Nov 26, 2006 — The Thanksgiving Peace concert held Saturday at Frederiksted's Vincent Mason Pool brought together international and local artists dispensing a message of peace to all.
Local music producers Malik Brewster and Ayinde Gomez staged the concert to spread the message of curbing violence and increasing the peace. International reggae songstress Tanya Stevens headlined, joined by several local bands and artists.
More than 400 music fans attended the concert. Onstage were local artists Red Lion, Avalanche, Unleaded, Fire Emblem and DJ Chubby, along with St. Kitts native DJ Sencia.
Sencia, a five-foot-tall powerhouse, was the only female DJ on the lineup and showed a knack for keeping the crowd hyped. "I like to dance and I like to have girls do lots of crazy dances," she said.
The message of the night was not lost on the entertainers. Red Lion Sounds entertainers Terror-C and Jah Ekko said the concert was personally important to them, and the music they spin reminds them of loss, love and partying. They hoped to relay those messages to the crowd.
Violence on the island began to affect Brewster personally about 10 years ago. "A lot of us are gone," he said of his peers. "It started hitting me about '92 when a string of people just started to go, all by violent means."
Brewster recalled going to the funeral of a friend: "Every year we had Thanksgiving at my aunt's house, and now he's not going to be there." The worst part about losing his friend, he said, is seeing the family he left behind — especially his little girl.
A rapper and producer, Brewster said his music has a non-violent message: "I talk about violence in my music as a cry for help." Along with Gomez, he decided to shine a light on violence and tolerance, encouraging his peers to get together and party in a safe environment.
The best part of playing in front of an audience is the instant reaction, Ekko said: "When the sound hits, it hits everybody at the same time, and everybody sings in time with the music." The entertainers credit the music business for taking "us out of the hood and onto the radio waves."
Local Road March champions Stroka Band got the crowd to sweat out its problems and shed some pounds gained at Thanksgiving dinner.
The concert also served as a venue to expose young people to the outreach performed by the St. Croix Women's Coalition. Staff members attended the concert, handing out free gifts of key chains and cups while educating the crowd on issues of violence affecting the territory.
"We are reminding everyone they are not alone," said coalition staff member Andrea Petersen. "We want people to know there's someplace they can get help and that [the coalition] is not just for women alone."
Hoping to make the concert a family affair, Brewster got rewarded by the number of people who came with their children and significant others. "I want to give people the opportunity for you and your daughter to come out and be together enjoying music," he said. The concert was a cake with Tanya Stevens, the headliner, as the "icing," Brewster said.
Stevens has been recording music since the late '90s and has had a string of hits. As a conscious artist, Stevens has established programs for young people in her native Jamaica, including free breakfast programs and VIP rewards for good grades, including stays in hotel rooms and limousine rides.
Although police presence was evident during the concert, it went off without a major incident. The public can look forward to more events, Brewster said.
"We are gambling on something for the [Christmas] festival," he said.
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