JAKO PRODUCTIONS - VFORT VIBES: JANIE AMBROSE A.K.A. LADY SENSATION

Janie Ambrose a.k.a. Lady Sensation:
St. Lucia's Hottest and Baddest DJ

Five-feet, eleven inches, dark complexion, mysterious eyes, the sexy Lady Sensation, invariably clad in steaming, edgy fashion, is emerging as the baddest and sexiest DJ on the St. Lucian musical landscape. Thursday through Sunday, from 9PM to the late hours of the morning, Lady Sensation can be found at Sugar Ray?s Nightclub in the heart of Shanty-Town, Vieux Fort, doing her thing, selecting, keeping the Vieux Fort crowd (and beyond) shaking and grinding to her irresistible selections.

It was only February of this year (2007) that Lady Sensation came into her own as a DJ running things at a nightclub. So although she has an engaging and outgoing personality, taken by surprise, she is still shy about her growing celebrity. She said that one Saturday afternoon she was walking on Clark Street in Vieux Fort when a young man turned to his friend and said, ?Look the DJ at Club Sugar Ray.? Lady Sensation said that she was so embarrassed by the attention that she wanted to crawl in a hole.

In St. Lucia, and may be the world over, DJs are dominated by men, so how did the fame-shy, Janie Ambrose, who just turned nineteen in July become a selector. She said, ?I have always love music, I listen to music all the time. When I?m listening to music, I does feel I?m rich. But I can?t sing. So I used to hang around the guys while they DJ at dancehalls and house parties, and after awhile I would fool around, doing some of the selecting.?

Through such fooling around, everybody in Janie?s neighborhood got to know about her love of music, her knack for selecting, and so started thinking of her as a DJ. So in February when a new club was opening in Shantytown, the owner saw her as a natural candidate for the DJ job.

I asked Lady Sensation, ?How far do you see your DJ going?? She answered jokingly, ?If I take it seriously, I?m sure I?ll get to the top. I see myself becoming a big time international celebrity.?

Midnight, Saturday at Club Sugar Ray. The only lights, dim at that, are at the bar and the DJ booth. The sexy Lady Sensation is sporting flaming red top and? short jeans? shots. Headphones in ears, intense concentration.? She bobs to her own music--dancehall, hiphop, reggae, hard hitting edgy stuff?and like a pianist she constantly fiddles with the many gadgets on her selection set, making sure the music is just right for the crowd who can?t get enough of what she is offering. An artist in action. No doubt one headed to the top.

I asked Janie, ?How do you know what music to play?? And like many artists she was at odds to explain how she does what she does. She said that a lot had to do with what she is feeling. When she is selecting, she is feeling the music and feeling the crowd, and she plays.

Listening to Janie explain, I suspect it is like she has developed a six sense for selecting. She instinctively knows what to play when. It?s a combination of knowing your audience and? knowing your music. But where the art, the talent, or the gift comes in is knowing or feeling or sensing how the two come together such that whatever you are moved to play is just right.

This kind of talent is God-given, but it also comes through years of loving and listening to music. Some of Lady Sensation?s favorite artists include Bob Marley, Lady Saw, Tanya Stephens, Junior Reid and Beyonce.

Its decades now that the Mangue (recently extended in Shanty Town) has been producing most of Vieux Fort?s best musicians and footballers. Lady Sensation is yet another manifestation of this phenomenon, and she is headed no where else but the top.