– ‘Tear Drop’ included in local line up

BY Tamica Garnette

ORGANIZERS have assured that famed dancehall artiste ‘Alkaline’ will be at full strength for tonight’s Jamzone Regional Night Concert at the National Park, despite him missing his scheduled press conference at the Fly Jamaica Office on Friday.The “Formula” singer is expected to headline the concert, backed by a local line-up that is expected to include recent social media sensation ‘Tear Drop.’

Media persons were waiting to hear the “Champion Boy” singer speak on what he had prepared for the fans today when they were informed that Alkaline, whose real name is Earlon Bartley, was suffering from a slight “stomach bug”, due to all the travelling. It was nonetheless assured that this would not hamper his performance tonight.

“He’s here in Guyana and he is going to be at full strength [today]. It’s just a stomach bug; he’ll be good,” clarified Rawle Ferguson, one of the directors of Hits and Jams, which has organized Jamzone and related activities, including the concert.

Ferguson shot down any suggestion that Alkaline may possibly not make it to the anticipated event, which has caused some amount of controversy.

“There is no ‘he can’t make it’; he is here. It was just a stomach bug; I’ve experienced that same thing in Trinidad lately. I thought I was going to die, given how I was throwing up so frequently. But we have great doctors in the country; we have medication, so he will be fine. That’s nothing,” Ferguson clarified.

The concert starts at 21:00h, and organizers are pleading with patrons to get their tickets early and avoid the Guyanese love for last-minute things.

‘Tear Drop’ to perform
Meanwhile, in the local line-up, supporters and haters alike can come out to catch the performance of Guyana’s most recent controversial social media trend, the one and only “Tear Drop”.

Asked if Tear Drop was going to be among the night’s local line-up, Ferguson laughingly replied: “Yeah! He’s quite popular. He was at the studio yesterday (Thursday) and we have to [include him]. We’re compelled to give him his due; he has a big following right now, so we have to make sure that that audience is attended to.”

According to Ferguson, the night may also include Tear Drop’s associate, ‘Bluetooth.’

“We want to give the youths of this great nation the new crop that’s coming out recently. There’s Bluetooth, there’s Tear Drop, there’s JP; we want to give our local acts the opportunity to be on stage,” Ferguson remarked.

There has been some amount of controversy over Alkaline’s presence at the concert, due to the provocative lyrics in many of his songs — an issue that has plagued many dancehall singers, with the genre often being accused of promoting violence and sexism.

It was a similar controversial situation that led jailed Jamaican dancehall artiste Vybz Kartel to utter, back in 2011, that he “won’t be visiting Guyana ever”. Kartel, whose real name is Adidja Azim Palmer, is currently serving a life sentence for murder.

Ferguson has explained that when HJ makes its decision about who to bring, the company understands that there will be those who support and those who do not.

“Let’s put it this way: there are people who are going to like things and there are people who are not going to like things. I don’t think we’re all going to have the same taste. We believe in democracy, we believe in the freedom of speech, and he actually tends to a youthful group in our country, and they want to see him,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson therefore promised that the night’s concert will be one that patrons would not want to miss.