Last night saw the opening of Lewisham's Gospel Week, a 10-day event designed to bring gospel music to a wider audience. Last night's opening concert was held before a large and responsive crowd in Catford's Broadway Theatre, Rushey Green. The evening was devoted mainly to Gospel Reggae, with contributions from Sherwin Gardner(T&T), King Arthur (JA), Vanessa B (T&T), Tiko (T&T), Alan Charles (UK), Witness (UK), Shiselon (T&T) and others, backed by the Praise Plus band. While some of this music was familiar to anyone who listens to Choice FM's Sunday morning Gospel show, some of it was entirely new to a UK audience. I'd previously heard some tracks from Sherwin Gardner's album Leaning, but the impact of his live gig last night went beyond anything I'd experienced there - a strong, intensely-focused performance that drew the audience in and spurred it on to response without patronizing it in any way, with music inspired not only by reggae, but also by hip hop, jamoo and other genres. Tiko was also in good form, and gave a powerful set of duos with Vanessa Briggs.
The week continues at the Broadway tonight with Joann Rosario, plus Vanessa B, the Kingdom Choir and the United Praise Choir. Noel Robinson is compere.
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