Lee 'Scratch' Perry in action at Western Consciousness 2K6. - CONTIRBUTED
WHEN LEE 'SCRATCH' Perry came on stage at the Llandilo Cultural Centre, Westmoreland, last Saturday, I was not quite sure what people's expectations were.
Audiences at stage shows are not known for their tolerance or appreciation of presentations which focus more on delving into the history of Jamaican music rather than what is hype, hot and happening.
Perry's performance was none of those three things and, naturally, the man cannot sing, this despite a Grammy two years ago. He is primarily a producer who has had a tremendous influence on Jamaica's music and when he hit the stage last Saturday, he presented mostly work from his formidable catalogue of productions, including songs by The Wailers and Junior Byles.
The reaction was mostly one of 'watch and see', with the extremes of a few flags fluttering in front and a few outflung hands at the back indicating 'gu weh'. In fact, by the time Mr. Perry wrapped up his approximately half-hour performance, there were murmurs of discontent and the start of handclaps that were certainly not applause.
It is the latest, but certainly not the last, in a number of efforts to return performers to the Jamaican stage who have not been around for some time. The most successful was Jimmy Cliff at Rebel Salute two years ago, with Burning Spear at this year's staging of the festival in St. Elizabeth being less impressive. Heineken Startime has also brought back people like Keith and Tex, as well as Roy Shirley, after long stints away from the stage at home.
I know that people pay their hard-earned money to go to shows for entertainment, not experiments. At the same time, however, I do wish that when the risk that promoters run to connect the dots that make the trail of Jamaican music is rewarded with less than spectacular results, then the audiences would be understanding.
It would not be a bad idea to have a smaller scale music conference to explore the artiste's work, in a theatre or garden setting, which would have far less commercial pressure. After all, running through a catalogue when it is crunch time at a stage show is not the best idea of fun for an audience either.
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