‘Real Rock’ inspires as JaRIA launches 15th anniversary celebrations

“ The wickedest time when rain start fall, the girl dem start fi bawl, who nah send telegram, dem a make phone call. Yeah.”

“ Promoter and him idrin juss a laugh. How dem laugh? Tra la la la la la la la laaa.”

The Real Rock ‘riddim’ was the star of the 0pen mic segment of JaRIA Reggae Wednesdays Jamz and it was perhaps best that it concluded the night’s activities rather than started it. Chairman of the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association, Ewan Simpson, was the first to jump on the rhythm and soon after, Miguel from One Third joined in, belting out boomshots such as Ronnie Thwaites’ Mr Luxury and Michigan and Smiley's Nice up the Dance.

But before all of that niceness, a lot of other good stuff happened as JaRIA launched its 15th anniversary celebrations and Reggae Month activities for 2024 with a big bang. The Footprints Café on Belmont Road has been hosting the exciting JaRIA Reggae Wednesdays Jamz since last year, so it was only natural that it was the venue of choice for this special occasion, which saw a number of industry bigwigs sending their pre-recorded congratulations to the organisation.

On the performance side, guitarist Lamont ‘Monty’ Savory started things off with a bang as he paid tribute to the late Ibo Cooper, a former JaRIA chairman and, with Simpson on drums, thrilled the house with the Sattamassagana. Young singer, Kevoy Simpson, the protégé of Jack Scorpio, is showing maturity and, as he has been doing at every appearance, kept the audience fully riveted. Dub poet, Liana Jackson, a student of the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, is a lupus warrior, who has set a task for herself to bring awareness to the disease through her poetry. Strident in her lyrics and powerful in her performance, Jackson was very well received and so too was singer Araiya Hope, who was comfortable doing Afrobeats. On the menu too was the riveting short film, Sugar Cane, from filmmakers Saeed Thomas and Joshua Paul.

Chairman Simpson outlined the activities for the month of February, which was officially declared Reggae Month in 2008. Every Wednesday in February JaRIA promises “a splendid reggae-filled experience” at its hub, the Festival Marketplace, located at the Kingston Waterfront. Most of the events will be live at the hub, however, the kick-off on February 7, ‘One Drop of Harmony’ will be streamed from Harmony Beach Park in Montego Bay; and on February 13, the concert will be live at Dunns River Fall under the theme ‘Reggae Cyah Dunn’. The concerts planned for February 14, 21 and 28, will all be live at the Festival marketplace.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Simpson, during a post-event interview, shared some of what he considers to be among JaRIA’s greatest accomplishments over the past decade and a half.

He noted that JaRIA has for 15 years been “the champions of the annual Reggae Month celebrations which [they] are now helping to advance in Florida, London and New York”.

“We have managed to stage and maintain the longest-running and most-enduring entertainment industry awards show in Jamaica (the JaRIA Honour Awards). We have been early to recognise and given visibility on the global stage to some of Jamaica’s finest, even before the rest of the world did. Kabaka, Koffee, Mortimer, Romain Virgo are just a few,” he said.

Concerning policy, Simpson, who is also an attorney-at-law, pointed out that the organisation has “championed and agitated for many policy instruments including tool of trade exemptions as well as the still-to-be-accepted amendments to the Noise Abatement Act (inclusive of a name change) along with a quota system for air play of Jamaican musical content”.

Emcee for the evening was Debbie Bissoon.

On Sunday, January 28, the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport will host a Reggae Month church service and launch under the theme ‘Celebrating Reggae’s Message of One Love’ at Fellowship Tabernacle, 2 Fairfield Avenue, starting at 9:30 a.m.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com