| Entertainment |
| C H Campbell Sunday, December 25, 2005 |
Husband-wife performing duo, Rupert Bent Snr and Cindy Breakspeare wore new shoes as the promoters and producers of an excellent show, Welcome to Jamrock, held last Saturday, December 17, at Cinema 2.
The show featured newcomers Alaine and Gyptian, as well as seasoned reggae performers Richie Spice/Spanner Banner, Morgan's Heritage, Buju Banton and the event's headliner, first blood son, Damian 'Junior Gong' Marley.
This was by no means a minor accomplishment. In fact, it is quite a rare occurrence for first-time promoters, much less first-time producers to achieve such success - their winning formula was that they went about it the right way.
The concept was a night celebrating life, liberally laced with renditions of conscious roots music and love ballads. The objective was to display the best of our internationally successful contemporary acts and current local sensations, especially the recent re-acclamation of Damian 'Junior Gong' Marley with his Grammy nominations in the categories of Best Urban/Alternative Performance and Best Reggae Album for Welcome To Jamrock.
The production strategy employed was to give each act enough stage time to rise to a crescendo - something seldom experienced in Jamaica these days. Rupert and Cindy mobilised a professional team to plan and execute the show, which was co-ordinated mainly by Headline Entertainment, which was responsible for publicity, promotions and advertising.
After costing the preliminary plans, Bent cut and carved the budget to keep it below projected income, and then the programme went into the implementation phase. All sponsors collaborated and co-operated in their common interest. Title sponsor J Wray & Nephew played a huge role in the eventual success of the show.
They deserve credit for their tremendous organisational and financial support, as well as enthusiasm.
Rupert was not only the obvious chairman of the board, he was truly the executive producer, overseeing all aspects of the production and keeping a strict eye on every budgetary line item. He and Cindy stamped their true class on the lay-out and décor of the venue.
The décor and hospitality team, led by Virginia Burke and Patsy Yuen backstage, ably assisted by Leah Tavares-Finson, worked tirelessly in creating the ambience and providing infrastructure and services for the artistes and their entourage. Damian's brother, Christian Tavares-Finson was outstanding as assistant venue manager.
John Swaby provided stage, light and sound of international standards and the technical crew managed by Robert 'Chuckles' Stewart performed admirably, quickly correcting the cracking keyboards which were affecting the quality of the sound system during Buju Banton's performance, keeping set changes to the minimum and allowing the show to end precisely at the scheduled time. Stella McLaughlan. you outdid yourself in managing artiste arrangements.
The sound engineers Mervin Williams, Noel Hearne and Ricardo Aikman excelled, but I was a little disappointed at the mix provided by Damian's house sound engineer. I thought the balance had too much top end for such a small venue and it distorted the clarity of the system.
Curiously, there was a rumour that the New Kingston Citizen's Association had filed an injunction to stop the show. This has never occurred in the history of events being held at Cinema 2. Was this a ruse, or a scud? Well. come to Jamrock anyway.
"Dem ago tired fi si mi face, cyan get wi outta de race". (Bob Marley's Bad Card)
This aside, all the artistes put on a great show and the estimated 4,000 patrons seemed to have enjoyed the entire event. One word of advice to Richie Spice - the unsuccessful attempts by your entourage to bomb rush the stage as you were introduced is unprofessional and belies your message in song.
The joint team comprised of personnel from Guardsman, Marksman and Synergy Security coalesced to facilitate crowd control and maintenance of order. Kenny, you have a good cadre of supervisors and managers who demonstrated initiative and good manpower command. This bodes well for future joint ventures.
REGGAETON
I must admit that my recent article on reggaeton has generated more response than any other I have written for this paper. The most informative, however, came from Donaldo Clarke Jnr, who was born in New York City and raised in Panama and is of Spanish, Native Indian, Jamaican and Barbadian roots.
He says, "El General did not translate the song Punany Tegereg from Little Lenny, he only translated the meaning of the chorus. The rest of the lyrics were originally written by him and are totally different." Another Panamanian artiste called Nando Boom (now turned Christian) translated the meaning of the phrase "dem bow" into Spanish but the rest of his Spanish version were also original lyrics. Panamanians of Jamaican descent started this movement as early as 1977 in the provinces of Colon, Panama and Bocas del Toro.
To quote Clarke Jnr again, "one of our great producers from Panama by the name of Ramon Bustamante said, on a local radio programme in Panama, that our music was having some trouble with the government during (Manuel) Noriega's regime.
They were ordered not to play Spanish Reggae anymore. Artistes like El General and Nando Boom left the country and migrated to New York City." They became quite successful, introducing the music to mainstream, and quickly spreading it throughout Latin America.
The Puerto Ricans fell in love with the music and started to do their own versions.
Between 1989 and 1990, Bustamante collaborated with Jamaican producer, Dennis the Menace, in the creation of the riddim, Pounda, on which Nando Boom recorded his song Pension, which became very successful in Puerto Rico.
Later, Puerto Rican producers DJ Negro and Playero met Bustamante in Panama during a live performance of Lisa M, a young Puerto Rican whose first attempts at toasting included a merengue version of El General's Putuntun.
They asked Ramon Bustamante to give them the Pounda riddim. From the early 1990s to this day, this riddim is still being used by Puerto Rican producers as the main base of their Puerto Rican reggaeton projects and they modified it, mixing sounds of salsa, Dominican bachata and hip-hop.
Nowadays, most Latin stations in the USA play more Puerto Rican reggaeton than its Panamanian predecessor and version. The airplay in Central and South America is more balanced however.
Like Jamaican dancehall reggae, Panamanian reggaeton changes style, riddims and flows annually.
Such variety makes the product much more versatile. This form also tends to cover a wider range of social issues, while Puerto Rican Reggaeton concentrates in large measure on 'perreo' (doggy dance), a term describing a common reggaeton dance move that evokes a sexual position. In Panama, the people refer to their music as 'La Piena' or simply, Spanish reggae.
I hope readers agree that the above additional information is important for students and others who use newspapers for research. Thank you Donaldo, for helping to more accurately and fully record our musical history. Thank you also to Lloyd Stanbury who reminded me of a serious omission, "Mr Vegas. has also had major success within the Latin/reggaeton community".
JONKUNNU
Traditionally, at this time of the year in Jamaica, two indigenous folk forms took centre stage in the social activities of our villages and towns. I refer to, of course, the Jonkunnu and mento music. Unfortunately, over time these have largely disappeared except in the parishes of Portland and Westmoreland.
Jonkunnu (or Jonkunoo) is a genre of music, as well as a celebratory masquerade dance form, with strong African retentions. It is characterised by the use of the Goombay drum, and is usually performed during the month of December, particularly on Boxing Day and New Year's Day in Jamaica, Belize and the Bahamas. A very similar masquerade form was also practiced in Trinidad and Tobago, but look how theirs has evolved.
On the other hand, mento is a style of Jamaican folk music that predates reggae and has greatly influenced it. Mento typically features acoustic instruments, such as acoustic guitar, banjo, hand drums and the rhumba box - a large mbira, an East African thumb piano, in the shape of a box that can be sat on while played.
The rhumba box carries the part of the music. Mento is often confused with calypso, a musical form out of Trinidad and Tobago which, while sharing similarities, is a separate and distinct musical form.
Interestingly, as early as the turn of the 20th century, mento music introduced by migrant Jamaicans was impacting on the shores of Argentina, Panama and Providencia Island in Colombia.
The golden age of mento was in the 1950's, as local performers like Denzil Laing, records pressed by Stanley Motta and others, as well as the international success of versions by singer/actor Harry Belafonte, took the music to a new audience.
These artistic manifestations can again flourish. Maybe we should even learn from the Trinidad experience in developing these precious cultural forms so as to harness their commercial value in helping to transform our tourism sector over time, into a more diverse and dynamic leisure industry.
To say nothing about patrimony or rebalancing the cultural equation, for the sake of our descendants.
Have a Merry Christmas and a productive New Year.
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