Reggae Month to cover a ‘broad-based’ spectrum of the arts
Published:Wednesday | January 18, 2023 | 1:13 AMStephanie Lyew/Gleaner Writer
With the new festival marketplace at the waterfront in Kingston announced for February’s Reggae Month activities, the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JaRIA) is hoping to create a cultural epicentre for residents, members of the diaspora and tourists to explore.
After the Government of Jamaica declared February officially as Reggae Month in 2008, the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts was the summit. In subsequent years, JaRIA-planned events have been held at Emancipation Park in New Kingston and at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre.
According to JaRIA’s Chairman Ewan Simpson, the location, in addition to the events and activities that will be staged there and across the island, are meant to “sell the best of reggae” to a wide cross-section of consumers.
“The location at the waterfront in downtown Kingston is not new; it is a garden venue behind the Kingston Craft Market and it has been there for a while. It is owned by the Urban Development Corporation, who we have partnered with to deliver our Reggae Month offerings which we hope will attract and involve everyone, not only our Jamaicans but persons who have been carrying the flag of reggae. This includes vendors as well. Going back to a physical interaction, we want to give craft vendors a chance to be part of the festivities, what they sell there is distinctly Jamaican and we want to make it fully, distinctly Jamaican,” Simpson told The Gleaner.
For Reggae Month 2023, JaRIA is investing more effort into its collaborations and seeks to feature reggae in art, fashion, food, with the gastronomy element being associated with the ‘livity’ of reggae and its practitioners, and through continued corporate and social partnerships.
The activities will kick-start on February 1 on Dennis Brown’s birthday with its first Reggae Wednesdays ‘Revolution: Celebrating the Crown Prince’ and the following week it heads to Harmony Beach Park in Montego Bay and returns to Kingston to the final two events.
Simpson said that there is a visible transformation in the activities on the Reggae Month calendar and it continues evolve for future productions.
“We’re going to be featuring a reggae fashion show with pieces from local designers. Last year we partnered with Sky Gallery for the Reggae Month Exhibition, to show reggae in the visual arts, we want to make it a broad-based Reggae Month. It is that coalescing around entertainment and the creative industries that provides a good cultural presentation to continue being observed as the mecca of reggae music.”
Making reference to the past month of events, Simpson stated that Jamaica should have persons coming every month to experience the culture in one form or another.
“We have demonstrated, we can have a festival around music every weekend with the three or four major events back-to-back in December with the Burna Boy concert kick-starting it, then Sting the following week. It might not be something we can maintain every week for the next 52 weeks but let’s start with having more events across the island, including Reggae Month, that attract persons globally,” Simpson said.
He added, “One of the things Jamaicans need to understand is that reggae is ours, and if we do not celebrate it with activities such as Reggae Month, or within our schools, churches, government and private sector entities, if we do not embrace it and celebrate it and make it ours then Jamaica will not realise its potential to be the mecca of reggae music. People should come to Jamaica every February as a pilgrimage just as the Muslims go to Israel or the Jews go to Jordan, and Kingston, being the creative city of music, should have live events happening that show why it is branded that way.”
As per usual, JaRIA is endorsing several other events, including Remembering Alton and Hortense Ellis on February 18; Yaksta’s album launch at the Mandela Park in Half-Way Tree on February 21; and the Reggae Wednesdays South Florida edition produced by Inner Circle.
“More events will be added to the calendar as we near February and we’re inviting corporate Jamaica to collaborate with us at JaRIA, because there are lots of positive messages we can send. Reggae has always been a liberating force and celebration of all things good, and I’m expecting that persons will celebrate with us, coming out of the stress of the pandemic, because we have once again been given the opportunity and space to do that out in the open,” Simpson said.