NOT so long ago, the Park Albina in Suriname came alive as Jera Entertainment hosted its 3rd annual reggae show in the village in Paramaribo, Suriname.

This year, the show, as usual, featured a few local bands from the country, and was headlined by reggae sensation Glen Washington, backed by the Heatwave Band of Guyana.

This marked the return of the popular home band, as they were featured at the same event last year as the backing band for another Jamaican reggae artiste, Warrior King.

The annual reggae show seeks to bring live entertainment to the small village that is known for its love of reggae music, especially the sounds of the late South African Reggae icon Lucky Dube, who was very popular in the neighbouring country.

Glen Washington expressed his gratitude to the band for their hard work. This is the second time the Heat Wave band has performed with the artiste; just over two years ago, they worked with him here in Guyana.

The band, in existence for six years, is rapidly becoming a household name. They have since been making waves, being dubbed the most popular string band in Guyana, performing at just about every major event that has been held.

They have also been the house band for the annual Carib Soca Monarch Competition. They have played for many international artistes in the likes of Machel Montano, Rupee, Turbulance, Lady G, Admiral Bailey, and Flourgan, just to name a few. They have also played for many Guyanese artistes, and have recently been the backing band for young dancehall superstar Alkaline, who performed at the 2014 Jamzone Regional Night concert.

They are now the second band outside of Jamaica to ever perform with Alkaline.

The Heatwave band consists of Anthony Johnson, bass guitarist; Devon Roberts, drummer; Earl Bishop and Joshua Dennis, keyboardists; Carlvin Burnett (former first runner-up in the GT&T Jingle & Song Competition) and Tennicia De Freitas (two-time Junior Calypso Monarch and artiste of Kross Kolor Records) lead singers, who also act as background vocalists.

Along with band manager Chenille Bowen and engineer Jermaine Rollins, they travelled to Suriname on Thursday, November 4th, to prepare for the much-anticipated show, which was very well attended.
They performed a half-hour repertoire of old and new reggae music which put the crowd in a bouncing frenzy, getting them prepared for the main act of the night.

Jera Entertainment was also very pleased with the performance, and looks forward to continuing a working relationship with the band for future shows.

The CEO of the band, Anthony Johnson, promises to do much more for the ending of the year and the years to come, as they have already added a number of dancers, sound engineer, and DJ to their fold.

The band is scheduled to perform at upcoming events in and out of Guyana for the remainder of 2014.

Photos of this band’s trip to Suriname and video clips of their performance there can be found on facebook.com/theheatwaveband.