Jamaican reggae artiste, Sizzla Kolonji made his presence felt in Trinidad on the weekend, performing on Independence Night at the Hasley Crawford Stadium’s training grounds to a massive crowd who had anticipated his show and certainly the performances of other sensational acts like Richie Spice and Louis Culture among others. Billed to be a part of the cast, Anthony B was unable to make it to T&T, due to what he said were unforeseen circumstances. Promoters made up for his no show- asking patrons to look to the large screens erected on both sides of the stage where a message from the artiste himself would quell any disappointment. He would subsequently introduce Louis Culture whose cadre of reggae hit singles would keep the crowd of peace-loving nationals singing along, whistling and raising their hands in agreement to the lyrics. One day prior to the concert, in a chat with ETCETERABUZZ.COM, Sizzla himself had said that words are indeed powerful when quizzed on the power of musical lyrics and the mind.

Sizzla Kolonji impressed the audience with his barrage of hits.

“Everyone was born free and equal and we use music as a medium through which we can express ourselves. We were all created with the power of the most high- with the vibrations… positive, negative, heat, air and water, sun, moon and stars, land, sky and sea so you’re always gonna have kids in that vibration going to and fro because that’s just life, but then again we tend to gravitate towards stuff that we get a lot of influence from and normally people gravitate more to the negative,” said Sizzla. He told us that he feels this is so because of society, highlighting the breakdown of the family, the absence of fathers and bad parenting.

Frank with his words, Sizzla said music is used to express oneself, and added that music should not be used just for the purpose of making money. He said music should be about revealing messages and he called for more social commentary so that doors can be opened for the youths and they can be influenced more positively. He said if the youths are taught about the ropes of the music industry and how music is used to earn an income, they can benefit from being a part of varying facets of the industry, instead of simply sitting and listening to music.

Louis Culture’s melodies seemed timeless.

Hardcore dancehall acts like Jamaica’s Vybz Kartel, Tommy Lee and even old schooler, Bounty Killa have over the years come in for crude criticism over the quality of the lyrics they pen and sing. We asked Sizzla about the power of such lyrics on the minds of young people and whether or not he feels such lyrics are harmful on the psyche of the young and impressionable. He said yes. “I would say yes because in the beginning was the word and the word was Jah and the word take unto itself, flesh. As an artiste, I personally have made a lot of dancehall songs. I’ve made a lot of intimate songs and raggamuffin songs but in the aspect of just giving the people music to have good vibrations with an uptempo beat but then again we just got to be careful with our words because we need that proper choice of words and despite the fact that we may have a lot of kids with consent going out and having fun, you must always remember that the parents rule.”

Richie Spice blessed the crowd and T&T with prayer as he walked onto the stage.

He continued, “You were born and bred beneath the roof of your parents and you must have respect for your parents and I don’t think any parent would want their kid to go out there carelessly and succumb to any kind of negative things. We need to be focused. There’s a time and a place for everything but then again, sex sells in the industry so sometimes you have artistes coming out with conscious songs and they’re not getting that good vibration so they won’t make that money to make that living so they tend to make a detour and go on the other side but you just got to know what you want and what you believe in and just maintain that root. You got to play good songs for the kids and be positive,” he said.

Marlon Asher excited the crowd on Saturday with new and old songs.

On Saturday night in Trinidad, positive vibrations swept through Port-of-Spain. The message was love. From the local entertainers on the cast, among them Marlon Asher, Jamelody, Mr. King, Prophet Benjamin and Isasha to Jamaica’s Louis Culture, Terri Ganzi, Richie Spice and Sizzla Kolonji, the peacefulness of a T&T that seemed to once be, emanated. Most of the artistes walked onto the stage, starting their performances with biblical verses, blessing the crowd and the country and certainly honoring Trinidad and Tobago on its 51st Independence Day. By the end of the night, many could be heard saying it was the best they had experienced in quite a long time. Some could even be heard saying, “if only there was more of this music on radio, things would be different.”

Promoters of the event have assured that the Good Life Music Festival will be an annual staple to the entertainment calendar, with the concert carded for the last Saturday in August, each year.