Students were front and centre at Oistins Bay Garden in Christ Church, both on stage and behind the microphone, as the Ministry of Education Transformation staged its second lunchtime concert yesterday as part of Education Month activities.
Tameerah Boyce-Knight and Andrena Mayers kicked things off with a duet of Hallelujah. From there, much of the programme leaned heavily on local music, whether the songs were written or performed by Barbadians.
St Luke’s-Brighton Primary School performed Edwin Yearwood’s Voice In My Head, shaking maracas as they sang and showing off different tonal variations.
St Jude’s Primary delivered Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) over a lively guitar backing, with actions to match lyrics, such as chopping their hands down to “cut the sugar cane”.
The song was written by the late Irving Burgie, a Barbadian-American. The performance was groovy and drew plenty attention.
Springer Memorial Girls Steel Orchestra did a half-hour set, their steel pans backed by students on cymbals, maracas and drums. They played Mistah Dale’s Soca Junkie, Biggie Irie’s Nah Going Home and John King’s How Many More.
Class 4 pupil Gabriel Phillips, of St Lawrence Primary School, offered a dramatic piece about leaving school and entering the workforce. It followed a young man struggling to find a job, settling for one with a low salary, and watching his first pay cheque disappear almost immediately. It ended by encouraging boys like him to have a fair chance, not just to survive, but to thrive with the right systems in place.
Students also had a hand in running the show. Andre Layne was the main master of ceremonies, but several young people assisted him. St Silas Primary School pupils Damani Griffith-Hinds and Ariah Maxwell took on MC duties, and Giovanni Barker, of Deighton Griffith Secondary School, later joined them at the microphone.
In the crowd were locals and visitors from the United Kingdom and Canada, many with phones out to photograph or film the performances.
Barbadian Shanese Waithe said the music selection was what impressed her most.
“What I really love is that the students are playing a lot of Bajan songs,” she said. “Most of what I heard were Bajan hits from this year or years see, so that the their own music with local artistes.”
Thomas Went, from the UK the concert an “A friend of Barbados before we come down the food is good. great food, I really good performances. experiences years gone by. It’s great to the children can know music and be acquainted artistes.”
Went, who is visiting UK with his family, called an unexpected delight. of mine who visited before recommended that down to Oistins because good. So on top of the also got to see some performances. I like like this where you can get away from the hotels and feel immersed in a country’s culture,” he noted.
Canadian Olivia Montisierre, in Barbados on business, said she usually came to Oistins for lunch.
“Today I got a whole mini concert as well. It really added to the ambience. My day is made,” she said.
The next lunchtime concert in the series is scheduled for October 21 at Hayman’s Market in St Peter. (DDS)