Dancehall and soca mash-up

Tailored for the musical taste of Barbadians, the Deputy Beer Vibez: Festival of Sound fused top acts from the dancehall and soca genres to create an all-encompassing event for its patrons.

The crowd was kept thoroughly entertained from start to finish with a rousing line up of deejays such as Surfrat and Menace and energetic performances from local and regional artistes – Jus D, Mole, Brucelee Almightee, SK, Mongrel (Barbados), Voice and Kerwin Du Bois (Trinidad and Tobago), Munga Honourable, Aidonia and his team from Jamaica.

Rising bashment soca artiste Mongrel opened the show after 10 p.m. with his 2019 release Corporal Punishment. He was followed by the multi-talented Jus D who had the ladies swooning with Manager, Hole, Only Thing She Know and his 2019 releases So What and Bad Vibes.

But the bitter disappointment came from the shortened time that some artistes had on stage. This became apparent during Voice’s set when mid-performance he told the audience that he was out of time.

The medley of Trinidadian soca artistes’ hits had the crowd begging for more. As the first regional act of the night, Voice revved up the patrons with Year of Love, Far from Finished, Alive and Well, Cheers to Life and Pandemonium. Voice had patrons hyped with his cover of the 2019 Trinidadian carnival hit Famalay by Machel Montano, Skinny Fabulous and Bunji Garlin, but what really caused chaos was when Mr Killa’s Run It played – some of the male patrons picked up the ladies in general and began to run up and down the venue with them.

The late start led to bashment soca artiste Mole speeding through his set. Walking onto the Festival of Sound Kensington Oval stage, Mole uttered his infamous phrase ‘Daddy Now Land’ to the screams of female patrons. In what felt like less than two minutes, he switched to Boom Flick and followed with Brucelee Almightee joining the stage for Aye.

Signalled by the deejay that time was sparse, SK leaped on stage to perform his 2019 Crop Over single Reverse which has grown immensely popular since being released two weeks ago. Although the performances were short, it was enough to energise the crowd and amp them for what was coming next – Munga Honorable.

The Jamaican artiste was welcomed by screaming fans at 11:40 p.m. Dressed in white, Munga’s face was partially covered but his distinct voice as he sang I Came To Take Your Place instantly resonated with the crowd. He performed for 25 minutes, singing hits such as Nah Mad, Wine Pun It and Talk To Me, Bad From Mi Born and Gangstas Do Their Own Thing.

While the men in the audience were instructed “nah mad ova no gal” by Munga Honorable, soca artiste Kerwin Du Bois told the ladies in the audience to forget their ex’s and that they were “right for somebody”.

The ‘bachannalist’ was very engaged with patrons and high-energy during his set. He had the crowd jamming to tunes like Right For Somebody, Unforgettable, Monster Wine, Touch Down, Too Real, Feteland and Circles until 12:30 p.m.

Fifteen minutes later, dancehall star Aidonia graced the Kensington Oval stage, and it was chaos. The Jamaica artiste performed hits such as Bruise, Jack Hammer, Flying Dagger, Ukuu and We A Tek It Off. Expressing his love for Barbadian fans who embraced him when he first became active in 2004-2005, Aidonia jumped into the crowd during his performance of Yeah, Yeah. It was a mad rush by fans who wanted to take pictures with him. Some of the partiers could not be contained, and the music paused thrice with Aidonia asking them to stop pushing.

Nevertheless, the party continued when he returned to the stage and closed the show at 1:37 a.m.