TBFF LIVE PERFORMANCES - Day 5

Music Performance: The Warrior Love band

In 2002, Joseph and Jeffery Graham (the twins) were seen performing on CTV by one of the most illustrious musicians. He was impressed with their raw talent, and Frankie Campbell, leader of the well-known Fab5 band, gave them their first instrument – a keyboard for Jeffrey and a bass guitar for Joseph – and named them the “One Love” band. Both brothers made good use of these gifts. Jeffrey has played for several artists including Queen Ifrica, Barrington Levy, and I-Octane, while Joseph has been the bass player for Byron Lee’s Dragonaires for the past four years. He has also worked with artists such as Ken Boothe, Ernie Smith, Fantan Mojah Turbulence, and the mighty Sparrow. In 2004, Joseph and Jeffrey Graham decided to form their group and invite O'neil Walters to join. Oniel made a name as one of the best drummers in Jamaica, playing for artists such as Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, Lloyd Parks, and We the People band. That year, the band played for Prodigal Son, joined by his guitarist. The band then decided that Warrior Love needed a guitarist. So they recruited another school of music talent, Garth Forrester, who eventually got a full-time job touring with a popular artist. He was replaced by yet another student of that institution, who is considered one of the most versatile and technically proficient young guitarists in Jamaica today Nyerere “Duke” Thomas.

In 2009 the group hired a manager, and (joined by some of their friends) auditioned for the annual Ritz Pineapple Ball. Out of that rose another member of the band who blended so well with the group; saxophonist Conrad Pinnock. Conrad is a graduate of the Alpha boys’ school and has played with many Jamaican performers, he has also shared the stage with overseas artists such as; Seal and Jay Z.

This five-piece ensemble began performing throughout Kingston at events such as Flow’s Christmas Party, VMBS Talent Show, Jamaica Stock Exchange 50th Anniversary, (at which they played for artists such as John Holt, Ken Boothe, Bongo Herman, and Derrick Harriot), and City View Hotel’s “Rapture under the Stars”. They toured with Fanton Mojah as the Macka Tree Band and backed artists such as Tessanne Chin. In 2011 the group changed their manager and hired Mr. Dwight James where they kicked off their first tour with Turbulence to Africa. The band toured for the entire year with different artists. As the year 2011 ended Joseph (bandleader) decided that the band should extend its presence to performing as a backing band on some of Jamaica’s well-known shows, the first of which was Sting 2011.

Warrior Love worked with 37 artists for Sting 2011 and was branded as a Dancehall and Reggae backing band. The band’s next big show was of course the famous Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival. Rumors had by then flooded the street about this CD-sounding band, which attracted the attention of Tony Rebel, who recruited the band to back his annual reggae show, Rebel Salute. Other shows that followed included Follow Di Arrow, Jamaica International Kite Festival, and Taurus Bash, where the band had worked with all the major artists headlining these shows.

The group saw that things were on a high and as such decided it was time to recruit a lead singer. Auditions were done and they decided unanimously that Raine Davis would make a great addition to the now booming CD-sounding band. Raine Davis is a young man who has made his name on the north coast circuit. In 2011 when Raine was hired by a great Jamaican musician, Desi Jones to play at the annual Half Moon New Years' Eve Ball. Raine agreed to join the band and performed with them for the Mars Group in St. Thomas at a lunch-hour concert at the Institution of Jamaica, and City View Hotel. There existed room for further growth and so the band decided it was time to do some recordings.

Raine, who is a prolific songwriter, provided good material for the band to start working on their recordings.

The Warrior Love band now looks forward to the endless possibilities that exist for them in music and continues to make its mark in the industry.

Spoken Word Performance: Lamoi aka The Wild Woman

The Wild Woman is an award winning spoken word artist, curator, workshop facilitator, arts educator. Sitting deeply in her gift as an oracle, she is a spiritually intuitive, queer, wild woman, bad gyal, grounded in her spirituality, inappropriateness, healing, and sacred mantras. With a poetic career that spans over a decade, The Wild Woman has cultivated a distinctive style centering her Blackness, womanity and love of soul stirring and aligning conversations, harnessing purpose and using poetry to challenge thoughts and ideals, in order to instigate waves of growth.