'Faith' concert provides high class Christian entertainment
By Mark McGowan
Stabroek News
April 14, 2007
It was a night of jumping, waving, skipping, dancing and shouting for the thousands who turned out on March 31 at the National Park for the event hailed as the "biggest contemporary gospel show of the year". The show, which urged patrons to "Step out in Faith", featured four Caribbean contemporary artistes as the main attraction and proved to be an evening of high class Christian entertainment for those who attended.
The tone for the evening was set by the local artistes, who showed that there is no dearth of talent in the local gospel music industry. There were artistes such as Yohan Jackman, Keisha Harmon, Anil Azeez, Trenecia Esseboom, the Dominion Dancers, Cheryl Maloney, the bands--Second Coming and Holy Ghost Warriors, Kester D and Solid Youth among others.
Kester D, along with his back-up group Second Coming, proved to be very popular with the crowd. He mixed it up, dishing out hits such as "Plenty Fire" and "Young People Don't be Silly". He took the audience back to Sunday School days as he performed a medley of songs such as "It's Bubbling" and "A Little More Oil in My Lamp".
But the stand out of the local artistes was Solid Youth whose musical appeal to women urging them to dress modestly was so well received that he was called on stage a second time. The artiste had a commanding presence on stage and interacted well with the audience. He certainly demonstrated that he has the potential to go a far way in the gospel music industry.
Before the introduction of the foreign artistes some members of the audience were given a chance to win some cash in a competition where they were required to repeat a two minute rhyme that was made popular by DJ Nicholas. The winner of the competition was awarded $10,000 while the second and third place received $5,000 and $3000 respectively.
One of the night's well-received performers, Solid Youth, on stage with Anil Azeez
Around 9.50 pm the first of the foreign artistes, Jamaican Kerron Ennis, was introduced. The 24-year-old, who is a relatively unknown voice to the Guyanese public, captured the hearts of the thousands at the park, with her strong voice and meaningful lyrics. She made it clear that she had come only to entertain and her rendition of the song "God is Real" was certainly one of the high points of the evening. Her performance was even more amazing, considering that she was not in the best of health.
During her performance, she was joined on stage by another one of the foreigners DJ Nicholas and they performed duets much to the delight of the audience.
After Ennis left the stage, it was all over to DJ Nicholas. The singer, who is also known as the 'Rhyme Minister' sang several of his more popular songs including: "Him a mi Barrier" and "Step". Although, it started to rain shortly after he came on stage, this did not hinder his performance as the majority of the crowd braved the weather and continued to enjoy themselves on the tarmac.
After belting out a few songs, Nicholas spoke about his life as a Rastafarian and about his conversion to Christianity. He then closed his performance by performing his hit song "Holy Ghost Church" along with Kerron Ennis.
In a brief interview with The Scene, Nicholas said that he had enjoyed performing in Guyana and was pleased that the crowd was still able to praise God in spite of the rain. Nicholas who has released one album titled 'On the Shout' is currently compiling another album with other artistes but plans on releasing his second individual album by the end of this year. He plans on making a return to Guyana whenever the opportunity is presented to him.
Nicholas was followed on stage by Trinidadian Sherwin Gardner, who delivered a high energy performance that belied his small frame. The singer even joked about this as he led the crowd in an exciting session of jumping and celebrating.
His departure signalled the entrance of the former Jamaican dancehall artiste Papa San., who was making his third appearance in Guyana. He too had the crowd going wild as he belted out several of his popular tunes including "Hail Him Up", "Pop Style", "Step Pon di Enemy", "God and I" and "More Life".
Papa San, who gained popularity as a dancehall artiste for his tongue-tying dubbing skills, demonstrated that he has lost none of these skills as he set about accomplishing his stated mission "of giving the devil black eye and belly ache".
The artiste, who was smartly dressed in grey pants, a white shirt, a khaki jacket and a matching cap along with white shoes, also had several members of the crowd join him on stage to praise God in dance. He concluded his presentation by singing a song in memory of his recently deceased father, which he dedicated to individuals who lost loved ones. He then urged the non-Christians in the crowd to convert to Christianity and then prayed for those individuals who were sick.
The show came to a close at about 1.30 am and the general consensus of the crowd as they dispersed was that they had received good value for their money.