Artistes give strong support to cancer fight

• Mahima Music for Life concert enjoys good crowd, good music

Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

Positive music, positive vibrations and a positive message were what the Mahima Music for Life concert was all about on the lawns of The Jamaica Pegasus on Sunday night.

The third staging of the concert was well supported, as persons carried blankets, mats and chairs and sat under the stars to enjoy a night of live music.

A charity concert originally started to aid Monique 'Mahima' Geourzoung, who passed away recently after a valiant fight with cancer, the proceeds are now in aid of the Hope Institute. The Hope Institute is the brainchild of the Jamaica Cancer Society, which opened its doors in 1963 and today continues to provide treatment and care for terminal cancer patients in Jamaica.

It was a packed night of music which started shortly after 8 p.m. and rocked The Pegasus until after 2 a.m. The acts for the night all volunteered their time, performing for free, so that more aid could be donated to cancer patients. The likes of Marcus I, Farenheit, Blu Grass in the Sky all gave nice warm-up performances. Jah 9, another of the early acts, also gave a riveting performance, before making way for Chino.

The audience got to see Chino, a young dancehall act, in a new light, as he gave a more mellow performance, even though the line-up of songs included Pon Yuh Head, Ruff It Up, Bring It Come, Before You Gone and From Mawning.

The deejay showed versatility by performing in a live music setting and congratulated Zoisa McGregor, his youngest sister, who did backup vocals for him.

Chino made way for Cherine, who no longer carries Anderson as part of her stage name. The singer, who recently gave away her 9.25 mix tape, was lovely and lively on-stage.

Interesting mix

Cherine provided an interesting mix, sampling Lauryn Hill, Rihanna, and then going into her own music with Make Up Sex.

The singer had persons cheering with a remix of her Rebel minus DI, and continued to have them enamoured as she teased with Coming Over Tonight, before she closed with Eagles and Doves.

It was Tarrus Riley, however, who got persons to their feet. The singer was in top form, entering with Lion Paw before singing love songs like Contagious, She's Royal, Stay With You.

Backed by his Blak Soil band, Riley turned up the tempo with Good Girl Gone Bad during a professional set worthy of an international stage.

Chalice gave a quick but enlightening set before making way for Protoje and the Indiggnation Band.

The 7-Year Itch hitmaker was energetic as he moved cross the stage and sang Roll to a woman at the front of the stage before moving into Arguments.

The youngster paid respect to his elders, sampling Bob Andy's Too Experienced. After performing his most recent single, No Lipstick, Protoje used a little from Buju Banton during his own hit Rasta Love, lacing the song with lines from Champion, which brought lively responses from the crowd.

The singjay ended with sampling the Jamaican National Anthem on guitar before going into JA.

Before Rootz Underground closed a night of strong performances, Jah Cure slowed the tempo to show off his vocal skills.

Cure was also in good shape vocally, beginning with a spiritual set of songs before singing Behind These Prison Walls, I'll Never Find and Unconditional Love. The artiste, interestingly, ended the night with Before I Leave.