Not even heavy rain in Bahia could stop Midnite's powerful Reggae! See it on Surforeggae!

The band Midnite, from the Ilhas Virgens and that is on tour in Brazil, has once again been a cause of excitement where it passes in the country. After excellent performances such as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre, the group was last September 19 at Bahia, more precisely in Lauro de Freitas, a city near the mystical capital - Salvador.

The beginning of CECCA

The event that gave the Bahian public the opportunity to see Midnite for the second time was the CECCA - Circuito Estudantil de Cultura e Arte. The attractions grid brought the bands Litoral Roots (BA), Roots Nyabinghi (BA), Edy Vox (BA), Midnite (Ilhas Virgens), Moa Anbesa (BA) and Planeta Reggae (SP). Even under heavy rain, the public did not move their feet from Litoral Roots to Clinton Fearon. The group is native to Lauro de Freitas(BA), and is not yet well known on the local scene, and this was the first opportunity to play in a larger event. In sequence, Roots Nyabinghi band, from Salvador, brought a novelty that caught a lot of attention: the presence of metals (thrompet, trombone, etc.), which give an even more special brightness to the sound Reggae. In the repertoire of "Roots", songs of the CD "Nas Batidas do Coração" and covers of classics such as The Gladiators. As the band was performing their songs, the audience, which until then was larger on the outside, was being drawn near the stage. Edy Vox, who in the late 1990s was at the height of his career in Bahia with the band Papoula, was missing from the big shows and was the next attraction of CECCA. The singer became famous for the song "O Reggae te atrai", which is a Portuguese version of the classic "In a dys ya time" by The Itals. At the end of the Edy Vox show it was announced that Midnite was the next attraction of the night, which made the audience vibrate.

MIDNITE

As the band Midnite did not come to sound before, everything had to be done on time, which further increased the audience's expectations. After about 30 minutes the singer Vaughn Benjamin went ahead of the stage and mystically began the show, leading the Bahian public to delirium. Incredibly, right in the first song, a real storm began to fall, which did not cause the vast majority of the exalted to flee to the indoor gymnasium next door. Songs such as "Proceed", "He is Jah", "Propaganda", "Ras to the Bone", "Banking in the Pig", "Love the Life you Live" and "Thanksgiving" warmed the night "cold" (23 degrees in Salvador/Metropolitan Region is considered cold) and rainy. On a night inspired and motivated by the high vibration of the Bahians, the band was up until then doing the best show on the tour, according to their own producer. Perhaps the rain has to do with all this vibration, because coincidentally the most acclaimed presentation of Midnite in São Paulo was the Reggae Marathon in 2003, where the rain was relentless, but not as much as the best reggae 2 1/2 hours. The turns on the Sly battery (which is not the same as the Sly & Robbie duo) added to the weight of the Ron Benjamin bass, the lightness of the Kenny Byron guitar solos, the striking presence of the Edmund Fieulleteau base guitar, the aggressiveness on the Ankh Watep keyboards and the mysticism and presence of Vaughn Benjamin often make Midnite one of the most beloved and respected Reggae bands in Brazil. Each group show is full of improvisation, and the songs that are sometimes elongated in up to 10 minutes, are decided on time according to the audience's vibration, since there is no setlist to follow. The Midnite once again left a great impression on Bahia, doing a 1-hour and 40-minute show, which was limited by other groups performing. Reggae's night was already closed on Saturday morning by Moa Anbesa band Salvador, who even having started the show already at a very advanced time and with all the rain, showed an audience who knows and sings their songs. In the repertoire, tracks from its three CDs - "Experience", "Lively" and the latest name of the band. Unfortunately, Planeta Reggae band, from São Paulo, waited in the dressing room but ended up not performing, as it was past 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, which added with all the rain frightened the public already exhausted from the event. We congratulate and thank Event Production for the great initiative of bringing Midnite to Bahia and for believing in Reggae. We also hope that some failures that have been committed, such as the issue of delays, will serve as a learning tool, so that they will increasingly professionalize and continue to perform great shows.

IMAGES OF THE EVENT

 Click and see some images of the event.

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