Twinkle Brothers, the Reunion

The Twinkle Brothers are often reduced to the sole figure of Norman Grant, whose face is incidentally the only one to appear on the tickets issued that night. The group was built on the model of the vocal trio (the norm at the time) in the early 1960s. The two other Grant brothers, Ashton and Ralston, guitarists and backing vocalists, complete the trio. After beginnings like dozens of Jamaican artists (having learned to sing in church, they were discovered by a talent contest and then produced at Duke Reid's), the Twinkle Brothers established themselves with the producer Bunny Lee. Their many successes, including Rasta Pon Top in 1975, gave Norman Grant, the group's natural leader since the beginning, dreams of a solo career, which proved inconclusive and was quickly aborted. In 1981, he joined Inner Circle, weakened by the death of Jacob Miller the previous year. The experience would be short-lived, and Norman finally found his brothers again two years later. Reunited, the Twinkle Brothers resumed their career where they had left it. They were noticed at Reggae Sunsplash in 1984 and with Jah Shaka in 1985 ("Right Way"). Based in the United States, they even went to record an album in Poland, "Twinkle Brothers Ina Poland Style", with the Trebunia Family.

Terrific energy
For their second date in Paris in forty years of career, the Twinkle Brothers were able to make sure that their popularity had remained intact, and to demonstrate the effectiveness of their songs live. The Cabaret Sauvage was full for this Parisian reunion, a few days after the warm welcome in Aix-en-Provence. Ralston was missing. In the absence of the only alternative to the lead vocal, and to honour the ritual whereby Norman comes on stage after a few songs, it is bassist Dub Judah who opens the evening on the mic. For four songs, before Norman Grant bursts onto the stage, electrifying the crowd. The audience immediately won over, Norman Grant sets about reeling off the group's many hits. It's Only Rasta, Jah Kingdom Come, Since I throw the count away with its chorus taken up by the crowd, Praise His Name: the selection, like the group's entire output, is very spiritual.


The rhythm section is particularly punchy, with an omnipresent bass/drums duo. Norman, in great form, breathes terrific energy into every one of the songs. Behind him, truly possessed, eyes bulging, Dub Judah contorts himself over the neck of his bass. The diligent musicians are helped by the sound engineer behind the desk, who "dubs" the song endings live. Jehovah, usually performed by Ralston, takes on new accents and ends in a rub a dub freestyle. Norman addresses the crowd: "Do you want to hear what I wrote 40 years ago? I was only 14 at the time." And he launches into Somebody Please Help Me, his first recorded title, at Leslie Kong's on the Beverly label.
Then come the heavy rhythms and the classics again. Rasta Pon Top sends a knowledgeable crowd wild; Retribution, Free Africa and then Never Get Burn turn the end of the concert into a compilation of the group, with pride of place given to the 1970s. The audience will hear only a handful of titles from their forthcoming album. "The 70s were a good decade," says Norman Grant. "We were there, and we are still here today." The Twinkle Brothers leave the stage after more than two hours of concert, sealing a successful reunion with the Paris audience.