Bounty Killa!

Last night was the Roots Bamboo Bounty Killa show.

It was a beautiful warm evening; the waning moon directly above in a starlit sky. A big bonfire on the beach just outside the gate. The surf washing the shore. Picture perfect and classic Negil.

Roots was cordoned off with a picket of bamboo poles planted in the sand then wrapped in blue tarpaulin. I entered the gate around 12:30am. Inside there was a large crowd, a lot of tourists but mostly Jamaicans. The air was filled with a haze of ganja smoke. The anticipation for Bounty’s arrival was palpable. The crowd was buzzing and rightly so; one of Jamaica’s top dance hall artists was about to perform. A warm-up band was playing and there was a lot of drinking and dancing going on. Where do Jamaican women learn to move their hips like that? I mean, whuh!

A man dressed in hip suit with a fedora on his head got on stage and started to introduce Bounty Killa. It was a looonnng intro. He was joined by another guy and they continued, at length, to introduce Bounty. But it was OK because background music was playing and people just continued to dance and drink. It was a party.

Finally, at 2:00am, The Warlord hit the stage. It was like an electric jolt ran through the crowd, they surged the stage, I was swept up and found myself one back from the stage and pressed into the middle of a tight knot of people who were shuckin’ and jivin’ and singing along with Bounty.

Bounty Killa, in his darkers, his black vest, his cornrows, his big bling necklace and sequined trainers is a striking, charismatic entertainer. He jumped and shouted and pointed and strutted, his deep, barking voice amplified by two huge banks of speakers. The crowd moved as if a tide and I was swept along with it. At one point I was pinioned between two Jamaican girls who were dancing and twirling and twerkin and bumping into me with their butts – intentionally. They thought it was funny to wine-up on the old white dude. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Bounty ruled the stage for an hour and fifteen minutes and then suddenly the concert was over. It went by all too quickly.

I walked home along a deserted beach, the concert still ringing in my ears. I got to bed at 3:30am. It was a truly memorable concert and I had a blast.

Unfortunately my camera has gone on the fritz. I so wanted to post some stills and video of Bounty.

Here’s something interesting, you know the saying that goes, ‘When you have an itchy palm you are going to get some money.’ Well, last night I learned that ‘when your knees itch, you are going to sleep in a new bed.’ I also learned that the ‘night dew’ is bad for your skin and can make you sick.

I need to take a nap now.

Likkle more . . .