Reggae songstress Etana delivered a set befitting her moniker “The Strong One” at the welcome reception of Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX) 2025, held at Harmony Beach Park in Montego Bay, St James.
The artiste was the headline act at MoBay Reggae Nights on Sunday, September 21, which coincided with the JAPEX welcome reception. Rocking a white mermaid dress, Etana, born Shauna-Gaye Melissa McKenzie, pulled from her extensive musical catalogue with fan favourites while covering several of her colleagues’ works.
After beginning with well-known singles Free and Wrong Address, she welcomed the crowd, filled with a mix of tourists and locals. Resuming her performance with Jah Love (I Know) and On My Way, Etana had the crowd on its feet when she voiced the first line of People Talk.
As the audience responded to the vocalist’s song selections, Etana changed the pace to Marcia Griffith and Bob Andy’s up-tempo rendition of Young, Gifted and Black. Her other covers for the evening included Berris Hammond’s No Disturbance and Bob Marley’s Turn Your Lights Down Low and Is This Love.
Etana’s backup singer, Clive, joined her on No Disturbance before covering Alborosie’s male solo on the track Blessings.
On the track Reggae, the singer gave a dance tutorial with bandmates playing instrumental solos. She had the crowd rocking and grooving again to her single My Man, transitioned into covers of Tarrus Riley’s Just The Way You Are and Busy Signal’s Come Over (Missing You).
Returning to her catalogue, Etana earned a ‘pull-up’ with I Am Not Afraid. On the track I Rise, she demonstrated her vocal dexterity with head notes and crisp harmonies with her backup singers.
The Strong One ended her set with Roots and Better Tomorrow.
Ahead of Etana’s set, Othniel ‘Taddy P’ Campbell, a prominent bassist, music producer, and teacher from Montego Bay, kept the audience moving to his covers of reggae and dancehall hits from the late 1980s into the early 2000s. The Falmouth Artisan Village performance troupe was also on show.
There were several displays featuring local artisans, Chukka Caribbean, Margaritaville, and Worthy Park at MoBay Reggae Nights.