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SISTA: AbbaKush - Akabu - Thriller Jenna - Aisha - Jayzik
Kicking off with the first of several poems by Jayzik, the whole crew was on stage for the opener - a medley of Natural Mystic, Rastafari, Rivers of Babylon, Can’t Go to Zion and Conquering Lion.The vibe was of strength and unity, many voices, many shades, shapes, sizes, women in all their infinite and amazing variety and strength were up there, revisiting some seminal moments in reggae music. The audience, a typical multi-ethnic London crowd, was not exclusively female and the sistas onstage had strong, vocal support, loudly expressed from Rasta brothers in the audience.
Thus the pattern for the evening was set, the singers from AbbaKush and Akabu doing alternate numbers, with Thriller Jenna and Sister Aisha taking their turn also. Moving on to Afrika, starting with Dreamland sung by Sister Aisha, backed up by the whole crew, this section also featured Africans Unite by Akabu and Strong, Cultural and Black from AbbaKush. Two great anthems, showing the two bands at their absolute best, they were given a warm reception by the audience, who were well into the vibe by this stage of the show.
Things got really hot when Thriller Jenna hit the stage for Livity, sending the audience wild with Chillin’, swiftly followed by Hot You Know! Switching between her native London accent and Jamaican patois, Jenna worked the crowd like an old hand: we need to see more of this woman, I reckon she could give Lady Saw a run for her money! Sister Aisha was given the unenviable task of following Thriller Jenna, giving us a hard version of Prophecy - probably her best known tune and a personal favourite. Livity continued with The World and Payaka, marking the halfway point of the set.
Review: Sue Caro For more on AbbaKush, click here Bookings for Sista: Culture Promotions - e-mail culturearts@wobblyweb.com
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(AbbaKush)
(Akabu)
The
venue: Dingwalls in Camden Town, London, the occasion: the bringing
together of the combined talents of AbbaKush and Akabu, to celebrate
International Women’s Day, in an uplifting highlight of the Women in
Music festival. The evening was MC’d - with her usual warmth- by Ranking
Miss P (of BBC London Live, 94.9FM) and the promoter was Nicky of Culture
Promotions. The sistas of AbbaKush and Akabu were joined on a very crowded
Dingwalls stage by sound system favourite Sister Aisha, plus Thriller
Jenna - UK Queen of Dancehall, and poet Jayzik. Numbering 13 in total,
the sistas more than proved that we really are doing it for ourselves,
turning in a marathon 3 hour set. Not one of the musicians - Zion on
drums, Chris and Valerie on guitar, Diane on bass, Caroline (aka the
Rhythm Queen) on keyboards, Pepsi on percussion - left the stage in
that time. 
The
set was broken up into themed sections, interspersed with some hard-hitting
and thought-provoking poems from Jayzik, proudly displaying the bump of her
unborn twins! First section was named Creation, starting appropriately enough
with Creator, from Sister Aisha. The players of instruments proved they were
more than up to delivering the musical backing for this seriously heavy roots
tune, so beloved of Jah Shaka and Abashanti-I sound systems and their followers.
Then came the sublime Marcus Garvey, featuring Jena, Angela and Jenny from AbbaKush
on vocals; a quick change-over and it was the turn of Vyris, Lyn, Valerie and
Pepsi of Akabu to take over singing duties on True Born Rasta.
