLASH '96
June 1, 1996
Tramps
New York City
Featuring Derrick Morgan, The Meditations,
Sister Carol, Michael Rose
Let's
face it: buying reggae discs can be tough. You stand for hours comparing
the backs and fronts of imports, reissues, compilations, trying to figure
out whether you are about to buy some rare sessions or a repackaging of
songs you already own. Discs that in the store may look like vintage dubs
of your favorite artist may turn out to be cheesy new versions recorded
by unknown and untalented session men. However, there are always a few dependable
labels which provide quality music--a personal favorite being Heartbeat
Records. Heartbeat has, over the past fifteen years, built up an impressive
catalogue of music, reissuing vintage Studio One, Channel One and High Note
recordings, among others, as well as releasing at times extremely high quality
current roots and dancehall artists. As a label, they have always strived
to provide context along with content. You can generally pick up a Heartbeat
record in the store and know you're getting into something good. So, when Heartbeat organized their fifteenth anniversary concert in New York, Culture Splash '96 at Tramps, it would seem a lock that they would put on a high quality show. However, at first glance, the line-up did not seem so impressive to me: Sister Carol had just performed twice in the area since January, Michael Rose had released a relatively ho-hum recording (BE YOURSELF on Heartbeat), and no one but die hard fans knew much of the music of The Meditations or ska-king Derrick Morgan. When the backing band S.A.N.E. (Sounds Against Negative Energy) began the evening with a CD-101.9 Lite version of Marley's "Redemption Song," the first of many versions of Bob standards touched on throughout the night, the show was beginning to look like it would shoot itself in the foot before it began.
That feeling disappeared as soon as the blind Derrick Morgan was led on stage to a spot stage left of the drum riser; he whipped the crowd into a frenzy with an energetic set of authentic Jamaican ska. Performing his own tunes as well as a few songs by Prince Buster, his good natured show-man style, untouched by time, had the crowd skanking and laughing along, especially when he took a few minutes to address the young men of today, singing an a capella rendition of "No Woman No Cry" retitled "Some Woman Must Cry."
The Meditations followed and proceeded to ignite the crowd with their sheer energy. They ran through many of their biggest hits ("Babylon Trap Them," "Miracles," "Nice Time" --all of which can be found on their Heartbeat greatest hits package) as well as a cover of "Blackman Redemption," a Marley song for which they had originally provided harmony vocals. The three members of the group, Ansel Cridland, Danny Clarke and Winston Watson, all handled lead as well as harmony vocals throughout the set, at times demonstrating an energy and savvy rarely seen outside of legendary soul groups. They were joined on stage by a DJ who appeared to be Ranking Joe (I wasn't able to catch his name for sure) for an extended version of their wicked gender anthem, "Woman Is Like A Shadow."
Sister
Carol was her usual splendid self. Her set was a near carbon copy of her
previous appearance for Bob Marley's birthday at Irving Plaza, but no one
complained because it contained chestnuts like "Ababajoni," "Black
Cinderella" and "Oh Jah (Mi Ready)," which she extended into
a version of "Crazy Baldheads." Mother Culture took every opportunity
to promote her new sub-label on Heartbeat, named after her second album
Black Cinderella., and provided the only female voice in a largely male
dominated show, which is a role she has long played and excelled at within
the reggae community.
Michael
Rose brought down the house from the start of his headlining set, with a
take on "Stalk Of Sensimilla" that provoked sing-alongs from the
entire audience; this continued throughout his performance, which was heavily
stacked with Black Uhuru material ("Shine Eye Gal," "Plastic
Smile," "Solidarity," among others). Rose dropped in a few
songs from his new album, most notably "Rude Boys (Back In Town),"
which he sang during his encore. Heartbeat Culture Splash '96 hit its emotional
peak during "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" when Michael flashed
his dreads and began dancing wildly around the stage as S.A.N.E. began to
dub out the rhythm. The show reflected its sponsor in that it was well-conceived, culturally informed and ran smoothly for nearly five hours, through four very different acts. S.A.N.E. remained on stage, backing every artist, for the entire show, never tiring and running through many styles of Jamaican music, from ska to roots to dancehall to the unique sound of Sly & Robbie's Black Uhuru material. This meant there was almost no down time between acts, and no release of the energy built up by a previous act before the next could begin. Culture Splash '96 was a resounding success, which will hopefully convince Heartbeat not to wait until its thirtieth anniversary to celebrate with a show, and instead follow up on the promise of Culture Splash '97.
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::
Sanchez :: Sugar Minott Dec 3, 2002 New York City ::
Jr Kelly ::
Frankie Paul ::
Sugar
Minott ::
The Meditations
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