What a night for roots, rock & reggae brought to you by G’s Jamaican Cuisine and The Kansas City Reggae Community. Kicking off the night was Indika Band hailing from Chicago with each member coming from their own cultural background, thus adding a special element to the overall sound. The band consisted of Band leader and bassist Courtney Panton, Lead vocalist Uroy Muslar, Daron Walker on drums, Keyboardist Ryan Coleman and Guitarist Gerald “Toto” Alfred. Indika Band delivered to us classic covers from artist like Sanchez to Beres Hammond, and even some of their own original pieces as well!
Next up was Dancehall artist Devon Brown, hailing from Jamaica and grounded in Chicago. Nicknamed Fyah Dread, Brown made it clear why he carried that name. He brought “fyah” and made sure the audience was on their toes. Brown came in with a Dancehall tune, switched to pop, and made his way to reggae all within minutes. He too gave us melodious covers from legends artist like Bob Marley to Shaggy.
Brown shared the stage with Lead vocalist Uroy Muslar and together they harmonised and sang some ballads for the ladies in the place. From there we enjoyed a short intervention with tunes provided by DJ Ghoudy, a Jamaican born DJ from Jefferson City, Missouri.
We were finally honoured with the presence of The legendary Jah Messenger himself, Luciano. Since the 1990’s in Jamaica Luciano has been serving people with his works sending messages of upliftment, liberation, peace and so much more. Luciano did nothing short of giving the upmost praise to the most high and delivering teachings from His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I thru his euphonious songs.
We enjoyed hit songs like “Sweep Over my soul,” “Never Give up my Pride” and “One Way Ticket.” It is no secret that Luciano has been through monumental trials and tribulations throughout his life. The most recent being the murder of his teenage son Menelik McClymont. Luciano shared with us that he felt he would never overcome such heartache and grief, but he kept the faith. Before parting the stage, Luciano left us with a powerful and inspirational prayer, one that I will never forget, one of a true messenger.
Review and photos by Chantal Adjoavi
See more photo on Chantal’s website click here: Chantal Adjoavi