St. Croix played a major role Saturday when Tempo, the pan-Caribbean music and entertainment television network, celebrated its fourth anniversary with a star-studded concert.
And it wasn’t just in the thousands of people who flooded Randall "Doc" James Racetrack for the all-night concert. The most notable Crucian contributors to the festivities weren’t in the audience, they were on the stage. UMB Soldiers, Mada Nile, and Cherise King – all born and bred on St. Croix – were among the 11 acts featured on the mainstage, leading up to the headliner, Jamaican reggae/hip-hop fusion star Shabba Ranks.
The UMB Soldiers, the 2008 Road March champions on the island, have been performing all over the Caribbean and southeast U.S., from the Pensacola Carnival to the Miami Carnival to the Atlanta Carnival — it seems as if there’s a carnival, there’s the UMB Soldiers.
The band kicked off the mainstage presentation, offering up a high-energy performance that fired up the crowd streaming into the racetrack’s infield. Feeding off each other and the crowd’s growing excitement, the band blazed through a 20-minute set, leaving their fans calling for more.
The band was particularly happy to perform for the Tempo concert.
"Tempo is everything Caribbean," said band member Lamarr Jacobs. "It gives Caribbean bands a chance to compete on an international level."
When not traveling, UMB Soldiers have been recording an album, to be called "Touch the Road." The album is being produced by member Mennis Knight, who said they are down to the "fine tuning and touch up" stage, and hope to have it ready for release by mid-December.
For Cherise King, the 2008 V.I. Idol Winner, performing on her home island for Tempo was a double blessing.
Tempo, she said, has given local performers a platform for exposure they haven’t had in the past.
And performing at home made it even better, she said.
"I was really excited — and the audience was so warm!" she said after her set.
After V.I. Idol, Cherise competed for a slot on American Idol. Since then she has been touring extensively and hopes in the next few months to begin recording an album. A singer-songwriter, she said she has the material ready and is working on the details.
It was Crucian reggae singer Mada Nile who really tore the house down, blazing through her set. Stalking the stage, she was in complete control of the racetrack and the audience. In person she’s no taller than about 5-foot-6 or so. But she commands the stage, seeming to tower over the audience.
She attributed it to her youth, growing up on the island.
"I was always in school plays, and I’ve never had stage fright," she said. "Being at home makes it easier, but wherever I go, that’s how I am," she said.
There are a lot of islands in the Caribbean, and in the past a musical artist would have a hard time visiting even a small number of them enough to build a following. Thanks to Tempo, she said, the islands are more aware of the culture and offerings from its neighbors.
"They’re doing God’s work, and they do it well," she said.
Following Mada Nile to the stage were high-energy Puerto Rican salsa band N’Klabe, reggae stars Gramps Morgan and Tarrus Riley, soca star Iwer George, Jamaican dance hall diva Ce’Cile, Jamaican singer Omari, and Ziggy Rankin. Shabba Ranks was expected to begin his set at about 4 a.m.
While the mainstage was being set up, a pre-show on a second stage offered a host of other local artists, including X-Kaliba, the Black Star Band, Empress Nyingro, Fyah Emblem and Selecta Saigon.
The show was pan-Caribbean, for sure, but also delightfully Crucian.
