dreadlocked davao.

how do you get rastafarians (in look or in beliefs) and reggae-lovers to come together? why have a reggae concert of course!

last night, dread-heads and the rest of reggae fandom trooped to matina town square's taboan for roots, arts, reggae concert featuring reggae and ska bands of davao, bahaghari from iloilo and top reggae vocalist papadom of tropical depression.

reggal8 and ragged had the crowd bobbing their heads up and down to their latest singles and fine-enough covers, but it was PLO (popong landero organization) that finally got the crowd up and dancing. bayang barrios made a most welcome appearance as back-up singer and dancer, too! waway saway's percussion group joined the band for a mean, drum-tastic dancing to that famous popong song which title eludes me at this moment. talk about fusion!

bahaghari, a reggae band from iloilo, came after PLO and continued to get the crowd going. the people shimmied a little harder to the reggae-lized rey valera "wala nang iibigin pang iba." shamefully, i was actually singing the song with the rest. the party got more wild to eric clapton's "you look wonderful tonight" and billy joel's "just the way you are." i therefore conclude, dreadheads are hopeless romantics deep inside, the music just has to have funky reggae beat.

come in papa dom singing the classic tropical depression song, "kapayapaan." once he came in, the flock from outside started trooping inside the already crowded taboan. the music that was already palpable started becoming a tangible entity as bahaghari, PLO and waway's group played together to bring alive papadom's vocals to juan dela cruz band's "ang himig natin." hu-waw! after that, it was only one last song. "bilog na naman ang buwan" began to play. crowds whooping, skankers moshing and everybody dancing as the venue throbbed with good vibes and reggae rhythm.

it has been a while since i've seen a davao crowd that participative! from the front row to the last, people were up on their feet dancing with no care. it was like a night in xaymaca, except with more dancing space and less cigarette smoke. i wondered, where have all these rastafarians been?

wherever they were, i'm just glad they came out of hiding and made my rare self-kaladkaded night out an enjoyable one. for once in my life here in davao, dancing felt like what it is, a natural reaction to music. ;p

irie! oi. more reggae music in davao, jah!