Seven-time Festival Song Competition winner Eric Donaldson eyes 2022 title
Published:Wednesday | June 15, 2022 | 12:11 AMStephanie Lyew/Gleaner Writer
To access this article in full please login or register today
“I wonder if this [decision] was made for me,” said Eric Donaldson upon hearing that the Jamaica 60 Festival Song Competition was back on. The veteran singer-songwriter applauded the efforts of Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport...
“I wonder if this [decision] was made for me,” said Eric Donaldson upon hearing that the Jamaica 60 Festival Song Competition was back on.
The veteran singer-songwriter applauded the efforts of Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange and the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) for reviewing the decision not to host the staple independence celebration event and finally finding a solution that “makes sense”.
Grange announced at Tuesday’s Jamaica 60 Diaspora Conference opening ceremony that the competition would go ahead under amended rules which will see the reopening of entries for a limited period of one week as of yesterday, as the panel seeks to identify an additional seven songs for the finals.
“I have been networking with the [entertainment] industry to get good producers, songwriters, and performers on board, so we can come up with 10 songs,” she said.
She also noted that plans for the Jamaica 60 commemorative album, which will feature artistes such as Shaggy, Freddy McGregor, Koffee and Marcia Griffiths, will still go ahead as planned.
A perennial entrant, Donaldson has won the competition seven times. In 1971 he took the title with Cherry Oh Baby; 1977, Sweet Jamaica; 1978, Land of My Birth; 1984, Proud to be Jamaican, 1993, Big It Up, 1995, Join the Line and Peace and Love, which took the title in 1997.
Now, 25 years since his last win, Donaldson plans to enter and walk away successful.
“Initially, when I heard the deadline for entries closed and then that there was going to be no Festival Song, I had decided to save my song until next year, but since it reopen, I feel I going enter,” he said. “I do a lot of songs in my career, but those I did for festival have put me in the limelight.”
Donaldson shared that he has entered the competition more times than he can remember throughout his recording career.
According to the panel of judges responsible for selecting the finalists for the Jamaica 60 Festival Song Competition, they were unable to choose 10 suitable songs from those entered this year due to the quality of the recordings and productions.
Like Grange, the past winner is urging entrants to pay attention to the comments of members of the selection panel who found that earlier entries contained inaccurate lyrical content, infringed copyright, were off-key, were poorly recorded, and even included lyrics that glorified another country and culture.
The entry fee for the extended competition has been waived, and Festival Song hopefuls have been asked to start submitting their productions via the online entry portal at the JCDC website www.jcdc.gov.jm. Entries close June 21.
“I don’t know if I must reveal the name of my song publicly, but better to just enter it before the week ends. Anything I enter, I enter wanting to win the title.” As for what advice he would give fellow competitors: “Anyone entering must remember not to leave out the pride – the national pride, the pride of self – out of their song,” Donaldson, who celebrated his 75th birthday on June 11, offered.