During extended performance at Studio 38 recently

Mel Cooke, Star Writer

Tanya Stephens treated the appreciable and appreciative audience at Studio 38, Trafalgar Road, New Kingston, recently, to a two-hour performance. Her talks between songs were as important to the performance as the songs, Stephens promising a "therapeutic" experience in the early going.

It took a few songs for the audience to warm up, as a hoarse Stephens started out with her earlier popular recordings, including Yuh No Ready Fe Dis Yet and Handle The Ride, which the women especially enjoyed. But by the time she hit What A Day, the audience was in full singalong mode and were with Stephens right to the end when she satisfied requests without music, Way Back and Who is Tanya among the tracks demanded by the audience.

In the early going, after Can't Breathe, Stephens said "when I did that song I was an angry person. And even earlier she said "these songs are some early Tanya Stephens" when she was asserting herself as a teenager and young adult. "Them call me man basher, say me hate man. Good good me," Stephens said. "They misunderstood me, but because of that I felt compelled to do a song about how I love men." That track was Boom Wuk, which the women howled for.

In the end, though, after going through To The Rescue and To the Limit, and commenting at length on discrimination before doing Do You Still Care?, Stephens advised the ladies about the man-sharing process. She pointed out that from a practical viewpoint, women outnumber men. "You think me going spend the rest of my life alone when you have one whole good man? You rude!" Stephens said.

"There are three ways to share," she advised. One is subconsciously, where the woman is in denial. The next is consciously, where "you have a say in the decision-making process. You get to decide who you share with". And the third is "unconsciously, when me knock you out".

Before doing Do You Still Care?, Stephens said that the first time she performed the track it was before a group of journalists in New York, many of who were from Jamaica. "I was warned when I released the track I would have to move from Jamaica," she said, remarking that she sees no force that can make her move from the country.

Do You Still Care? addresses racism and anti-homosexuality.

"The song is anti-discrimination. Discrimination is one tree," Stephens said, pointing out "you can't kill a tree by cutting off a branch. A country me come from, me know bout bush".

And in one of many quips for the night, Stephens said "a word to the wise, Spanish Fly don't work. Tried it. I vex! The bottle say seven drops. Nothing. Me turn the bottle to me head, gulp, gulp".