IslandMix - Soca, Reggae, Zouk and Caribbean Entertainment

Bomani fulfills a dream

by William 'Kojah' Anthony
2007/03/16




He is otherwise known as Orande Bomani Charles. From the area of Campden Park, just about two miles west of Capital City Kingstown. In 2004, his song ‘Who am I’ propelled him to the Road March title in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The following year, Bomani captured the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Soca Monarch crown with that very number.

Bomani has emerged as one of this country’s most flexible performers. Evidence of his versatility was highlighted with his appearance at the Blues and Rhythms Festival last year. His performances have been so outstanding, and his recognition so profound, that Bomani has become something of a fixture at such events here.

He stepped up his musical presentation one notch last Saturday, and admitted to the crowd that it was his dream to present a song while he played the key board.

Bomani’s voice was distinct, and for some time, he had many of the patrons puzzled, thinking that he might have simply been testing the microphone in preparation for a dramatic appearance. Many patrons, it seemed, were taken up in some spellbinding wave as they viewed Bomani on stage playing the keyboard amidst the already captivating ambience of the Emerald Valley Resort.

His band members, Shaunelle McKenzie and Aretha Shallow, set the stage for Bomani’s entrance with a testing, so to speak, of the sound system. Then Bomani literally lit up the stage and had the crowd in rapture with his interpretation of ‘Call it the Blues’.

That was the extent of his keyboard intervention, for thereafter it was typical Bomani. He unleashed a series of songs which drew the audience into his ambit, and when the crowd called for more, he obliged with a number from his 2006 compilation.