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Jana Shines at Village Cafe
Gleaner Dec 19, 2002
JANA BENT said she was
not nervous. Not in the slightest. In fact, from all
indications she was just raring to hit the stage at the
Village Café in Liguanea, St. Andrew last Tuesday and
that she did, in style.
Despite persistent
technical problems, especially where microphones were
concerned, Jana put on a show and then some. Jana Bent's
lead single from her new album, Shadow Girl, the
song of the same name, was the lead-off song for her
set. Shadow Girl is a song in which she
unabashedly says that she will be someone's mistress, no
strings attached.
At the onset it was
obvious that there were microphone problems, since it
was practically impossible to hear her for the first few
bars of the song. Some frantic signalling and a few
shouts soon cleared that up however, at least for a
while, and Jana sang the gorgeously-produced single with
a verve and passion that had to be seen and heard to be
believed. She writhed, gyrated and stalked the small
stage, long hair flying with abandon, with energy to a
song that the band, on occasion, gave one hell of a rock
beat and that not just asked for, but demanded and got,
the undivided attention of the large audience on hand.
When The Gleaner
arrived at the Village Café slightly after 10 p.m., the
house band Ting Deh was playing a rather amusing
rendition of what distinctly sounded like London
Bridge Is Falling Down. At 10:48 p.m. band guitarist
and leader Rupert Bent introduced his sister to the
stage and the show began in earnest. With a red spot on
her forehead, symbolic of Hindi culture, and clad in a
dark purple, shimmery and rather tight pair of hipsters
and a top barely held on to her body by a single strap,
Jana Bent prowled the stage, thrust various body parts
in numerous directions and sang her heart out for the
packed café.
The audience loved it. The microphone, or
microphones rather, were a constant problem however.
Jana switched from one to another, Rupert kept on
calling for corrections and the music kept on drowning
out Jana's surprisingly strong vocals. It did not really
matter in the end however. To say that Ting Deh played
might actually be something of a mistake, since there
were a steady string of musicians on the night who
swapped instruments, took breaks and just did whatever
crossed their minds so that it was almost impossible to
keep track. Jana was backed by Rupert Bent, who plays an
excellent lead guitar and was also on keyboards, Baird
Baillie on drums, Richard Patterson also on keyboards
and bass, the excellent Gibby also on guitar and Andrew
'Pregs' Thompson on percussion. It was an insane night.
After Shadow Girl
Jana Bent bounced around on-stage as she sang Sing.
She introduced the song as not being soca, before asking
"You guys like soca?" and receiving an enthusiastic
"Yes!" in reply. "It's a happy song," she said, before
singing over some backing track vocals. She was in
constant motion before ending and saying "You know, I
think you guys are right, it does sound like a soca
song... Oh no curses... cusses."
One On One
followed, and was introduced as a song written in
collaboration with Italee, who, Jana said, is also known
as 'Rude'. Unfortunately, this was a weaker effort on
her part until the end, when the singer decided to let
loose with her voice and really enthused those present.
The band gave the next
song, Baby Boy, a rollicking introduction and
Jana bounded across the stage before saying at the end
that "It's funny the name of that song, since I had it
with a pair of twins," before going on to explain the
song's connection with the 'Rhythm Twins' Robbie
Shakespeare and Sly Dunbar. The next song, Never Seen
You Cry, was driven by a wonderful bass riff courtesy of
Patterson. It saw Bent switching troublesome microphones
mid-stream with nary a break in her delivery.
As was the case on more
than one occasion, Jana 'plugged' her next album, which
is due out this Friday, stating after Never Seen You
Cry that the songs were all originals and would be
on the album, which will be available in music stores.
After apologising about the technical difficulties and
noting that Rodney 'Bounty Killer' Pryce was not
present, Rupert Bent put on another hat and filled in
for Herbie Hancock on You So Fine, Jana's biggest
hit to date, gravel voice and all, drawing cheers during
the performance. The switch in microphones also brought
about a marked improvement in the quality of the vocals
and people danced as they both sang.
The next song moved
dizzily between blues and rock and roll, showcasing the
band's skills and Jana's vocals. One Last Look
was at times slow and sultry and at others rocking.
Rupert Bent went off an excellent riff on lead guitar
while the Baillie on the drums kept discrete time with
the top hat.
"Is Rodney in the house?"
asked Jana, before introducing a song written by her
brother for their mother. She called Rupert her
"...brother, producer, co-writer, multi-instrumentalist
and friend," and thanking their mother for all she has
done for the two. Say You Care is both sombre and
stirring and showcases another aspect of Jana Bent's
voice as she reached for and got a higher note or two
than was usual.
Jana had long left the
stage when Bounty Killer, who has recorded the song
No Regrets with the singer, did turn up at the
Village Café at four minutes to midnight. The open
microphone segment had opened and one singer, Sheila,
had already done her rendition of Bob Marley's Nuh
Woman Nuh Cry. Rupert Bent called his sister to the
stage, where she proceeded to introduce the deejay, who
was appearing for the first time on-stage at the cafe.
Seeing Bounty smile while performing is a rare thing,
but that was the case last Tuesday. His entrance brought
raucous cheers, which were even louder when he deejayed
at an incredible pace and in perfect unison with Jona.
Prior to the song he had spoken of Jana as his 'sister'
and congratulated her. He also dedicated No Regrets
to "All the people who live their life to the fullest
without no regrets." Their performance was energy-filled
as both played to the audience and was the high point of
a night that was, to put it mildly, filled with very
good performances.
Contact:
Jana Bent, Gypsy Music Ltd.,
2 Balmoral Avenue, Kingston 10
Telephone: (876) 960-1123
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information quickly, perform a quick search.
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