Roots & Soul: Hit or Miss?

The excited bodies stretched over the railing at the front of the stage tried in vain to touch Tarrus Riley as the headliner skipped across the hot platform during the second show at this year’s Roots & Soul Festival. The “conscious” Rastaman belted out a string of Caribbean favourites, including ever popular “She’s Royal,” and the reggae version of Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature”—to the delight of attendant Looshans. The more he delivered, the more the sing-along audience screamed for more. At every opportunity he recited the Rastafarian canticle  “Who Jah bless, no man curse”—which the crowd loved.  

But quite apart from Riley, it was hard to tell what else pleased the audiences at Roots & Soul Festival 2019. He was one Events Company of Saint Lucia’s hottest tickets. Last Friday night’s local acts at The Ramp on Rodney Bay also pulled a crowd: Curmiah Lissette’s modern performance, with delivery of her spoken word accented with song and dance from other local performers, was the highlight for many. As for the other acts at Pigeon Island, well, the less said the kinder.

Following a late start and Skip Monday’s performance, Leee John, decked out in various sequined outfits, took the stage to execute some pretty mediocre Michael Jackson moves at a half-empty venue—for almost two hours. His vocals were not unimpressive and his band banged out some popular songs. But in the end they fizzled out, the crowd having lost interest in the singer despite his widely advertised Looshan roots. Before the next act came on, a shower of rain sent large sections of the audience seeking shelter while, ironically, the band played Bob Marley’s “Exodus”. 

Before he appeared onstage the Nigerian singer Timaya, through MC Francheska Solomon, invited “three beautiful Saint Lucian women” to join him. But when the singer, who pulls millions of YouTube views, personally identified his chosen three, not a single female accepted. He ended his performance with “Sanko” replete with amplified f-bombs. Later the singer crowed to the media, ”The interaction was beautiful.” 

Tarrus Riley was obviously the main attraction. He sang “Love Like Ours” in a duet with Estelle that went over big. But it soon became clear who they considered the main ingredient. The reaction to Estelle on her own was at best lackluster. On Sunday night, UB40 headlined after another very late start. Opening act Ginuwine was bland. The singer is loved for his slow tunes, especially for his 1996 release “Pony” which Rihanna covered in 2012. But during Ginuwine’s rendition of the original, the audience was cold. The singer later told reporters the Saint Lucian heat made him reluctant to use up his energy.  Mýa was the festival’s enchantress. All eyes were glued to her glowing skin, her inviting wide smile and dizzying dance moves. Alas, it seemed her audience was not familiar with her repertoire.  

UB40 were undoubtedly sizzling in their heyday. But that was fourteen years ago since they last came to entertain in Saint Lucia. The older section of their audience shouted out most of their hits but several younger people admitted to this writer that they’d only ever heard “Red, Red Wine.” The late start didn’t help. Even hardcore UB40 fans left before the end of their act.   

The regional and international press hosted by ECSL and the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority will no doubt deliver great reviews. I’ve already seen the stream of good press in Google’s news tab alluding that Roots & Soul could be the island’s next big thing. There was also Barbadian social media influencer, Regina Ramjit and two young women who cooked-up social media content all weekend-long for @travelsaintlucia to promote on Instagram. 

However, Roots & Soul attracted a mostly Saint Lucian crowd. It was meant to be “a festival dedicated to musicians who are setting new trends in reggae, conscious hip-hop, Afro-punk and R&B.”  Roots & Soul also competed with the largest cultural festival in the Caribbean, CARIFESTA, on its final weekend.