Singing cop goes unplugged

For over 35 years, singer-songwriter Dale Griffith has been composing and singing songs of worship. His main platform has been the First Church of the Open Bible, San Fernando, where both his parents were pastors.

Griffith, a senior police officer, took a leap of faith and staged his first solo concert – Unplugged on April 5.

It was only fitting for Griffith’s coming out to draw on the support of former colleague and friend, Pastor Christopher “Tambu” Herbert, one-time calypsonian and frontline singer for Charlie’s Roots band. Tambu dug from his collection of hits to wow the audience.

Also doing backup, sometimes a trio and solo acts were his children, Desha and Daniel, along with their cousin and inspiration for the concert, Kezie Peters-Shah.

Desha, Daniel, and Peters-Shah are among the new wave of gifted gospel artistes, crisscrossing the generation gap by fusing different genres to reach their audiences. Daniel, a remarkable guitarist, was among two out of ten artistes chosen to participate in the advance phase of the MusicTT Artiste Portfolio Development Programme (APDP) earlier this year.

Peters-Shah has had several concerts, even teaming up with sensational jazz exponent Vaughnette Bigford for one of them.

From the opening of the three-hour-long show at Atmosphere Club on Park Street, San Fernando, the concert venue was transformed into a place of worship as Griffith ministered to the packed audience, drawing from the popular classics to some of his own compositions. In addition to the praise music, the audience was given an insight into the life of the artiste, his perseverance and faith.

At times his raw emotion and passion came to the fore, as, with tears flowing down his cheeks, he spoke about overcoming adversity when he questioned the Lord about his reason for being in this place and the prayers of his wife Shelly, who “bruised her knees” for him to conquer his challenges.

Peters-Shah, who lived with the family after both her parents died, spoke of Dale and Shelly as a couple who truly exemplified Christianity. She spoke about him being a strong leader, but also a “broken man.”

She also evoked laughter as she recalled him going into “automatic police mode when he tied to his gate a thief he caught stealing in his neighbourhood,” and another experience of him jumping out of his car to “slap up” a man who was robbing children at the roadside.

Asked why it took him so long to have a solo concert, Griffith said, “I guess sometimes you doubt yourself. You know people say you don’t know what you have; well, I guess that is true. Sometimes we underestimate our own selves.

“I was dormant for a while, I was just kind of settled to sit back, go to church and receive. But I heard the Lord telling me, ‘You have something that people need and what you have is worth it, because what you have is me, and my word never returns void. There is always life.’”

Griffith who has recorded two albums, Free at Last, with his family, and Before You Now, with friends, said this is what spurred him on. He said he has so many songs he composed, he decided to work on his solo album, which will be out soon, and when the opportunity presented itself for a concert, he was encouraged by Peters-Shah to go for it.

“People know me from years ago, but this new generation don’t know me, so this (concert and album) is an opportunity to use these avenues to get known again, getting my name out there and in terms of spreading the word, spreading life, spreading joy and spreading hope. This is what this is all about.”

Tambu, resident pastor at the House of Truth Assembly, Charlotte Street, Port of Spain, said he too is in the recording studio, working on his second album, which should be out before the end of the year.

“This one would be strictly gospel calypso, with very good content, different moods, good lyrics. I think this one is going to be better than the first, because there has been some growth spiritually, and as a result of that, the content and direction would be much better.”

In reference to Griffith, Tambu said, “Dale is an excellent vocalist.

He has a nice vocal quality, but I think he has not yet received the recognition he deserves. I really believe he has an exceptional talent, and with time and chance and opportunity, I trust he would find that spot.”