Between August 23-25, Saint Lucia’s festival industry came alive with the sounds of reggae, R&B, Afrobeats and soul music with the staging of the third edition of the Saint Lucia Roots & Soul festival.
This festival saw musicians from Saint Lucia share the stage with hit-makers and stars from the Caribbean, Africa, UK, Canada and the USA.
On the Friday evening, at The Ramp in Rodney Bay, a large performance fabric building, St Lucian acts, both native and living in the diaspora, represented well as opening acts for T&T’s 3Canal.
Soul singer Ngozi Grandison, Canada-based hip-hop artiste Asher “Smallz” Small, the fabulous Spoken Word artiste and poet Curmiah Lisette delivered performances that held up and laid a path for T&T’s top rapso band to deliver a 90-minute set of hits including Talk Yuh Talk, Blue, Boom Up History and more.
On the Saturday, reggae star Tarrus Riley had a huge audience at Pigeon Island National Landmark singing word for word his hits like She’s Royal and Gimme Likkle One Drop.
He also shared the stage with special guest UK singer Estelle who performed their duet Love Like Ours.
Earlier that evening, local folk-rock band Skip Monday opened the event followed by UK dance music star from the 1980s Leee John and Imagination.
John, of St Lucian parentage, took the audience back on a nostalgia trip with his hits Music and Lights, Flashback, Just an Illusion, and even brought Prime Minister Allen Chastanet on stage to remind the audience of John’s Lucian heritage. Afropop star Timaya had the crowd moving to Bum Bum, Sanko and his other songs that have a vibe that is so close to soca that wining was the thing to do.
On the final night, Sunday, reggae cover band supreme UB40, featuring Ali Campbell and Astro, commanded the stage with an excellent performance proving their 40-year career is not in vain.
Red Red Wine, (I Can’t Help) Falling in Love with You, Here I Am, and more, had the crowd in ecstasy.
Before UB40, Mya and Ginuwine showed the even bigger audience than Saturday, what a R&B show is like with a pair of tightly choreographed sets that had sex appeal and dancing, roses and sweaty tee-shirts, and hits. Lucian pride was evident with local hit maker Sherwinn “Dupes” Brice and Canada-born Zamani opening the show with island pop and neo-soul respectively.
This year’s edition of the show is a template for better things to come in the future.