C Sharp & the Battle of the Bands

Groundins

By: Charles H.E. Campbell

Kudos is due to the tenacious Seretse Small for his relentless pursuit to promote and highlight live-music in general, and the new generation of bands and singers of the various genres of Jamaican music; oft times, at tremendous self-sacrifice. His most recent edition of the Global Battle of the Bands was staged at the Chinese Benevolent Society’s headquarters on Hope Road on Sunday December 10.

While I am not privy to the means by which the bands that participated were selected, the quality of all the bands was of a high standard. That being said, however, there were some down-sides in executing this event which, in my estimation, did a disservice to the promoter, the individual bands, and the objective of the event.

In my opinion, it may have been a poor choice of venue, based on the fact that it is well known in the industry that the acoustics of the hall are not suited to reinforced sound. In this regard, ironically, I heard the music clearer when I was standing outside, but inside the venue, it was a noisy din. To make matters worse, there were numerous distortions of the PA system and the microphones worked intermittently, which interrupted the performances from the very start, compelling the organizers to have the first two bands repeat their performances.

My investigations have informed me that 25% of the scores are given to the popular vote of the audience, and—as undemocratic as this may sound—I wonder if, in a competition such as this where, supposedly, we are attempting to select the best band to represent Jamaica in an international competition, this approach is the ideal one to take, given our herd mentality.

Just look at how this has corrupted our parliamentary votes on issues of critical importance to the country. While it is natural for all the bands participating to mobilize their fans and supporters, if they are not encouraged to be guided by their conscience in making their vote, then we could very well do without the performances and simply select the group based on who has the majority vote.

To make matters worse, on Sunday, the supporters of the winning group came armed with their Vuvuzela Horns, and so, for the life of me, I don’t know how the judges could have made a determination about the quality of the musicianship of the winning group, because their fans, who were obviously the majority of the audience, incessantly blew these horns throughout the performance of Di Blueprint.



Di Blueprint Band

In my view, firstly, due to the competitive nature of the event; due to the fact that you had three judges who were supposedly there to make an objective judgment of the musicianship and stage-craft of all the groups, the promoter should never have allowed the horns to be used. Secondly, because, to my mind, it was therefore impossible for the judges to have heard this group clearly and uninterruptedly, they should have been disqualified to be fair to the other groups.

Whereas these Vuvuzela Horns may be appropriate for the open-air, political party meeting (I don’t really care to hear what their speakers have to say anyway), and for the ‘Kernation Market’ setting, the audible impact of this shrill sound totally discombobulated me, and, I’m sure it did likewise for those patrons who came to this event with an open mind and simply wanted to hear good, live music to draw comparisons and make their individual judgment about the strengths and weaknesses of each group.

With due respect to the organizers, this is not the first time that this herd mentality has had an undue influence in determining the winner of the competition. The same thing occurred at the very first one in 2005 where C Sharp lost to Live Wyya, not because they were better musically, but because of their superior mobilisation efforts.

While I don’t know if it is a criteria mandated by the governing international organization, in my view, whereas I wouldn’t totally eliminate the popular vote, it should not have a value of more than 10% of the overall score given to any participant.

Speaking of C Sharp, thank God they have lived to tell the tale, and are now riding high on the local, live music circuit. On Friday night, they celebrated their 10th anniversary with a concert performance and the launch for their new album ‘The Invitation’ at the Jamaica College Auditorium, and I was pleasantly surprised at the significant amount of people who came out in support of them… and none of us were disappointed. Whereas, Tony Rebel and Cat Coore got tremendous receptions and overwhelming applause, C Sharp was at their musical zenith.



C Sharp Band

The diversity and richness of their music, complimented by the sonorous voice and charisma of the lead singer, and their mastery of stage-craft was simply amazing. This group has not wasted their ten years and the combination of talent, training, discipline, and hard work have certainly paid off. “All Fruits Ripe”… Good luck gentlemen; the world awaits!

Email: che.campbell@gmail.com


Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/C-Sharp-n-the-Battle-of-the-Bands_10403262