Jimmy Cliff absent, but ‘Harder They Come’ 50th celebration a blast

Last Saturday, invited guests only eagerly assembled at number 10A West Kings House Road in St Andrew – the place where scenes in the Jamaican cult classic The Harder They Come were shot and edited – to celebrate the film’s 50th anniversary. The former home of co-writer and director Perry Henzell, the property has been transformed into a multipurpose attraction that includes Jamaican music and film exhibition spaces, a bar, restaurant, a performance stage, a boutique hotel, and a medical marijuana dispensary. On Saturday, the promise of an exhibition as well as a tribute concert headlined by Jimmy Cliff himself was enough to lure persons such as the Minister of Culture, Olivia Grange; former president of the People’s National Party, Peter Phillips; Beverly Manley; authors Marlon James and Barbara Blake-Hannah; actor Carl Bradshaw; Robert Russell; and Joe Bogdanovich.

Strategically, however, it wasn’t until what was supposed to be the performance of the penultimate act, that the organisers shared that Cliff, regrettably, was unable to attend but that his wife was in the house.

“Our brother Jimmy could not be here tonight because we understand that he had a surgery, and the doctors felt that it was best that he just keeps calm,” emcee Tommy Cowan announced.

But by then, persons had been satiated by a dazzling performances from a band of A-list musicians assembled by Dean Fraser as well as singers Naomi Cowan, Carlene Davis, Kumar, Tony Rebel, Alaine, Richie Spice, and Dwight Richards, the singer who sometimes tours with Cliff. Each artiste performed one of the songs from the flick’s award-winning soundtrack, which was added last year to the prestigious Library of Congress National Recording Registry, making it only the second reggae album to be so recognised. As headliner, Cliff was the icing on the cake after slick numbers from Carlene Davis ( By the Rivers of Babylon); Dwight Richards ( Pomps and Pride); Shanty Town from Rebel; Sitting in Limbo from Kumar; Many Rivers to Cross by Alaine; and Richie Spice singing Stop That Train.

After Cowan’s smooth announcement – the impact of which he didn’t even give persons time to absorb – he called Tarrus Riley on stage to perform followed by Dwight Richards, who started to sing the signature song from the film’s soundtrack. And that was when the artistes staged an ambush in a scene that could have come straight from The Harder They Come. Leading the mutiny was Tony Rebel, who walked on stage and declared in a no-nonsense voice, “You one cyaan sing dah song deh,” and segued into a roll call of all the artistes who had performed prior.

“Hold on … Bounty, Singie Singie, Carleen, Richie Spice … !” Rebel called as they made their way to centrestage for a grand, spine-tingling finale of The Harder They Come.

Richards, in a post-performance interview, told The Gleaner that Cliff had surgery on both eyes a little over one week ago, but the two had been in constant discussion, and he had conceptualised the show from his home base in Miami, Florida. Cliff, he said, had been looking forward to being at 10A West Kings House Road in person.

“The show was organised by Justine [Henzell] and Jimmy [Cliff]. He was the one who organised the artistes. Jimmy had to do eye surgery and was hoping to fly in today. He did the surgery and everything is okay, but the doctors said they don’t advise him to fly, so his wife came instead. He wanted to be here so badly because the whole event … it is like 50 years of this movie. It’s sad, but it went over well. He chose all the artistes who he wanted to be on the show. That was beautiful. He told me who he wanted, what to get, how to do the cameras ... everything,” Richards explained.

In a brief interview with The Gleaner, author Marlon James shared why he had to be marked present on Saturday. “ The Harder They Come was the first shot fired for Jamaican culture, for Jamaican film, for Caribbean film. It is a landmark of black cinema, a landmark of the so-called Third World cinema, and it was us using mediums that we don’t usually use to tell our stories in our way, using our voice with no apology,” he said.

The Harder They Come, released in 1972, introduced reggae to much of the world for the first time and propelled Jamaican pop culture to a global audience. The exhibition featured a display of memorabilia reflecting the film’s impact.

The soundtrack album contains iconic music from Cliff, Toots & The Maytals, The Melodians, The Slickers, DJ Scotty, and Desmond Dekker.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com