Jamaican polition Crawford, Vaz in friendly clash around the musical turntables

Crawford, Vaz in friendly clash around the musical turntables

Mel Cooke, Sunday Gleaner Writer

Two politicians onstage, with one person involved in the business of Jamaican popular music, clasping their entwined hands high overhead.

Especially for Jamaicans, that description immediately conjures an image of Bob Marley uniting his hands with Edward Seaga's and Michael Manley's in one of Jamaica's iconic - though futile - moments, during the One Love Peace Concert in 1978.

Although the circumstances were very different, as was the magnitude of the events, the implication of the combination was not lost on producer Cool Face, a judge in the Magnum All-Star $1,000,000 Face-Off last Thursday night.

After the People's National Party's Damion Crawford trounced the Jamaica Labour Party's Daryl Vaz soundly, winning 58 points to 35 in the night's Celeb matchup of the ongoing competition, MC Nuffy held their hands up together, Cool Face commenting on the Marley-Seaga-Manley-like moment.

It was the end of a sound system selecting contest between the two which was chock-full of jibes and vibes.

With Vaz, the member of parliament (MP) for West Portland, and Crawford, MP for East Rural St Andrew, representing constituencies which share a border high in the Blue Mountains, they tangled in front of the turntables on the flat in Portmore, St Catherine.

There was no skirting the representational politics involved, as from the start Nuffy asked "Can I ask the deejays for the politicians to get in place?" And in introducing Vaz, who played first, Nuffy went into his boxing referee's spiel to present him as coming out of the "green corner". Of course, conversely, Crawford was coming out of the orange corner.

During the three rounds of the musical back and forth, naturally, there were political references.

NO ARGUMENT

Crawford made it clear "we no inna argument like we are in Parliament", following with Sizzla's 'Get to the Point' to the delirious delight of the audience.

In his opening salvo, Vaz advised Crawford to stop turning off dances (the lockdowns are done according to the provisions of the 1990s Noise Abatement Act), following with a version of 'Let it Be'.

The Famous Nightclub erupted.

Crawford saved a heavy political blow for Vaz in the dub-for-dub round, taking a simulated phone call from Edward Seaga (done by a vocal impersonator).

The simulated Seaga said "Fundamentally speaking, I do not like Daryl Vaz. Daryl is here without a cause. That's why we put him pon pause."

At the end of the minutes of music, though, it was smiles and camaraderie all around, with Crawford declaring, "we are friends", as he appealed for no more political violence.

As Vaz had said in an interview before the face-off, "Maybe we can show and set an example for the people of the country, that the politics that is presumed to be so tribal is not."