Few bright spots in Yorke fete

FOR the last four to five years Yorke's annual Carnival fete has produced some of the best music with lots of vibes that brought out that spirit of the season in everyone who attended.

But this year’s edition, themed Euphoria, was anything but euphoric. The indoor venue was a disaster for live performances. The acoustics were poor and for the most part the music was just noise.

Another sore point, for the women, was that there was no separation of bathrooms: men and women used the same restrooms.

Then in the food area there were long lines for doubles, gyros, bake and shark, Chinese and curry, and even a longer line waiting for roast pork. A woman actually pulled up a chair to sit in the line for that.

That Bougainvillea Hall in the Centre of Excellence in Macoya was really not conducive to the all-inclusive concept.

However, there were a few bright spots. In the face of acoustic problems, seasoned bands like Dil-E-Nadan and D’All Starz were able to rise above the din to produce performances that the crowd fully enjoyed.

The pan shootout between Dane Gulston and Johann Chuckaree during Dil-E-Nadan’s performance was mesmerising, to say the least. And the three-second pause in their playing of a Shadow medley of songs was epic. It caught the crowd’s imagination and they reacted with a roar of approval. Dil-E-Nadan must be complimented for making pan a feature of its repertoire.

Towards the end of the band’s performance, a la Kees Dieffenthaller, frontline Dil-E-Nadan singers attempted the Savannah Grass dance, which was fun for patrons. The dance actually was that of Dieffenthaller’s dad Bunny.

Dil-E-Nadan ended with a Famalay/Tombstone medley.

D’All Starz, which featured Dexter “Blaxx” Stewart and Ricardo Dru, kept the crowd on their feet. Guesting with the band was Patrice Roberts, who is enjoying a highly successful season, and she did not disappoint. She delivered a number of popular selections. So too did other guest performers V’ghn who came on to do his Trouble in the Morning, Teddyson John (Parlez) and Farmer Nappy, with Hookin Meh, among his other hits.

Earlier Nadia Batson and her band and Rhapsody with Ro’dey performed. But it was a struggle with the sound, especially for the latter, as it was for Sekon Sta and his band.