Alaine closes Seh Sup'm on high

Alaine's upbeat attitude and complete involvement in the music she is presenting transmits clearly to huge audiences at festival-type events. In the closer quarters of the Village Blues Bar, Barbican Road, St Andrew, on Sunday night she was like a mug of steaming tea in the hands on a cold night.

The singer and - at the end when she applied her fingers to black and white keys for No Ordinary Love - player of instrument closed off this month's edition of the Seh Sup'm poetry and live music event, a benefit for the Ascot Primary School board. It was of generally high standard. It started in unusual fashion, the chairs in the main audience area shifted to make room for a capoeira demonstration.

Still, there was music to go with the martial arts and dancing display, the voices and specialised instruments of the Brazilian art form's enthusiasts filling the venue with sound accompaniment to the deliberate near misses of arms and legs.

Open mic, where anyone who signs up can read their poetry, was first up and sprinkled throughout an evening where the spoken word was dominant quantitatively. There was some drama too as, after Ayala Bennett opened the night's poetry, Rass Rodd put facial and body language into his multilayered interpretation of the term 'squatter' ("squat is when dem bway deh tek position fi buss gunshot").

chronology of events

Someone who is heavily involved in drama, Jean Small, read the long If Only Bob Could Sing, about musician Michael Cunningham who was murdered in July 1999. He was shot near the Bob Marley statue on Arthur Wint Drive and Small combined a summary of the man's character ("Mikey, who never trouble no one") and chronology of the events with the refrain "if only Bob could sing a reggae dirge/about what he and the two Rasta queens observe".

"I am going to read a shorter one. This is kind of a love poem," Small said before A Sun Song. It turned out to be a sad one, as "you never told me/when season's song ended you would walk away/carrying my yellow sun in your mouth".

Fitzroy 'Viva' Cole was obviously very happy to be at the microphone in Jamaica again after a few years. He opened with a poem to a lady thug and continued with meeting a lady in the club, references to the music of Beres Hammond and Sizzla included in it. There was a cheating poem - and the gimmick of a spiced bun whizzing through the air from the audience as Cole said "the first time a woman gi me bun". There were three poetic 'bunnings', three tosses and three catches, to laughter from poet and audience.

Still, it was not only fun from Cole; he looked askance at the Christ figure ("never understand how you make man/and get crucify like a thief") and staying in Jamaica through changing times in Jamaica ("Southside Hotel me deh when Myrtle Bank Hotel bun dung").

Michael Abrahams was on the JPS case and suggested we "use up the wind like how it always a blow/an' tell JPS pack them bags and go", while Monique Morrison was in a non-judgemental mood about others, even while advocating self-assessment.

memorable voice

Singer Floyd West has a memorable voice - a slight nasality combined with a style of delivery which relies more on inflection than a wide vocal range (although he did urge his voice into a falsetto when he sang directly to the ladies). He sat on a high chair, accompanied by musicians on drums and guitar, effective quips slipped in between songs - one covering a moment when the drummer's cellphone went off a couple times as a song started.

"I recommend you just answer and perform," West said.

The Mighty Ginsu was also accompanied by musicians to deliver the spoken word in strong, rhythmic fashion. Ironically, he started out singing, along with Asante Amen, about refuge in rural life, that "I want to be where the sky touches the mountains".

It was all poetry after that, Ginsu going back to his "pre-9/11" days and settling into a rhythm that carried his messages very well. Land of the Dark Ones and a piece delivered in very smooth style for the ladies ("just smile a while/give your face a rest/I know you're going through some stress/so laugh don't cry/lean on my chest") went over well.

And, coming to "just after 2001 now", Ginsu recommended, "let's overthrow all corrupt governments". Keisha and Denise Simpson, the latter with Risky Business, preceded Alaine, who went off to a strong start with Rise In Love.

Claude Hamilton gave some background on Ascot Primary, including its community origins and objectives.