Jah Vinci traveled 11 964km from Jamaica to South Africa to perform for 30 minutes, which literally felt like 15 minutes. He arrived in Johannesburg on Tuesday 22, at the invitation of Joburg Arts Alive International Festival, to perform at the Urban Vibes concert on Saturday 26 September and his performance lasted for 30 minutes or less. He was the last act to get on stage, and by that time most people had already left as it was already late and only die hard dancehall reggae fans remained, only to be entertained for a few minutes. When, after about 20 minutes into his set and announced that he only got five minutes left, it seemed unreal, yet it was in actual fact the truth.
The Urban Vibes concert was conceived to be a mixture of genres aimed at the inner-
Cherine Anderson performed her Dancehall Soul which has traces of RnB, American Gospel, some dancehall and a touch of reggae. It was difficult to understand and get into her groove. When she performed the hit tune Coming Over Tonight, which she recorded with Chuck Fender, her back up vocalist who was to sing Chuck Fender’s part forgot the lyrics and he trailed off, and that was a turn off completely.
Much respect to Joburg Arts Alive for considering Dancehall Reggae on par with other genres but to have an artist travel from a far to only perform for a few minutes does not make Rand sense. The mixture of genres is a commendable idea on paper, but it reality it is difficult to execute. People come to see their favorite act, then leave once it is done; too many acts and not enough time, as is the case in point with Jah Vinci. Although this was not a Reggae event, the international act was a Reggae artist and therefore Reggae fans outnumbered the all the other genres fans and therefore could have been given at least decent stage time and airplay.
