One is the queen of the dancehall, another is a reigning general in reggae's army, while the third is a master lyricist. Tonight the one thing they all have in common is that they are in Belize. Ahead of their "ninth night" concert on Friday, Lady Saw, General Degree, and Half-Pint arrived in Belize today. 7NEWS was at the airport to greet them and Keith has the story.
Keith Swift Reporting, [keithkswift@gmail.com]
When the American Airlines flight out of Miami landed at the Phillip Goldson Airport, hidden among the usual flock of tourists and Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh, who was returning from his summer vacation, were three of reggae's biggest stars: Lady Saw, Half Pint, and General Degree.
From the tarmac they went to the VIP room for this photo op and official welcome from acting Belize City Mayor Eloisa Trujeque. And then it became a media and photo feeding frenzy. Leading the pack is the Queen of the Dancehall, Lady Saw who describes herself in one word: raw.
Lady Saw, Reggae Performer
"Everybody are like, 'oh she raunchy, she rude, she bad, she wicked.' You can expect a lot of excitement on stage, you dun know I am a great performer,
as they always say. So expect a lot of mingling with my male audience."
Keith Swift,
What you mean by that?
Lady Saw,
"I usually pull guys from the crowd and you know I talk to them or maybe dance with them."
Keith Swift,
Tell us about your style of music, as you said you always just bring it raw.
Lady Saw,
"I like attention, I do whatever gets me attention because when people are not talking, trust me you got to worry about your career. So its good to have people talking, good or bad, it doesn't matter; publicity is good for me."
Keith Swift,
Your songs are like a diary. Is it your diary?
Lady Saw,
"Some of my songs are about me, my mother, my family, but a lot of them are everyday living, you might see a friend living a life and you may write about it."
Keith Swift,
You weren't always this provocative.
Lady Saw,
"Yea I used to always wear men's clothes."
Keith Swift,
So what made you change?
Lady Saw,
"I used to wear batty rider though still...I grew up and I guess Kingston had a lot to do with changing me from a tom boy."
And as unashamedly raunchy as she is, Lady Saw is the first and only female dancehall artist to ever win a Grammy Award.
Lady Saw,
"Winning a Grammy, Lord that's a big big step for me. It's a wonderful feeling and you're known all over the world. I traveled to Europe recently and when I start singing that song it was like and everybody was singing it and it was wonderful. Underneath it all was the one with Gwen Stefani. We hooked up because when American artists, or whoever around the world come to Jamaica, they look for the best so they were looking for the best female artists and everybody knows I am."
Also here for the second time is General Degree, who you can simply call The General.
General Degree, Reggae Artist
"A pleasure being here the second time around. I came off the plane
and I felt like I was in Jamaica, it was warm. Everybody knows General Degree from Traffic Blocking and When I Hold You Tonight and Boom Boom Boom, you know the whole list of song them. The last time I came here I really realized how much people know my tunes so you already know Friday we are going to unleash everything."
And then there is Half Pint, whose voice speaks for him:
[Chanting: Greetings I Bring From Jah]
Half-Pint, Reggae Artist
"Well musically in every era and walk of life you have the root, the branch, and the stem but its still all one. So you got the rootiscal part of the music like from back in the 70s that is where I really emerge from. Roots music is where I am from and that is what I will be performing. So the Belizeans who know all of those songs from back in the days."
Keith Swift,
Come clean with the Belizean public and tell us how you got the name Half-Pint.
Half Pint,
"Well my name Half Pint was given to me by a man named Mr. Brown from my neighborhood in Jamaica. He gave me my name because I was like a half pint in size."
All four performers will be backed up by Jamaica's Live Wire Band. They say a live band will make the difference on Friday night. And a live band backing four performers in one show on one night. It is a concert like no other and promoter Troy Flowers says there will be something for everybody.
Troy Flowers, Promoter
"You have a wide variety of music, you are talking about lover's rock, hard core reggae, and dancehall. So its like three different music put together."
The fourth performer, Junior Kelly, arrives in Belize on Friday.
