Welcome to The Inner Ear Experience

As an audiophile, my curiosity was certainly peaked at the thought of a live concert conducted completely through specially configured headphones. A concept that was introduced more than fifteen years ago, where there would be one channel available through the headset to listen to, has now evolved to be able transmit three completely different channels and for the purpose of this night’s activities; three different colours. Green, being Ras-I’s favourite colour, was the theme on the night and thus was the hue that illuminated the eventide.

Ras-I, who was in collaboration with Sean Wedderburn of Silent Noise and Duane Philips of Down Di Road JA, worked hard to get the right mix of sounds for their prospective patrons. They settled on a lineup featuring the talents of Joby Jay, Indie Allen, Runkus and on the marquee Munga Honourable. All acts came accompanied with their own personalized band arrangements complete with backup vocalists, many whom deserves to be a showcase all by themselves.

The location for the show within the grounds of Hope Zoo was well thought out because although the promoters didn’t have to worry about the actual acoustics of the venue, as you know, but proper space for the stage, equipment and amenities was well planned for in addition to the droves of people who came out just to support a new twist on the local live music scene.

Now I, as a regular live music connoisseur, have seen most of the lineup in their full glory. However, acts like Joby Jay and Indie Allen really made their time on stage count especially for most in attendance who were not as familiar with both acts’ material. Runkus displayed the confidence of a way more experienced performer with the way he took control of the crowd present and interacted with his supporting singers and special guests: Ras-I & Royal Blu on the stage, especially when they were delivering a smooth acoustic rendition of Ras-I’s ‘Crazy Over You’.

After Runkus’s exit and a brief musical interlude, it was time for Damian Rhoden aka Munga Honourable to hit the stage. Munga’s career has recently returned to some level of relevance since the halcyon days of 2007 when he had the most of his success while working with Cool face and Don Corleone on multiple high energy dancehall projects. My personal interaction with him was when we stopped by Capleton’s David House base for an interview with King Shango (Capleton) and happened to meet up with Munga; at that time an upcoming act. It was then, in 2006, he told us in no uncertain terms that: “A me a di priest, yuh nuh, suh di 7 a my own. What more mi need fi seh?” In Backayard Issue 6 the “Set Trend and Pattern Mellow” edition our Buju cover. So if a man could make a statement like that and have it come to fruition, this means he is a man that should always be given the benefit of the doubt once he puts his mind to whatever he wants to achieve. So seeing Munga attack the stage the way he did, in addition to the crowd’s response it seemed almost therapeutic for him to release all that he had to give. Ably backed up by the Outside band: Shadeeka on guitar with Chippy handling the percussion, Munga ran through all of his hits of yesteryear and skillfully integrated his most recent tunes such as ‘Fiery’, ‘Nah Mad’ and the topical ‘Move On’; in lieu of the recent spate of murder sucides cases between men and their spouses. For around 45 minutes, or was it an hour, I am not sure, Munga truly had everyone present engaged and ended my first but certainly not last Inner Ear concert on one his famous ‘Yessss Yessss’ high note.