‘Give thanks for everyone that pass through’ - Koffee among surprise performances at Lost In Time

Koffee's last major festival performance in Jamaica was at Reggae Sumfest in 2022, but when she took the stage during Protoje's set on day one of Lost In Time, the crowd at Hope Botanical Gardens went wild.

Local fans, who last heard music from the Rapture entertainer when she released a self-titled single and music video in April of last year on social media, were excited.

Clad in a white T-shirt, shorts and a snapback hat, her cameo appearance lasted less than three minutes, but that is all the Grammy Award-winning star, whose given name is Mikayla Simpson, needed to electrify the crowd. They showed her nothing but love as she injected her brand of energy into the proceedings with Switch It Up.

Throughout her brief appearance, the decibel levels soared as delighted fans welcomed her return before she exited as quickly as she had arrived.

This was part of Protoje's mission to bring friends and colleagues on stage to perform and bless the event.

"It's all good and all love shown to the people who came to see us replenish their souls musically. If we feed them good musical fruits on a regular basis, they will never grow hungry," he told THE STAR. In addition to a small sip of Koffee, he fed the crowd Alaine, Romain Virgo, Damian 'Jr Gong' Marley and Stephen Marley, as well as Mortimer and Lila Ike, both of whom had previously hit the stage.

Protoje said he was grateful that they were able to join him on stage for the third staging of the musical festival. "I'm a giver by nature, and music is something to be shared so that more people can see the manifestation of the vision. A lot of these artistes are my personal, bona fide friends who I enjoy seeing and holding a reason with in real life. A lot of them, me have a song or feature with [like] Lila [Ike] and Koffee, and my new song Happy Feet with [Jr] Gong. It's a positive energy, and me give thanks for everyone that pass through," he said.

Earlier in the day, Tessanne Chin pulled patrons to the LIT Stage as she did a tribute to Jimmy Cliff with Rebel in Me. Stating that she will forever be grateful to him for taking her on tour when she was young, so that she could hone her talent, Chin said his contribution to music was unparalleled. She closed her set with the super popular Hideaway.

Earlier, Joby Jay and Iotosh did not disappoint on the Foundation Stage as both acts came prepared to thrill their fans and win over some new ones. Yeza then came with the drama, as her entrance on the back of a bike to Road Runner got everyone's attention.

Ever one to inject a little humour as well as doses of wisdom, Tanya Stephens was simply herself as she performed for the audience, pulling on songs from her extensive catalogue such as Boom Wuk. "I just want to tell all the women inside here, young and some not so youthful ones, that you are okay just the way you are. Learn to love yourself the way God made you, because if you truly accept God's plan and design, then you will know him nuh mek mistake. Don't dwell on foolishness and superficialities because at the end of the day, none of what you see people running down you can take with you. Just live your life and be happy," she told the audience.