Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
THE F1 party got off to a storming start with reggae legend Jimmy Cliff capturing the hearts of the Grand Prix crowd with a marvellous mixture of hit songs and a few surprise party pop and stage classics thrown into the mix.
He has cleverly conquered the festival scene with a combination of charismatic stage presence, sing-along ditties, an impressive backing band of musicians and singers and a message of unity and hope.
The show started with a borrowed Boney M 1970s classic Rivers of Babylon with the star sat down getting the crowd into the beat with a fine display of musicianship.
When he wasn’t drumming, he was strumming a guitar, or commanding the stage with a jiggle and a ska strut deftly defying the fact that he was celebrating his 68th birthday on Friday.
He had the audience singing and clapping along with their hands in the air to his cover of Cat Steven’s Wild World and a rendition of Lion King’s Hakuna Matata, but his own gems such as Many Rivers to Cross and The Harder They Come proved what a talented artiste he is in his own right.
His protest songs still pack a punch too and the classic Vietnam with its ‘Stop the War’ message and his reference to Syria on stage make his work as topical today as at any other time.
If only we could see it clearly now …
–Stan Szecowka
