The show, on Saturday 1 June, was opened up with Michael La Rose, co-organiser of Kaiso Lime, addressing the audience about the Grenfell tragedy and recognising that it was, in fact, 76 people who sadly lost their lives in the fire. The people present at the event were asked to observe a 76-second silence for those who died in Grenfell.
Rapso artist John Blood got the show underway with two tracks. The first, Rise Up, talked about fighting back and not staying down. The second, Call Us Crazy, was more like a love ballad, talking about making every moment count and making a relationship work.
As promised, Kaiso Lime delivered a surprise artist introduced by Alexander D’Great, eight-year-old Riki Rae, who, under his pupilage, performed her song Grenada, expressing her love of the place and the people who live on the Isle of Spice. Then joining Alexander D’Great on stage was ‘Pan Diva’ (Debra Romain-Eden), who, back in 2015 with him, composed and performed Always The Pan Man, which pays homage to the late Russell Henderson, esteemed pianoforte player, pannist and Notting Hill Carnival Pioneer.
Alexander D’Great continued his performance with his song 1958, which was written ten years ago about the 1958 Notting Hill riots and the 32-year-old Antiguan man, Kelso Cochrane, who was the victim of a racially motivated attack and murder. Moving the show to a more upbeat topic, we were reminded of the incredible cricket performance of Brian Lara, scoring 501 runs in the mid-1990s with the hit Lash Dem Lara.
In the second part of the show, Pan Diva performed her pan version of the Kes hit Hello and then dedicated a section of her performance in recognition of Indian Arrival Day, with her version of the 1991 winning Calypso Monarch entry, by Brother Marvin Jahaji Bhai.
Kaiso Lime season regular Tobago Crusoe told the audience that he won the 1983 Trinidad and Tobago Calypso Monarch title with Money Can’t Buy Love, which he didn’t know when the competition results were announced. He dedicated part of his segment to Lord Kitchener, whose numbers are regularly performed at Kaiso Lime shows. D’Alberto was on hand to deliver his rendition of the Kitchener classic Margie.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of Kaiso Lime, and this season will run until November. Kaiso Lime occurs at Carnival Village (The Tabernacle, Powis Square) on the first Saturday of each month.
