Few people, means a lot of breathing space, and place to dance of course. Not that the music of Akae Beka would incite you to hopping and jumping but you can't stand still either, unless perhaps in a kind of petrified trance, as you always see a few fans with this band. I can understand that. Akae Beka is the only group that can keep me completely under the spell a whole concert. Even though very little essentially happens on stage, I have to keep watching and listening. Not to the bar, no empty talk, no moment of distraction. For the same reason I always have prerolled spliffs in my pocket, so I don't have to worry about that either. We do not all live on a natural high, and Vaughn Benjamin himself is not averse to the sacred herb (in his cosmogony, everything is sacred).
Akae Beka has released four albums since 2014. For a substantive analysis of Benjamin's cryptic lyrics I would like to refer you to a previous article on this site but who feels it knows it. The singer calls Akae Beka himself 'the current manifestation of an evolving consciousness.' So that is what we feel during such a performance (more than a concert): the manifestation of a consciousness that is constantly evolving. "One of life's chief lessons is the consistency of change!", it says on Akae Beka's website: "The Earth, once conceived flat, is now thought to be round. The Book of Enoch, Noah's great grandfather, was obscured for generations until three copies were brought out of Ethiopia by a prominent European explorer. Events like these have triggered paradigm shifts in the evolution of human thinking, yet the same principle applies to individual growth as well."
Just like the archangel Michael was responsible for the secrets of creation, so Benjamin today accepts his role "...in a parallel time of rampant deception and broken taboos in the arenas of world leadership. Always rooted firmly in the teachings of His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I, his personal evolution and reaffirmed purpose is manifested in his newly declared name."
If you find that too complex, or downright nonsense, you will never be caught by Vaughn Benjamin's oracle language. But even without that awareness he is and remains a highly intriguing figure, as well singer as poet, chanter and shaman. And of course there is the music, of a deceptive simplicity and continuity and yet highly refined, with ingenious guitar licks (newcomer Legrand Lee), delicious keyboards (Suren Fenton), perfect chops on rhythm guitar (Edmund Fieulleteau) and soft sparkling drums (Peter Willock, also a new face). Bassist Lyndon 'Ras L' Williams keeps everything together and lays the warm foundation. Together they create a sound in which I can cherish myself for hours. But the time that Midnite was on stage every evening for three or four hours is apparently over.
Akae Beka played ten songs in about a hundred minutes. To be honest, I hardly recognized three of them: 'Love Is The Mainstay' (from the album 'Portals') and the Midnite tunes 'Hallelujah/A Cool Veranda' and 'Meditation', the latter abruptly interrupted by Benjamin with a benign "Boom!", like he used to do before.
'Like A Beacon' was probably the title of the opener, dedicated to the Power of the Trinity (Haile Selassie in Amharic). 'He Is Christ' is a variation on 'He Is Jah' by Midnite, with the same conviction and similar arguments. 'An illusion' also sounded like that, like an illusion that still grabbed you by the neck. Three tunes I marked as "uptempo", which is obviously relative with this band. But you saw the audience dancing a bit more exuberant. Somebody shouted something and the occasional arm was thrown into the air. The collective enchantment flared up a bit higher. And that also happened with the quiet outro's of the songs. Minutes before the neatly finished end there was a spontaneous interaction between the riddim and the wailing voice of Vaughn Benjamin. And a few more measures, and just a few more. Blessed.The most remarkable moments were when Benajmin took the floor for a moment, something he had never done in all those years of (Belgian and Dutch) concerts. In Amharic indeed, the first time, and to give us his blessings in the name of Jah! Rastafari, just before he left the stage. No singer has less ego than Vaughn Benjamin. He doesn't need any cheers or confirmation. He brings his message, his vibes, his insights. Why then ask if everybody is happy, and if we want more? He never gives bis numbers by the way, so it would be a superfluous question anyway.
It's also striking how nobody really seems to need encores. For a moment we stand, still in the trance of the concert, but then the lights go on and we have to go back to the real world, fortunately fed and strengthened by the spiritual power of the music.
Then, around midnight, the dissatisfaction with the supporting programme had long since been forgotten. The Belgian One Cell Foundation meant well, but the undersized singer and the over-enthusiastic singer did not do justice to the songs. The only musician who mattered was the bass player, who brought some coherence to the set. On 25 October One Cell Foundation will present its debut single in Brussels. After party with Dub Front Association and others, which could be the a reason to go anyway.
Photo's: © Peter Verwimp
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