Ahead of Beres Hammond's 'Moment', a four-hour concert blending classical and reggae music at the National
Indoor Sports Centre on Sunday, December 30,
The STAR did an in-depth interview with the longstanding and outstanding singer. Today we look at how he feels about performing.
When Beres Hammond performs, he
presents his well-known songs with passion, often closing his eyes, bouncing on his toes and 'flashing' his index finger as the music hits not only him, but also the audience. Hammond says the intensity and
obvious joy with which he performs "comes
naturally every time. "What I have I don't
know how it come about. I don't want to know how it
come. I am so proud to be the one it is coming out of.
I don't want to touch nutten whe no bruck," he
said. "Every time I stand up an' utter, a so it
come out. Me no drink nutten fe it, me no do nutten,"
he said. "Once they call the name (for him to
perform) is like something else. That has not
changed."
Still, that does not mean that even
after a lifetime of performing, going back to school
concerts in St. Mary, Beres Hammond does not feel the
performance butterflies. "I might get a nervous
moment before the show, five, 10 minutes before my
time."
He says that he will be at the venue, feeling quite
fine, and then, as his time to perform gets nearer, he
starts thinking "it is my time. It is really my
time. Why me, why me?"
The solution is that "during
that same period I take time to have my reverence. I
don't approach a stage without saying a little suppen.
I say a prayer. I ask the father to give me the voice
and the melody. Me never cease doing it."
And Hammond says that "within
that five minutes of jitters me hear them a call me
name. Me feel a little halo. Me hear me name, me say
'thank you Jah'. Me feel like a weight come off my
shoulder."
Then, "once me up there is like
me playground. The worst thing can happen is me sing.
An' no way de father naa flop."
As for performing songs that he has
done countless times before with that same passion,
Hammond says the songs still feel fresh every time.
"They feel like new," he told The STAR.
Beres Hammond asked for a definition
when THE STAR asked him if he considers himself a
legend. Then he says "no. I consider myself a
blessed person, a lucky one who manage to get the love
of quite a few people along the way. Not only the
love. I am so lucky that people teach me what I am to
do along the way. I always have people a advise me
from long time, like me is everybody pickney."
The advice comes from the old, the young, at home and
abroad and Hammond laughs merrily as he puts on a
Trinidadian accent and imitates someone telling him
"hey Beres boy, do so and so.
"Me one couldn't do this. Me
fortunate," he said.
As much as he has done, Beres
Hammond says "is only some of the work to me is
already accomplished. So far, is a bit of the world
sing along, but there is that song which is not made
yet".
Source: Jamaica Star
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