A Musical Delight!

From an organizational and technical standpoint, this year’s renewal of the Air Jamaica Jazz and
Blues Festival has again raised the bar and set some new standards for Jamaica’s local
entertainment industry. Last year, the three-day music festival’s move to a new venue came with
its attendant birth pains. For instance, traffic bottlenecks were the order of the day, both to
enter and leave the park each night. Also, the quality of the amplification of the music, coming
from the public address system, was somewhat inconsistent at times, especially if one was viewing
the stage from behind the mixing stand and tower in the middle of the park. It was obvious that the
synchronization of the sound between the main speaker stacks and the delay stacks had not been
perfectly achieved and so the reproduction of sound suffered from some distortion.

Consequent on the completion of that dual carriage-way section of North Coast Highway, some of the
most significant improvements that I wish to comment on are the vast expansion and upgrading of
the parking facilities and its system and organization. The car park attendants this year, seemed
to have been given some training and specific briefing. There was also a communication system that
lent for better coordination between the individual car parks and the shuttle service. The
management and control of the traffic by the police on the approaches to the venue was most
impressive. This substantially reduced the time it took to travel to the venue as well as the time
between parking and entering the venue. In this area though there are still some organizational and
personnel weaknesses which if corrected could improve the process. The bus bays in the car parks
need further expansion and senior supervision to maintain discipline in the corps of bus drivers.
Also for the return trips to the parking lots, the bus bay in front of the venue established on
Friday night, now require a standard loading procedure and supervision of the bus crews to
facilitate better crowd control and smoother flow.

At Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Fest this year, the front of house ticketing and entry procedure
was very smooth and featured none of the traditional long lines to gain entry to the park. Further,
over the years, Turnkey Productions has fine-tuned the commencement of the evening’s proceedings
and especially the timing of their main acts. This year they had it down pat.

Wally and his team at Kingston Hireage must be given credit for the notable improvement in the
operations of the restroom facilities. The long lines were significantly reduced, the amenities
were enhanced and the staff more efficient. 

Happily for us the patrons, on Thursday and Friday nights this year, the sound was excellent. In
fact, it was so crisp and clear that even Anita Baker herself had to compliment it during her
performance on the first night. And what an awesome performance she gave us! The most frequently
made comment was that she sounded just like her records and the quality of the public address
played no little part in achieving that feat.

Another technical production milestone was the incorporation of multiple on-stage electronic screens
projecting thematic images throughout the performances to compliment the songs and large live
images being shown on the electronic backdrop and other screens strategically placed throughout the
park. This innovation- while now standard for most large shows in the metropole is new to Jamaica
and did a lot by the way of enhancement of the artistes performance.

During J.T. Taylor’s performance on Thursday night, these side screens really came alive. It seemed
like if he mentioned water, we saw the water, all adding to the excitement being generated by the
artiste’s mastery of stagecraft. Certainly his approach of using costuming to dramatise the live
performance of his songs was in keeping with this multi-media approach.

This year the use of the second stage seems to have been de-emphasised. There seems to have been
no coordination between the production of the main stage performances and the second stage located
in the food court. Without announcements of the acts and the timing of presentations, the second
stage has lost its significance and appeal. To make it worse, there were no projector screens in
the food court nor were the small stage performances showed on the projector screens in the main
park.

When all is said and done however, congratulations are in order for Turnkey Productions and their
associates, for the organization and production of an excellent product.

Flipsides

The idea of dedicating the month of February to the celebration of Reggae music is a good one conceptually. Since 1982, this month has gained significant prominence in Jamaica with the organisation by the State and the Bob Marley Foundation of various special events around the date of Bob’s birthday, February 6^th. As a happy coincidence, February is also celebrated (in the USA ) as Black History Month.

When the local tradition of celebrating Marley’s birthday began, to most Jamaicans it seemed only natural that Bob was born in February, as if to confirm the authenticity of our claims that Bob Marley was indeed a prophet to Blacks in the Diaspora; the oppressed and dispossessed the world over. During February the life and works of Black Americans like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X are usually highlighted and dominate the cultural sphere and media. Now along came our own homegrown hero- acclaimed internationally- to place alongside these great African-American freedom fighters. This made us, as a people, very special and proud.

This idea to name February Reggae month therefore, comes on the twenty-fifth anniversary of our national celebrations of Bob Marley Day and marks fifty years since the birth of Reggae. It speaks to the dynamism of Reggae as a musical genre- it was no flash in the pan. During February, we will not be celebrating ‘sup’m weh ded an’ gawn’, but a musical patrimony that is not only alive and kicking but growing from strength to strength on all continents.

The Reggae Academy Awards which will be hosted by the Recording Industry Association of Jamaica (RIAJAM) is a worthy addition to and an appropriate culmination of the month’s activities and should be fully supported by the fraternity.

We have to guard this patrimony we named Reggae well,and the careers of young Reggae progeny too, if the music is to live on. For example,the efforts at re-branding Sting are laudable, but they will be defeated if reggae singers like Taurus Riley are introduced on stage that late in the proceedings, traditionally reserved for the hardcore Dancehall acts.Thank goodness he read the mood of the patrons well, and delivered only an abbreviated performance, as the situation could have disintegrated.

In this regard and at the risk of being accused of harping, I must raise the issue of unprofessional behaviour by local stars, especially recent incidents between some of the more popular artiste’s, at stage shows and dances over the last two years. More so, the negative impact this is having on the business internationally. While some artistes are cynically exploiting these feuds for the media hype it affords them, as these incidents gain coverage outside of Jamaica, more and more Reggae/Dancehall artistes may encounter difficulties obtaining entry permits to fulfil live performing engagements abroad.It sometimes leads one to wonder if subconsciously some of these artistes have a death wish for their careers,and even more disastrously, for the Reggae Industry.The real challenge facing us in the fraternity is how to voluntarily inculcate self-interest and social responsibility.

The normally astute Julian Jones-Griffiths, Mavado’s manager, in commenting to the Star newspaper on the official ban placed on Mavado’s performances in St. Vincent and the Grenadines , made reference to a similar situation in Grenada restricting him from performing four specified songs. He then unwittingly added “that show went off without incident”. Well I hope I am not quoting him out of context, but if that is how we now measure the success of an overseas engagement, it certainly reveals how terribly far down the slippery slope we have already gone! What a way we have lowered our standards by pandering to the lowest denominator.

At the same time, Jamaica ’s image for dances, live stage shows and festivals is being collaterally eroded and tarnished by this boorish behaviour.

For instance, having attended a few stagings of Bembe earlier last year, I made complimentary comments in more than one of my pieces on the organisation, discipline and order displayed. It is most unfortunate that the recent antics by Vybz Kartel and Mavado has compromised Bembe’s image.