Rebel Salute, Jazz and Sting

Groundins

By: Charles H.E. Campbell

REBEL Salute and Jamaica Jazz and Blues -- two of Jamaica's biggest annual music festivals -- are staged in January of each year, less than two weeks apart. This year, with increased sponsorship support, Rebel Salute's excellent line-up and extremely effective national promotional programme, guarantee the event, a broadening of its appeal and patronage from its core target audience of the healthy lifestyle and socially conscious reggae fans.

Over its lifespan, this event has shown steady growth, confounding the cynics, until it has now become the single largest paid, one-night event on Jamaica's cultural calendar (contrary to the boast of others), with a large contingent of overseas-based attendees. Even more profoundly, that achievement comes despite the very weak sponsorship support from both the private and public sector, in the past. Hopefully, from a sponsorship perspective, the organisers are witnessing the beginnings of a reversal of this travesty.

The irony is that during the same period, we witnessed other events obtaining much higher amounts of sponsorship support, even when their attendance numbers were obviously dwindling. Understandably, part of the reason for this, of course, is that some of the biggest sponsors of events in Jamaica are the manufacturers and distributors of alcoholic beverages, the sale of which is forbidden at Rebel Salute, thereby disqualifying their financial endorsement of the festival.

On the other hand, after achieving spectacular annual growth, when Walter Elmore and Turnkey productions initially took it over and introduced some technical and programmatic innovations, right up to a high benchmark point, the year Kenny Rogers performed, in recent years, we have noticed what seems to be a waning of patronage overall, and an even more apparent decline of the overseas contingent, attending the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival. Quite frankly, with the current line-up of artistes released so far, I suspect that those numbers will be even further eroded this year, unless there are more musical superstars to be announced by the promoters.

This festival however, while I am sure could do with more sponsorship support, fares better than all others, relatively speaking. For instance, annually, they receive the largest slice of the Tourist Board's sponsorship funds. While endorsing that support, I would like to see Reggae projects like Rebel Salute being treated more even-handedly, having demonstrated their ability over the years, to attract numerous visitors to the Island as patrons of these shows.

Historically, the strong point for both festivals has been their ability to successfully market a wholesome, enriching experience encompassing much more than that which occurs from the stage. The Barrett family is now strategically reaching out for a broader constituency, having consolidated its base, by the use of such popular acts like Mavado (performing under his given name, David Brooks).

In my view, Walter and Jazz, by using a similar strategy, gained an initial fillip with his pragmatic approach of diversifying the composition of his line-up, even against the objection and vocal opposition of the Jazz purists. Now however, he has so diluted the original concept (and experience) that, without some mega-stars, with sufficient pulling power in Jamaica, he runs the risk of a significant fallout in spectator support this year, because a lot of the original core group have already stopped coming.

Clyde McKenzie spoke about this business concept and marketing strategy in his column last week in analysing what went wrong at Sting recently. Watching patrons being interviewed as they exited the park, what struck me were the variant spins that were put on a central theme of why the event did not live up to their expectations. It all seemed to amount to a lack of hostility and physical abuse, either between performers, or from the crowd, aimed at particular performers. One lady went as far as to say "can you imagine a Sting weh not even one bad wud no cuss! It pap dung man!" In other words, the vibes was too nice, or put another way, Vybz Kartel, Mavado, and the old warrior Bounty Killa were missing. This simply means that Sting has built for itself a unique audience with expectations, and Mr Laing and company will have to decide if they wish to continue to 'give the people what they want', in the meantime, pandering to the lowest denominator.

Email: che.campbell@gmail.com

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Rebel-Salute--Jazz-and-Sting_8293838#ixzz1BJGlLWob

2011 And Beyond

Groundins

BY: CHARLES H.E. CAMPBELL

Sunday, January 02, 2011


OVER the holidays, I had the distinct pleasure of associating with various Jamaicans who have resettled here, as well as many who are visiting family and friends for the holidays. One of the central themes which keep coming up in our discussions, is the fast disappearing hospitable nature of the average Jamaican -- a trait that has served our people so well throughout our history. The general consensus is that this lies at the root of some manifestations of a breakdown of our social order. It is therefore imperative that our social scientists investigate and address the causative factors for this unsustainable development, so that hopefully, their findings can inform the strategies and work of our cultural and social agencies, going forward.

Most of these fellow countrymen grew up in a time in Jamaica, when we were our brother's keeper; when we practised good neighbourly conduct; when those who could afford more, helped those in need, without looking for anything in return; when good citizens played an essential part in the maintenance and development of their local communities; when political differences were vigorously debated but did not disrupt personal relationships, or break out into violent confrontations.

While almost everyone concur that the corrupt, tribal nature of our politics has — at best — aggravated this character change, among the other possible underlying factors suggested are the leadership void created at the community level by a continuous, sustained level of migration by Jamaicans to other countries, seeking to improve their economic lot. Implicit, of course, is the decimation of the middle classes, through their inability over many decades, to achieve a reasonable quality of life, by plying their trade or profession here at home.

It is possible, in my view, to turn this adversity into good, given the right national approach to the large reservoir of talent, skills experience and acumen residing with our nationals in foreign shores all across the Earth. There are many Jamaicans who migrated in the '50s, '60s and '70s, have reached the age of retirement, but are still very active, intellectually and physically.

In general they are fiercely patriotic and would love to resettle, and make some valuable contribution to our island state. Instead, they are opting to settle in some other similarly warm climes like Florida. Yes, the fear of violence is a main dissuading factor, but even more so, is the high level of discourtesy, negative aggressiveness and downright hostility, uncooperativeness, and crude, uncouth public behaviour that permeates and that they experience in their daily interactions with all sectors of the Jamaican society.

Most non-resident Jamaicans that I spoke to are pessimistic of a return to a more civil, gentler social environment, here at home, in their lifetime. We, who choose to make our homes here, can't afford for this viewpoint to become self-fulfilling prophecy.

Beginning in 2011, and beyond, we in the entertainment industry have to do a better job of pulling together in promoting a new cultural space, built on a more solid foundation of peace, goodwill, mutual trust and accommodation, cooperation, collaboration and fraternal relations. To quote Ernie Smith from his anthem Power and Glory, "while we continue to fuss and fight one another, Jah Kingdom goes to waste".

During 2010, some recent trends in the entertainment sector began to tip the scales, and definitely have gained sufficient prominence, by carving out their niche in the new market place. The phenomena called all-inclusive (theme) parties have mushroomed from a few uptown soirées into one of the most dynamic segments of the industry, due to a relatively new breed of promoters, who leave no stone unturned in catering to the creature comforts of their patrons.

The second trend that has gained maturity is the evolution of a number of young, live bands, diversifying and enriching the live music scene. This development has been spurred, to some extent, by graduates of the music school at the Edna Manley College, and I am happy to see more and more restaurants and nightclubs adding live music to their weekly entertainment fare. Along with the work of the BroadcastingCommission, this has successfully begun to moderate and swing the balance of the music and lyrics, giving us a greater degree of melody and constructive phrases, lyrically and musically. Out of this crop, Dubtonic Kru leads the way, and has already gained international attention, with a rather impressive tour itinerary for 2010, while Raging Fyah is another group to watch for great music, in the future.

As the new decade proceeds, we will observe how these trends continue to impact on our cultural landscape.

I wish everyone a happy, prosperous new year.

Email: che.campbell@gmail.com


Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/2011-and-beyond_8265344#ixzz19zoBsOjV