EVERY WORD OF praise went to God as The Ultimate Tent continued its annual contribution to Crop Over, a festival born out of a spirit of thanksgiving.
The free tent, which is made up of members of the Kingdom Cultural International congregation, is not a judging tent, though some of its members are aligned with other tents for that purpose. That pressure off, it did not stop the Ultimate Tent from giving a more than creditable showing at Solidarity House on Thursday night.
In a setting where children roamed uninhibited and danced along with the songs, most of the Christian performers earned encore after encore. None moreso than Hee Haw, the tent’s best known face, who performed four songs of varying tempos, Dis Is Not America, Born Fah Dis, Light Of The World and Get Up.
The former Pic-O-De-Crop finalist delivered in a crisp clear voice his feelings on the separation of church and state, warning against becoming a replica of the United States. Hee Haw’s criticism of homosexuality, exaltation of God and even his lambasting of hypocritical Christians found favour, as was expected, with the crowd. He is expected to go before the judges again this season.
De Slayah, another of the calypsonians expecting to be judged, put in a solid performance with Get Back To God, even though the lyrics were a bit obvious. He fared better with the uptempo Give Me A Break, which prompted screams of an encore as the delighted crowd joined in the praise calypso.
Something in Jael’s Rampage rang familiar but still it was a cleverly woven together rhythm of calypso, gospel with a mild touch of rap. Her first song, De Tongue, was an urgent reminder of the power of speaking blessings or curses into someone’s life.
There was a slight moment of panic for Clarke Dan when he forgot his lyrics, but before the forgiving crowd he quickly recovered and carried on with I Gine Run. His renewed vigour about avoiding immoral acts earned him an encore, but having presented himself as competition material Clarke Dan cannot afford such slip-ups.
Eleven-year-old Dynamo’s Don’t Count Me Out gave a young man’s rather mature perspective on the traditional view of education versus the emerging emphasis on skills with clarity. He is a Junior Monarch contender also.
Others in the tent’s line-up were Michael, De Big Rock, Billboard, Alana, Lioness, Tracee and Trotty.
Under the theme, A Message From Out Of This World, the tent contributors ministered while commenting on social issues, proving that tents can be a vulgar free environment.
Tent manager Bernhard Cadogan said the five-year-old tent’s standards were based on the principles of God’s word and the aim was to provide wholesome entertainment.
