Roots perform at the Mas Camp

Back in the ’80s it was the hottest mid-week ticket in town. Originally held at Atlantis Disco in West Mall, and subsequently at Upper Level Club, Caribbean Nights attracted huge crowds every Thursday night. 

Almost three decades later, Caribbean Nights is being revived and premieres on February 28 at De Nu Pub (The Mas Camp) in Woodbrook. 

Caribbean Nights musical director Pelham Goddard said this week from his Agra 9 Studio in St James: “Caribbean Nights is the start of the series of shows that I will be doing with Roots through 2013. We used to have this on a Thursday night at Atlantis (Upper Level), around 1984, and it was very popular. 

“We started Caribbean Nights in the midst of the disco era, when the club DJs didn’t really play soca music. 

“Then, every Thursday we presented a special guest performer, including Sparrow, Melody, Kitchener, Nap Hepburn.”

Apart from the then established calypsonians, Caribbean Nights helped the ascendancy of Charlie’s Roots as a favourite amongst the wider public. 

It also vaulted the careers of frontline vocalists David Rudder and Chris “Tambu” Herbert, with Rudder winning the Young Kings and National Calypso Monarch titles in 1986, and the Road March championship, and Tambu scoring a hat-trick of Road March victories in 1988-1990.

Goddard added: “This time around, we want to do all the musics of the Caribbean, like some Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, and soca from Barbados and zouk from the French islands.

“We will not be doing just one repertoire every week. Each Thursday, we will feature new music, as well as guest artistes. We may put in a few bits of current music as well, but it will not dominiate. 

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