Miss Lou, Bob Marley, Marcus Garvey named JaRIA diamond jubilee awardees

Last Sunday, the Footprints Café on Belmont Road in Kingston played host to the launch of the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association’s (JaRIA) 2022 Honour Awards, at which the awardees and nominees were officially unveiled. The JaRIA executive had a well-produced programme for their specially invited guests, which included Juliet Holness, member of parliament for East Rural St Andrew and wife of Prime Minister Andrew Holness; Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange; founding JaRIA members Donovan Germain and Howard McIntosh, and sponsors.

JaRIA Chairman Ewan Simpson noted that there was a special reason for Holness’ presence and later allowed her to tell the story. This year, JaRIA, on the occasion of Jamaica’s 60th year of Independence, will be presenting three special Diamond Jubilee Awards. The awards – all three of which will be conferred posthumously – will be given to icons Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley and Louise ‘Miss Lou’ Bennett-Coverley, the acclaimed cultural folklorist who hails from Holness’ East Rural St Andrew constituency. Holness recalled her memorable meeting with Miss Lou, when, instead of singing dutifully in church on that particular Sabbath morning, she had instead gleefully found her way to Ring Ding, the children’s programme hosted by Miss Lou.

JaRIA will hand out 28 awards in 18 categories at a date to be announced, rather than in Reggae Month, as has been the norm.

Pama Records, a British record label active during the 1960s and 1970s and which prides itself as “the home of all things ska, soul, rocksteady and reggae”, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. In the Male Icon category, the recipients are Barrington Levy and the late Jacob Miller, while JC Lodge will receive the Female Icon award. The Abyssinians will be honoured with the Icon Award for duo or group. UK-based reggae band Ruff Cutt, which was formed in 1980, has been singled out for its exceptional contribution to the reggae industry.

Guitarist Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith is being recognised for his extraordinary impact on the reggae industry in the field of mentorship; producers Tony Kelly and Neil ‘Mad Professor’ Fraser will be awarded for exceptional contribution to the reggae industry, and Rohan Dwyer and Paul Barclay will be awarded for their contribution to the field of audio engineering. All-rounder Mikie Bennett is being recognised for his contribution to the music as a songwriter, while promoter Linval Gibbons will collect an award for his annual stage show, Teen Splash.

In the area of gospel music, Glacia Robinson and Jermaine Edwards have been named this year’s recipients, while instrumentalists David Madden and Hux Brown will be recognised for their exceptional contribution to the industry. Sound systems The Mighty Crown and Lloyd Matador will also be honoured.

This year’s Gregory Isaacs Foundation award goes to Neville Garrick, whose work includes some of the most iconic album covers for Bob Marley.

Hopeton Lewis and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry will be recognised posthumously for their contribution to the music.

Winford Williams of On Stage TV, Nadine Blair of Love 101 FM, Riddim Magazine and jamaicans.com will all be recognised.

As usual, Breakthrough Artiste of the Year and Song of the Year are to be determined by public vote via the JaRIA website. The nominees for breakthrough artiste are Skillibeng, Yaksta, Joby Jay, Diyani, Nation Boss and Moyann.

Vying for Song of the Year are Go Dung Deh by Spice, featuring Shaggy and Sean Paul; Run, Run by Shenseea; Ambition by Yaksta, West Indies by Koffee, Virgin by Jahvinci, and Laa Lee’s Dirt Bounce.

Ibo Cooper provided entertainment for the evening, and violinist Kemoy Gordon, who did two pieces titled the Diamond Director’s Dub, as well as up-and-coming female artiste Knixx, a recent JaRIA find, who gave a much-talked-about performance.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com