Evaluation: Gerry McMahon Photographs: Kevin McMahon
Omar Perry and his French-based Straightforward Riddim Makers just lately closed their profitable tour of the size and breadth of Britain, with a barnstorming efficiency within the coronary heart of Brixton, on the well-attended legendary Hootananny. The tour served as a tribute to the late nice Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry (LSP), while additionally providing a platform for his son Omar and band to show their high-calibre capability and spectacular ‘Channelling Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry’ album launch.
Having warmed up the gang with a mixture of reggae roots rhythms, DJ Riketté Genesis handed the torch to ‘Scratch’ himself, whose unmistakable voice got here throughout the sound system with a choice of critical non secular messages, in tandem with some scene-setting cymbal clashing from drummer and band chief Oliver Gangloff.
With the scene set, Omar Perry arrived on stage to rapturous applause, delivering the eternal ‘Roast Fish and Cornbread’ and thereafter reminding the viewers that ‘if it wasn’t for Mr. Perry, lots of people would by no means have heard of Bob Marley’. Certainly, he even had the pinnacle and the center to counsel that there was now a formidable case for a global ‘Lee Scratch Perry Day’!
The musical tempo then picked up with ‘Keep Crimson’ from LSP’s album of the identical identify, earlier than ‘Police and Thieves’ went down a bomb – as you’d anticipate within the metropolis the place the tune was immortalised by the Conflict within the pomp of their punk rock days. ‘Beat Down Babylon’ served subsequent as an acceptable car for Omar to showcase his highly effective and various vocal capability, serving additionally to verify that there are some departments the place his skill-set far surpasses these of his immortal musical father.
Omar then availed of the chance to remind the viewers that: ‘We’re one folks’,earlier than delivering a Rastafarian-infused demand for ‘Peace, Love and Unity’, while rightly reminding all that we solely have ‘one life to stay’ and to not go losing it! Fittingly, this served because the entrée for ‘Conflict Inna Babylon’, the place this Perry reserved particular point out for Messrs. Putin and Trump, earlier than segueing easily however swiftly into John Lennon’s 1969 anthem entitled ‘Give Peace A Likelihood’!
Thereafter, the unmistakable ‘Soul Insurgent’ (with some ‘pull up’ utilized) and ‘When Jah Come’ stored the appreciative viewers singing and swaying. This magical momentum was maintained, when ‘Magnetic Gentle’, ‘Pied Piper’, ‘Depraved Again Deh’ and ‘Time Increase’ have been chosen from Omar’s aforementioned launch and – a lot to the viewers’s delight – given the royal therapy.
Pressed to stay to the home curfew, the band then gave up a high quality medley, comprised of ‘Rasta Meditation’, ‘Redder Than Crimson’, and ‘Boomtown’, earlier than the present’s penultimate piece was launched within the type of ‘Scratch’s’ well-liked ‘Disco Satan’. This enabled the curtain to return down on the times of the Black Ark, with LSP’s ‘Play On Mister Music’ from 1977 sending the gang residence singing and swaying, happy that the legend that’s Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry is within the good arms of his son Omar and the crack unit known as Straightforward Riddim Maker.
It’s clear that this Perry has inherited a high-quality musical unit to work with within the type of Straightforward Riddim Maker – who have been LSP’s backing band throughout Europe for his ultimate excursions. The band is comprised of the multi-talented, good humoured and energetic driver Oliver Gangloff on percussion, the skilled and chic lead axe professional Sébastien Kohler, with Julian Viger capably becoming the invoice on bass, permitting Michel Latour to keep up a heat and smiling visage all through, while his keyboard melodies and thrives with aptitude are the cherry on the cake, enabling Rico Gaultier to mix all fantastically from the sound desk.
At present shut, the band took their bow and promised to see us once more on the summer time 2026 pageant circuit. Clearly, this ensemble, with a set comprised of previous and new classics, will show a precious addition to any musical gathering. Like good climate in the summertime, this can be a deal with effectively price trying ahead to. Omar Perry and his Straightforward Riddim Makers are a category act. So, carry it on!
Associated
