Jamaican reggae legend Jimmy Cliff wowed the baying crowd as he signed off this year’s St Lucia Jazz and Arts Festival on the Pigeon Island main stage on Sunday.
The 67-year-old veteran of ska, rock steady and reggae demonstrated impressive fitness and agility while working the stage at the 24th edition of a festival of music that has evolved during that time to encompass many genres, from Creole folk music, through soca to R’n’B and Hip Hop.
Cliff sang his way through all his better known hits, including Wonderful World, Beautiful People, Many Rivers to Cross and The Harder They Come from the movie starring the man himself that brought him international attention.
Although most know him as a talented vocalist and writer, Cliff opened his set on percussion, occasionally picked up an electric guitar and, for one song, clambered behind a keyboard to accompany himself.
The crowd, most of whom had been on the Eastern Caribbean island paradise of St Lucia for the festival’s 10-day duration, had already enjoyed soulster Robin Thicke earlier in the day. Yet there was no sign of enthusiasm waning as the sun dipped below the horizon, seemingly in anticipation of Cliff’s gold lamé-clad appearance.
Always the consummate professional, Cliff didn’t disappoint fans who came to hear familiar songs, such as Sitting in Limbo, originally released as a B-side to The Bigger They Come, The Harder They Fall – a much slower forerunner to The Harder They Come. He also catered for fans from his ska origins with performances of Jamaican smash hits King of Kings and Miss Jamaica.
Chris Blackwell, boss of Island Records and a fellow Jamaican, once said of Cliff that he had the talent and image to break out internationally before The Wailers, featuring a young Bob Marley, were ever on his radar. Cliff subsequently fell out with Blackwell and left Island and the UK; the Wailers came along before Blackwell had time to finish licking his wounds and the rest is history.
After a couple of encores, a thoroughly sated crowd headed back to the main island, which these days is attached to Pigeon Island by a narrow strip of land created from the ground excavated to create nearby Rodney Bay.
