Beneath a bright moon, an ocean of cell phone cameras pointed upwards as Jamaican dancehall artist Vybez Kartel took the stage just minutes after midnight.
The crowd erupted, and photographers climbed atop speaker stacks for better vantage points. After his first song, the artist addressed the women in the audience.
“Tortola ladies!” he called out, drawing high-pitched screams. “I just need one request from you. Kiss me, baby.”
Then he launched into his song of that title as the audience exploded in cheers.
The subject of intense debate in the Virgin Islands over the weekend, the second annual “Black on Black” concert took place Saturday night behind the Ralph T. O’Neal Administration Complex in Road Town with attendees from here and abroad partying into the early hours of Sunday morning.
Controversy
The concert first drew criticism in October when promotor Steve Parillon announced that government had provided his company YOLO Promotions BVI with financial assistance to book the artist, who was released from a Jamaican prison last July after his 2014 murder conviction was overturned on appeal.
Since then, residents have argued online over the government’s decision to spend at least $220,000 on the show, but Mr. Parillon told the Beacon Monday that he considered the event a major success.
“There is no ‘side’ to any story,” he wrote in a WhatsApp message. “The event was great.”
BVI Tourist Board Director Clive McCoy agreed.
“I believe that what we saw is the blueprint for music events here in the British Virgin Islands moving forward,” Mr. McCoy said. “What I mean is that we have to bring artists to the British Virgin Islands that are popular, that will generate a significant amount of excitement just because of who they are.”
Attendance
Mr. McCoy told the Beacon Tuesday that he didn’t have official numbers, but he estimated attendance between 2,500 and 3,000 people.
“Well, I spoke to the promoter about it — he would be able to give a more accurate count based on ticket sales — but he was unavailable to tell me yesterday,” Mr. McCoy said. “I’m hearing between 2,500 to 3,000, but I would prefer if we wait to hear from the promoter concerning how many persons were actually there.”
Mr. Parillon, however, declined to tell the Beacon how many people attended, citing public criticism as the reason for not sharing his estimates.
“I will not disclose those numbers because it will associate with all the fake numbers out there,” the promotor told the Beacon.
In subsequent messages, Mr. Parillon described a “cloud” over Saturday’s concert brought about by media attention he deemed unfavourable.
“I know journalism. And I know where this is going,” Mr. Parillon wrote. “It’s what put a cloud on this event from the beginning with the money I received.”
Show goes on
Despite the simmering controversy, concert attendees seemed pleased with the show, for which tickets started at more than $100.
The first of three headliners was Jamaican artist Jah Vinci (also known as Kirk Rhoden), who got the crowd going while the night was young. The performer implored attendees, most of whom wore black in keeping with the concert’s theme, to participate in call-and-response refrains that would last throughout the night.
Jamaican DJ Skillibeng followed next with an athletic performance that whipped much of the audience into a frenzy in advance of the headliner.
After nearly four hours of dancehall music, Vybez Kartel walked out to mass fan fervour.
Attendees mobbed the stage’s edge, jockeying for the best position from which to film the performance with their phones.
The performer, whose given name is Adidja Palmer, delivered an energetic performance despite his public battle with Grave’s Disease, an autoimmune condition that affects the thyroid gland.
Redemption arc
The show was Mr. Palmer’s first outside Jamaica since his release from prison last July after his murder conviction was overturned by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council about 13 years in to his life sentence.
He and three co-defendants, who all maintain their innocence, had been accused of the 2011 murder of associate Clive “Lizard” Williams, who prosecutors said was beaten to death in a dispute over missing guns.
Here in the VI, some of the show’s detractors cited this history when they criticised government for subsidising the show, and the BVI Christian Council aired concerns about the performer’s music.
“Artists such as Vybz Kartel often promote messages rife with violence, sexual content, and the glorification of lifestyles that conflict with our fundamental beliefs,” the council argued in a March 7 statement. “Endorsing such figures risks eroding the very values we strive to impart to our youth.”
‘Gospel of condemnation’
The day before the concert, however, Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley defended his decision to sponsor the show during a press conference alongside Messrs. Parillon and Palmer at Village Cay Resort and Marina.
“Some persons practise a gospel of condemnation — they don’t practise a gospel of redemption — and they’re ready to throw you away in the waste bin of life,” Mr. Wheatley said at the Friday event. “But this brother, despite all he’s went through — keeping his family together — he was able to come out of all of that struggle and say, ‘God is the greatest.’ And I have a lot of love and a lot of respect for that message.”
Mr. Parillon, who wore two gold chains and a pair of gold-coloured sunglasses, also spoke at the press conference.
“Bless this show so it be a success,” he said when opening the session. “And to all the haters: Lord, bless them as well.”
The comment drew laughter from the panel, and Mr. Parillon went on to laud the premier for supporting the dancehall music scene in the VI despite criticism.
“The premier have a lot of balls, you understand?” the promotor said. “Because obviously, you’re going to do a lot of things, with balls, that people are gonna go against. Wait, is that illegal to say? Sorry.”
The premier spoke next, thanking Mr. Palmer for coming to the territory and praising the promoter.
“A lot of persons couldn’t do what Steve do,” Mr. Wheatley said. “And especially with a lot of the negativity and the hate, he continues to strike and continues to put the Virgin Islands on the map.”
Following the concert, the premier told the Beacon Monday that he was “happy to speak” about the event, but he did not respond to subsequent phone calls.
Mr. Parillon told the Beacon this week that the $220,000 subsidy announced by the premier was all the public money he received for the show, and he denied a recent Guavaberry Media report that the BVI Tourist Board had kicked in an additional $50,000.
“That was it,” he said of the $220,000.
Mr. McCoy, however, said Tuesday that the BVITB had in fact provided additional funding for the show, though he denied it was $50,000.
“In terms of the amount, I can positively say that we did not provide the number that has been floating around,” he said. “That’s all I can say concerning that.”
He added that the taxpayer-funded BVITB, which gets most of its budget in the form of an annual subvention from the government, doesn’t disclose information about its sponsorships.
“We sponsor several events annually, and that is something that we keep confidential,” he said.
Mr. Parillon did not respond to a request for comment on Mr. McCoy’s claim that the BVITB provided additional funding.
Music festival
This is not the first time in recent months that Mr. Wheatley has been criticised for using government funds to support music events.
Last May, government spent at least $670,000 to host the three-day VI Music Festival, drawing calls for a boycott from residents who said the money could be better spent on roads and other basic infrastructure.
Attendance for the event was far lower than organisers hoped, with no more than around 1,000 people showing up for the prime Saturday night highlight and far fewer attending on the other two nights. The premier has not yet provided details on the finances or attendance of that festival as he previously had promised.
Mr. Wheatley did, however, speak about the VI Music Festival during an October interview with JTV.
“Of course, it wasn’t perfect in terms of the execution of the event,” Mr. Wheatley said. “And actually, it’s in reflection of the execution of the event that we’ve decided to take a different approach. Actually, some of my biggest detractors suggested that we take this approach. They said, ‘Instead of the government or the Tourist Board putting on the event, why don’t you sponsor private promoters to put on the events?’”
He added that government is also in discussions with the organisers of the One VI Music Fest, which was held in June, about possibly combining the festivals this year.
One-night events
On Tuesday, Mr. McCoy told the Beacon that “one-night-only” shows like the Vybez Kartel concert currently make more sense for the VI than multi-day shows.
“I do believe that a shorter timeframe is probably the best way to move forward with these types of things,” he said. “It works better for the territory, and it works better for the type of client that comes into the territory for these types of events.”
