Thursday, March 5, 2009

Mr. Dark and Gloomy Catches a Bawdier Wave






The mood was jubilant at S.O.B.’s on Tuesday, even as the night dragged on without any sign of Mavado, the dancehall reggae star who was supposed to be there celebrating the release of his second album, “Mr. Brooks ... a better tomorrow” (VP).

The Hot 97 radio personality Jabba was warming up the increasingly restless crowd, chatting about things he didn’t like (the New York Police Departmentement mayor) and things he did (smoking weed, seeing “big mamas” dance). When a meek-looking record-label employee offered copies of Mavado’s album for sale, Jabba jokingly encouraged people not to rob him.


On the whole it was an optimistic room for Mavado, whose 2007 debut album, “Gangsta for Life: The Symphony of David Brooks,” had the unmistakable stench of death about it. One of the most promising dancehall debuts of the last few years, “Gangsta” showcases a bulbous, throbbing voice equally indebted to war cries and devotional singing.

His new album couches its tragedy in slightly warmer arrangements, a concession, perhaps, to Mavado’s ascending star. In the last two years he has collaborated with G-Unit and Jay-Z.
At S.O.B.’s, he arrived with a bandwagon, which almost collapsed for all the weight on it. Mavado’s mentor, the dancehall superstar Bounty Killer, came onstage early in the set and periodically ate up large swaths of it, his natural charisma too large for the room. Tony Matterhorn displayed an easy way with melody. Wyclef Jean rapped in English, badly, and in Japanese, amusingly (and also badly). The longtime pop-reggae star Shaggy performed approximately four seconds of “Boombastic,” his first hit, wisely understanding this wasn’t a room that wanted to hear much more. The Brooklyn rapper Uncle Murda performed a bit of his song “Murdera,” which takes its hook from Ini Kamoze’s crossover hit “Here Comes the Hotstepper.”


With a pronounced forehead, wide-set, deeply sad eyes and a modest demeanor, Mavado didn’t always stand out in this crowd. He’s best when incensed or malevolent, but here he caught the wave of good cheer, seeming more at home in bawdy material like “In Di Car Back” than in his darker work. (“Weh Dem a Do,” his signature song, passed by in a flash, though “On the Rock” had the appropriate mix of gloom and triumph.) In the middle of “So Special,” his latest deceptively soft hit, he switched over to “No Games,” the pleading reggae-soul number by the singer Serani, who had opened the show with a manic set, and who joined Mavado throughout the night.


Serani sings plaintive vocals on one of Mavado’s starkest songs, “Dying,” performed here twice, and he joined in on Mavado’s new single, “Again and Again.”
With eyes closed, Mavado sang: “No rest, forever weary/ My eyes stay blurry from my friends that I bury in the cemetery.” Finally, the room hushed up.

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