Alpha School of Music pays homage to former Digicel CEO Colm Delves
Published:Monday | April 25, 2022 | 12:07 AMSade Gardner/Staff Reporter
It was a starless sky on Saturday night as Alpha School of Music (ASOM) students performed in honour of former Digicel CEO, Colm Delves. They turned out to be all the stars that were needed at the event presented by Digicel Business at the school’s Kingston base.
The corporate soiree marked the one-year anniversary of the Colm Delves Centre, opened in 2021 by the Digicel Foundation in honour of the Irishman who died from cancer in 2020. Delves had his eyes set on a music career before being persuaded to transition to business by his family, but never departed from his musical passions. He fell in love with Jamaican music after relocating here in the early 2000s, and had an interest in developing young talent.
Fittingly, the evening started with one of his favourites: Third World’s Committed, reimagined with jazzy, R&B influences and 23-year-old lead vocalist Rohan Mitchell masterfully interpolating Bob Marley’s I Don’t Want to Wait in Vain. Bodies (including ladies in red) swayed to the groovy sounds of the band, and would soon be doing the ska dance as a voyage through Jamaica’s musical history commenced.
Veteran musician and former bandmaster at the ASOM, Winston ‘Sparrow’ Martin, led the ska frenzy with students from the Alpha Vocational Trade Programme (AVTP). Between the thumping trombones and occasional two-liners from classics like General Smilie and Papa Michigan’s Nice Up the Dance, it felt like a live Studio One session with young’uns holding their own. Calypso and mento were also in the mix with maracas whipped out for a cover of Harry Belafonte’s Hold ‘Em Joe and the popular folk song, Linstead Market.
The AVTP also delivered a reggae set, and later on a pop and reggae segment with groovy numbers like Maxi Priest’s Just a Little Bit Longer and the unpredictable (yet entertaining) selection of the viral Baby Shark nursery rhyme.
The ASOM further gifted musical odysseys with vibrant performances of Lord Tanamo’s Yellow Bird, Bob Marley and The Wailers’ Natural Mystic and King Tubby’s rendition of Take Five. The young men upped the ante with an infectious performance of Rafael Hernández Cachita, amplified by Jordan Powell’s spirited drum solo which excited the audience, and impressive footwork by multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Gordon, who proved to be quite the showman throughout the evening. The Latin feels pervaded later on with a seamless take on Eddie Calvert’s Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White).
The band was far from finished, doing two other energetic sets with several tunes from The Skatalites’ catalogue, including Occupation, Freedom Sounds, Beardsman Ska and Christine Keeler. The dance floor was occupied once more by stilettos and gentleman shoes when they performed Bryon Lee and The Dragonaires’ Jamaican Ska, with some musicians joining in, making it a totally Insta-worthy moment. It wasn’t just an evening of young men showing their appreciation for and mastery of their musical heritage, but also giving it their own spin, like some students doing the ‘Dirt Bounce’ to Shenley Duffus’ Rukumbine.
The evening culminated with the musicians receiving gifts from Digicel; ASOM student Luke ‘DJ Luke’ Elliott Davis on the ones-and-twos; and a smiling bandmaster Gay Magnus who was happy that the students were able to perform for “the real world”, some for the first time.
APPRECIATIVE
“We’re very glad it happened,” Magnus told The Gleaner. “It was a very appreciative audience and we’re very grateful to Digicel Foundation for making it happen. It’s a pleasure to be able to play in his [Delves’]) memory. A lot of what they played today is what they are doing in classes as part of the band programme, and that song that they did, Committed, wasn’t exactly how Third World did it; the students arranged that themselves, so I think he would have appreciated it.”
Head of Digicel Foundation Charmaine Daniels also believes Delves would have been proud.
“I think they have grown personally and then professionally, in terms of just music and how they’re playing and singing now,” she said. “It’s amazing to see the growth and I just think if this is what happens in year one, can you imagine at the end of year two, next year, when we’re here at the same time what it will be like?”
She revealed plans for another building at the Alpha Institute to help with a digital music programme.