The poolside area of the Carlton Savannah Hotel was transformed into the Queen's Park Savannah stage of old last Emancipation Sunday evening, as Rapso favourites, 3Canal hosted their annual Freedom.com concert event and almost initiated a mid-year Jouvert celebration without mud.

Scores of faithful 3Canal fans arrived on time for the 7.30 p.m. start and were well-dressed and well-behaved for the first half of the show. Ataklan opened with a few of his hit selections and was well received, before Wendell, Stanton and Roger took the stage and led their Cut+Clear Crew through an initial set comprised of more recent 3Canal material.

Humidity was high after a day filled with downpours, but the masses braved the heat, the high-end hotel bar prices and the adventurous upper deck built over the pool. MC Rawkus hosted the proceedings in the vein of an ongoing radio program as Kin Sibling Rivalry delivered an exciting set of Caribbean rock music, before making way for Sheldon Holder and a scaled-down version of 12 The Band.

Drawing inspiration from the newly-elected political administration and their stated intentions to diversify our economy, 3Canal has reignited a call for legislation advocating 50 per cent local content across the broadcast media spectrum. Labelled as the Music Liberation Front, or MLF, this initiative was clearly illustrated in the format of Freedom.com, which ensured that 100 per cent local music was played and performed on the night.

"The Music Liberation Front is a vehicle and a platform for the promotion and proliferation of our indigenous musical expression," said Manwarren. "The call for quotas is over ten years old and still remains unanswered and I think we have suffered enough as a nation because we do not see and hear enough of ourselves. So, we are taking up the cry once again and trying to spread the message and keep it in the minds of the people as much as possible because we think the time is ripe for a positive change in this direction. No matter what anybody says, nothing bad can come of this initiative and acceptance of ourselves and in fact, we have plenty of evidence of different societies around the world that have benefited from it, so why haven't we even tried it yet?"

Returning to the stage for a second set of older favourites, 3Canal turned the energy levels up high and soon enough the upper deck and patrons all around the venue were swaying fluidly with the motion of unbridled revelry. As the set progressed with classics like "Blue", "Salt" and "Talk Yuh Talk", even the hotel staff became infected with the sweet melodies and contagious harmonies of the accomplished ensemble. All pretentious behaviour evaporated into the balmy atmosphere as the rhythm took root within the bodies present and complete joy and merriment took over the gathering. Ataklan returned to perform "Shadow" and "Soca Girl" with extensive backgrounds from 3Canal and the "Free Three" 'soul sisters' present, namely: Jamilla Hypolite, Dionne Mc Nichol-Stephenson and Jeanelle Archer before 3Canal closed with their epic, "All Around The World".

The concert was then officially over, but the party had only just begun as Rawkus and DJ Rhythm International continued to ignite the dance-floor with hits from the Kisskadee Karavan and other popular local acts over time. Manwarren expressed tremendous gratitude to all patrons who braved the rainy evening and came out to support the MLF, as well as various sponsors and the management of the Carlton Savannah Hotel.

"Aside from pushing the MLF and call for quotas," he revealed, "we're gonna be hitting the studio hard from all now. I think we were still mourning the loss of $hel$hok after the fact last year and our music suffered because we went to the studio very late and didn't have his usual quota of magic. So, we're going to hit it early this year and crank out music until we feel we have enough to make an impact on the season and the music scene in general."

For more information on 3Canal or the MLF, please log on to www.3canal.com or visit their fan page on facebook.com.