Grounation explores ‘Fire Burning: Music, Governance and Dons’ on Sunday

The 11th staging of Grounation continues on Sunday with the topic Fire Burning: Music, Governance and Dons.

The Reggae Month staple is being presented by the Jamaica Music Museum (JaMM) at the Institute of Jamaica’s lecture hall, 10-16 East Street, Kingston, at 2 p.m.

The panel will include noted psychologist Leahcim Semaj; Caribbean political philosopher Professor Clinton Hutton; cultural studies lecturer, Professor Donna Hope; and executive director at the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica, Cordel Green.

“The 1970s represented a time in Jamaica when politics and the ideology of political parties split the nation,” director/curator at the JaMM Herbie Miller told The Gleaner. “The violence escalated as each faction tried to better the other and, too often, rather than it just being a convincing argument from either side, resulted in violent confrontations including fires like the Eventide Home and Gold Street fires. There were dons who led political gangs – much to the fright of the Jamaican people – and the response from the government was, at times, drastic.”

He referenced the introduction of the Gun Court in 1974, convicts from which were housed at a South Camp Road, Kingston, facility that acquired the name ‘Red Fence’ because of its dreadful red exterior.

“And so, with what we have all accepted as outside interference in our political and social affairs, as Ernie Smith said ( We the People), While we fight for the power and the glory, Jah kingdom gone to waste.”

Grounation 2023 kicked off on February 5 under the theme Sounds and Society: 60 Years of Music, Political Activism and Social Change. Panellists were scholars Dr Sonjah Stanley Niaah, Dr Isis Semaj Hall and Miller.

Heavily explored was the question of political advocacy in music today, considering the foundation set by artistes like Peter Tosh and Bob Marley, and even visual artist Eugene Hyde whose 1978 ‘Casualties’ series included ‘Behind the Red Fence’, inspired by the Gun Court.

“When you think of Bob, Peter and Bunny, and the weight that their music had, it goes without saying that our artistes were a voice of the people,” Miller said. “We think about The Ethiopians’ Everything Crash in response to what was happening around 1967… Delroy Wilson’s Better Muss Come; these were all the songs reflecting the hurt, pain and optimism of people: what do we want against what we are having to deal with.”

Stanley Niaah commended new-gen acts like Chronixx, Protoje and Lila Ike for “reigniting the militant approach” of Tosh. Semaj Hall added names like Valiant whose Don’t Judge Me delineates the fallout from limited opportunities for youth. While they identified modern change agents, Semaj Hall said instructional tools are needed to manifest real change.

The free symposium culminated with the JaMM orchestra performing songs reflecting the discussed period.