Music industry an economic imperative

Groundins

By: Charles H.E. Campbell


A confluence of heritage, creativity and economic imperative has brought us to the cusp of a trio of events to be staged in 2012 which we should wisely exploit, both symbolically and ergonomically, to maximise on the excellent opportunity it provides for the exposure of Jamaica's music industry and our potentially lucrative cultural tourism product.

I am referring to the 50th Independence celebrations, the 50th birthday of the reggae genre, and the 30th Olympic Games to be held in London, England. Of course, if we are really smart, the fact that it will also be the 125th anniversary of the birth of Marcus Garvey will not escape our attention.

Garvey was a prophet in his own right — recognised as the 20th century's best known and greatest international symbol of the movement of Africans and blacks worldwide for freedom, independence and equality. However, our national aversion to issues of race, and the hornet's nest it may stir up locally has inhibited our potential to benefit economically from his vision and worldwide appeal.

Garvey once said "Why should we give opportunity to native talent? There is one thing that is native to the Negro and that is that he can sing. I do not care where you take him from. Take him from the backyard, take him from the kitchen, the Negro sings his music just the same. He can sing his music and I believe that such native talent should be encouraged and the only way you encourage it is to have a national theatre [movement] in Jamaica."

Significantly, Garvey's PPP political platform in 1929 included the establishment of a national opera house, with an academy of music and art and the beautifying and creating of the Kingston Race Course (now National Heroes Circle) into a national park, similar to Hyde Park in London.

At the time, this would have been insightful, far-reaching investment in infrastructure and the natural talents of our people, had it been implemented, but to our detriment, it has been largely ignored by the state. Even after we gained our Independence in 1962, our own political leaders failed to facilitate, harness and mould the enormous creative abilities of our people into the national economic powerhouse it has always had the potential of being.

Left to their own devices, however, our artistes and musicians created and continue to produce, prolifically, a new internationally popular genre of music and a local industry that has already evolved beyond the wildest imaginations of some, and contrary to the dire predictions of others.

All of 92 years later, when global economic trends are re-enforcing the wisdom of Garvey's advice, in his address at the opening of the Inter-American Development Bank's Caribbean American Art Exhibition in Washington, DC, recently, Prime Minister Bruce Golding said "If you look at how world trade is moving from product to services and to more exotic areas of endeavour, the creative industries represent one important area that we will now have to pay more attention to".

So ironically, we have had to wait until our backs are against the wall, when we have begun to lose market share, due in part to our indiscipline, but primarily due to some self- serving, protectionist policies of foreign governments, before we finally awaken and smell the roses, realising that the partial solution for our economic and social development has been staring us in the face all along.

Prejudice just clouded our vision and kept us as primary producers of raw materials, while others packaged, marketed it and kept the value-added profits, just like in the days of slavery and colonialism.

Since there is now some sort of a national consensus that in going forward, the enhancement and expansion of our cultural industries is an economic imperative, I hope we can quickly convert this recognition into constructive dialogue with the private entertainment sector about determining a mutually agreed list of priority measures which the Government of Jamaica must implement in short span to encourage and facilitate the growth of the industry.

For far too long the State has looked askance at its admittedly flawed evolution, due to the lack of an enlightened national framework to nourish and give it sustenance, probably, because the politicians have neither been able to tame nor control it.

Now, they can no longer ignore its awesome potential in these economically perilous times. It's high time for the music industry to unite and demand our rightful, well-deserved seat in the national decision-making councils.

Email: che.campbell@gmail.com

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Music-industry-an-economic-imperative_9029184#ixzz1PjMxiApr

Music Doctor

Groundins

By: Charles H. E. Campbell

DURING the first decade of our modern popular music, its creators -- the musicians, artistes and producers -- started from a sound base in which the various church choirs (and halls), school bands, especially Alpha Boys' School, and later The School of Music, The Military and Constabulary bands, the big Jazz/swing bands or combos of the time, all played a most significant part in their development. Subsequently, they sought to constantly and continuously hone and upgrade their skills through formal and/or informal means.

In preparing themselves for life, and the profession they had chosen, most instinctively sought to expand their education, knowledge of history, heritage, and folk tradition and how those related to the world in which they lived. This approach profoundly influenced their lifestyle, and more so, the music, songs and genres which they created and bequeathed to us.

Many like Joe Ruglass, Joe Higgs and Ernie Ranglin even cultivated an interest in philosophy, becoming gurus, seers, role models, songwriters, composers and teachers, to the second post-Independence generation of musicians, artists, cultural professionals and entrepreneurs that came of age in the seventies.

Just by being in their presence and reasoning, one would obtain an increased knowledge of self-identity, potential, universal principles, and the nature of the business, through their wisdom and understanding. These were by no means, rich people or high profilers. They were quiet intellectuals, the consummate professionals, fiercely patriotic, and the salt of the earth.

This is the tradition from which Dennis Howard sprung, and because his father is Jimmy Solo — as he is popularly known — Dennis is from the bowels of our culture and is well-steeped in its rites and evolution. Jimmy is a long-established exemplary member of that ilk referred to above, who at the tender age of 14, in 1958, started spinning records for Thompson Hi Fi based out of Pink Lane.

During these early years of our sound systems, Jimmy was a close friend of Duke Reid, yet well respected by Coxone, and was able to move from one dance to the other without acrimony from either. He used this period and relationships engendered with the two greats as an invaluable apprenticeship. In 1974 Jimmy solo became road manager for Shang Hi Disco, originally owned by Sydney Errar and his brothers, which was then operating out of Rose Lane.

Jimmy 'tricked' a younger audience to gravitate to this sound system through his superior knowledge of the standards made popular by the more established sets, combined with his magical touch in its sequencing at his sessions.

Four years later (1978), Jimmy became the sole proprietor of the Shang Hi, adding the catch-phrase Solo Phonic to the name, and relocating it to his bar, The Jazz Hut, which was first based at 109 Orange Street and later at 126 Orange Street. From these locations, Jimmy and Solo Phonic Disco (as most people soon began referring to it) became quite famous for his Round Robins, Red Stripe Road Shows, and Independence Street Dances.

I well remember one special dance attended by President Julius Nyerere during his official visit to Jamaica. Throughout the '70s and '80s this popular spot was like a fraternity base for professionals from the cultural and media sectors. Over time, some of my more enlightening, uplifting and spiritually fulfilling discussions and debates occurred within those confines with people like Tony Laing and Winston Williams leading the charge.

Dennis and Jimmy were an inseparable pair over all this period, so it's little wonder that the topic of Dennis' recent, successful, doctoral thesis was 'Popular Music Production in Kingston, 1956-2006: Creative Genius, [Dis] Functional Institutional Framework'. He was an integral part of the experience.

For years, in the music industry, there has been an under-current of resentment about academics who sit in their ivory towers, profess and propound on the history, state and solutions of the entertainment sector, without adequate background, or without ever being immersed in it. Like his mentor Clinton Hutton, Dennis Howard however, comes from a different mould. He effortlessly straddles academia, the media and entertainment sectors in his daily professional life.

Starting out at JBC Radio he deliberately, painstakingly, learnt all the roles of broadcasting. While there he hosted a very popular programme then moved on to Irie FM as a founding manager, where he was responsible for many innovations still being utilised. He eventually branched out entrepreneurially as a successful publicist and event planner. In addition, Dennis lectures at the Vocational Training and Development Institute (VTDI) and the University of the West Indies (UWI).

Congratulations 'Dr Music', the entire entertainment fraternity is proud of you and hopes that your association and new-found status will effect greater objectivity and balance in the output of the university's Reggae Studies Unit, about music-related history, issues, practices and guiding principles.

Email: che.campbell@gmail.com

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Doctor-Music_8969997#ixzz1OVlciClR