This year’s all female line up for Live From Kingston created history at Skyline Levels, selling out the entire venue, having vehicles parked past Skyline Drive’s Lookout Point; all coming to witness the future of Reggae Music. The event hosted by Kamila McDonald kicked off at around 9pm with opening act Yanah.
Yanah has been creating a buzz online with her independent SoundCloud releases. She performed covers of popular songs ‘Your Love’ by Willow Smith, Sade’s ‘No Ordinary Love’ and ‘Hideaway’ by Tessanne Chin before going into her original pieces ‘The Cycle’, ‘Weak Heart’ and ‘Doe Try Me’.
Music royalty Naomi Cowan along with her band The Plummers gave patrons a treat when she invited her legend of a mother Carlene Davis to perform her classic song ‘Santa Clause’. She performed a remix of ‘Ba Ba Boom’ by The Jamaicans and original songs ‘So Right’, ‘Climbing’ and ‘Naked’ before singing her hit single ‘Paradise Plum’ which has been racking up plays on the internet as well as local radio stations.
Sevana was next with an effortless and soulful delivery of an acoustic set with lone guitarist Almando Douglas, singing ‘Rawle’, ‘Love The Way’, ‘Carry You’, ‘Bit Too Shy’ and her 2018 releases ‘Justice’ and ‘Sometime Love’.
Sevana made way for her label mate Lila Ike as she took to the stage oozing confidence. She performed a high energy set with her songs ‘Biggest Fan’, ‘Gotti Gotti’ and ‘Second Chance’ with the heavy bass line from Dennis Brown’s ‘Promised Land’. Despite some mishaps from her band, she maintained her composure and professionalism and gave an unforgettable performance, displaying a range out of this world, lyrical versatility and the stage presence of an artist that has been doing it for years.
Possibly the most anticipated performance of the night was closing act Koffee. She came and introduced the members of her band The Raggamuffins, with percussionist Shaquille Forbes, bass player Kenly Thompson, guitarist Almando Douglas, keyboardist Oniel Dacres and supporting vocalist Zhayna France. Opening her set with ‘Burning’, she went on to perform ‘Legend’, her tribute to sprint icon Usain Bolt, ‘Affi Make It’, ‘Pressure’ and ‘Raggamuffin’ before closing with crowd favorite ‘Toast’.
The night ended with all the night’s performers having a jam session on stage and Lila and Koffee singing Rygin King’s ‘Tuff’.
Live From Kingston is the brainchild of Protoje and the Inn.Digg.Nation Collective and was first held in 2011. We look forward not only to the 8th staging of the event but also to what these talented young ladies have to offer in 2019.
