What do you get when you bring together an up-and-coming reggae dancehall and lovers-rock hitmaker, a veteran reggae singer/songwriter/producer and an enigmatic, fast-paced showman?
Mix in a Jamaican musical melody master, a fine backup band, a South African Zulu pop-artist-turned-reggae-master, and a British reggae/pop sensation?You get Reggae Sunsplash 1992.
What happens when you stick them in an outdoor venue, plug them into a pleasantly cool summer evening and set them free?
People start to dance.
On Sunday, they started to dance about 6 p.m., when Barrington Levy took the stage at the Triad Amphitheatre. And they didn't stop till more than four hours later.
Folks danced alone; they danced en masse. They danced on the floor; they danced on the grass. Children danced with their mothers, sisters with their brothers.
Those who weren't dancing rocked and swayed to the breezy Caribbean rhythms and the pounding beat that have influenced almost every genre of today's popular music, from Motown and rap to rock and country.
Riding the musical tide of Jamaica's best-loved export, Reggae Sunsplash 1992, which made Salt Lake City one of its 50 stops on this year's tour, celebrated freedom and love and then called for more.
Among Levy's first numbers was "Mandela Is Free," dedicated to activist Nelson Mandela's struggle for personal and racial justice in South Africa, a country whose anti-apartheid cause was mentioned often during the evening.
"We hope that through our music, we may unite all people," declared veteran reggae rocker Tommy Cowan, Sunsplash's master of ceremonies.
After a half-hour set by Levy, Papa San took the mike, delivering his characteristic rapid-fire lyrics, mostly in his native Jamaican, with an occasional whimsical exception: "Georgy Porgy, poom pahm pie, kiss the girls, and make them cry."
He was followed by John Holt, one of the best-known singer/songwriters in reggae, who turned up the heat with the late reggae legend Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry," as well as his own popular "The Tide Is High," that catchy tune that Blondie turned into a hit in the late 1970s.
Holt, Papa San and Levy were backed up nicely by Skool, led by drummer Desi Jones, guitarist Ray Hitchins, bass guitarist Hopton Hibbert and keyboardist Jimmy Peart.
With his band "The Slaves," Lucky Dube (prounounced "Doo-Bay") added the evening's first touch of brass, with a trombone and saxophone, and brought in three female backup singers who performed Zulu tribe dance steps to his songs, which included "Back To My Roots" and "Dracula."
Saving the true crowd pleaser for last, Cowan introduced Aswad, a versatile British band that features Brinsley Forde on lead vocals and guitars, "Drummie" Zeb and lead vocals and drums; and Tony Gad on bass and vocals.
Aswad kept the crowd rocking for nearly two hours with "I Need Your Loving," "Fire In My Soul," and a reggae remake of Eric Clapton's "I Shot the Sheriff."
And when it was all over, people were still dancing.