T’was a cool, breezy late Saturday evening. Sunlight was preparing to make its retreat and shadows were starting to lengthen. The din was that of excited voices being increasingly drowned by the sounds of percussions reverberating through The City.
The pulsating drums signalled that this would be no ordinary night in the nation’s capital. It would be an occasion for Historic Bridgetown to come alive. And indeed it did, as the Central Bank of Barbados hosted its annual City Nights On The Green at the Church Hill Green.
It was a pleasurable night for the families that congregated in the amphitheatre and even the moon that eventually peeked from behind the clouds to create its own silhouettes, seemed too to want to be involved. The mix of music, atmosphere and ambience was simply delightful.
Mosiac Steel Orchestra started the evening off on several good notes (pun intended) as they energised the audience with their version of some of the more popular Crop Over songs. The music of Biggie Irie and Porgie and Murda made the young and the young at heart in the audience dance without inhibition.
The Haynesville Drummers personified rhythm and their sometimes feverish, occasionally gentle handling of the drums spoke spiritually to the motherland and her descendants. Even more pleasing was their crossing of the Atlantic as epitomised by the homage paid to Barbados’ tuk rhythm that brought their set to its conclusion.
Drums Of Thunder gave an incredible insight on the history of the drums. Then the Israel Lovell Foundation thrilled the audience with their sound, their look, their passion. Michael Slocombe, leading the Akugbe Drummers Collective Drum Circle, invited the willing audience to be interactive in movement and incantation. They responded with infectious verve.
Manager of Frank Collymore Hall and coordinator of the event, Fran Wickham-Jacobs, was exceptionally pleased by the production. While the numbers were not as she would have hoped, partly due to competing events, she said she was happy that the locals and tourists who attended enjoyed the show immensely.
Hinting at a special Christmas on the Green in December, Wickham Jacobs said that the Central Bank would endeavour to utilise the Church Hill Green more often. Admitting that the Green was not being used enough, she encouraged people to take up the challenge of ensuring that more events took place there. (SDB Media)
