Maintaining the Festival Song standard

The Jamaica Festival Song Competition cannot be allowed to become a victim of the ‘eat a sure food’ mentality which pervades institutions and organisations with a guaranteed payout, regardless of quality service and output. You know, like being permanently employed in the government service. In such situations, maintaining standards depends heavily – almost entirely – on personal pride, whether that is through strong leadership laying down the law for everyone to operate by or a single person deciding they will transfer their approach from other areas of life to their job”.

Of course, in both instances, it is likely that these persons will be immensely unpopular with the ‘eat a food’ crew, which has been the case with the Festival Song Competition in 2020 and this year. Two years ago, when Buju Baton won with “I Am a Jamaican”, some persons got their underwear into a self-inflicted wedgie because professionals were invited to enter and there were howls of “unfair competition”. Then this year the competition was on as expected for Jamaica’s 60thanniversary of independence, then it was off because 120 of the 123 entries were rejected, leaving some who insist on a product without quality control in a huff. Then it was on again because the Prime Minister insisted that Jamaica must have a contest. So, what is the solution? Get the professionals back in, along with the three which made the cut at first, mix and match and come up with a suitable set of tracks for August 6.

At least the ‘eat a food’ crew will not have their day with the government purse. The makers of the lacklustre songs should take their chances with YouTube, tossing out their tunes to the court of John Public and the assessment of views, comments and thumbs up or down.

When the standard of entries gets this low, it is commonplace to trot out the standout Festival Songs, starting with the first winner, “Bam Bam” by The Maytals, up to about 2000 with Stanley Beckford’s “Fi Wi Island a Boom”. That is all well and good, but while there are some good songs which have been written specifically for Jamaica’s independence celebrations, annually, there are a number of songs which have been done outside of the season which we could consider for celebrating Jamaica’s 60th anniversary. The suggestions are not strikingly new, of course, but official government collaboration with Jamaicans who have created songs with a patriotic sentiment outside of a structured contest could signal a very welcome collaboration between the state and the private music business.

Here are some suggestions, starting with one which I think is unexpected. First, there is “Jamaica” (Elephant Man, 2002). Yet one more borrowing of an already popular melody by Elephant Man, this is an adaptation of R. Kelly’s “Fiesta” to celebrate the good life in the land of wood and water. Unfortunately for general listenership, there are references to ‘ooku bit’ and a ‘drive-by’, so there would need to be significant editing or, even better, re-recording. It is an upbeat song, right for the party.

Second, there are “Jamaica Love” (2014) and “Jamaica Jamaica” (2020) (both by Busy Signal). The first song is better known and is a remake of “Forever Young” by Rod Stewart. There is no need to adjust any of the lyrics of this slow track, just right for contemplation. Third, there is “Welcome to Jamrock” (2005, Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley). It tells a side of Jamaica that is far from the ideal idyllic tourism and nostalgic images, but its depiction of the island’s contrasts has resonated with Jamaicans and non-Jamaicans. There is also “Sweet Jamaica” (Tony Rebel); it is, already, one of Jamaica’s unofficial anthems and it has a connection to a very popular Festival Song, as it is on the same riddim as Eric Donaldson’s 1971 winner “Cherry Oh Baby”.

“Jamaica Jamaica” (Brigadier Jerry, 1985) was the title song for an extensive exhibition on Jamaica’s music, a scaled-down version of which was mounted twice at the National Gallery, Downtown Kingston, after the entire exhibition ran in Paris, France. Super Cat also pays homage to “Jamaica, Jamaica”, with an entire song about the country’s history. Add to that Peter Metro’s “History of Jamaica”.

I am sure there are many other songs with a Jamaican theme and there is always the possibility of more being made as the country heads into its 60th anniversary. It is all well and good to have a dedicated contest, but we already have a set of recordings that can also be utilized. And the wonderful thing is that the public has already assessed and passed them as maintaining a sufficiently high standard.

Mel Cooke covered Jamaican entertainment as a print journalist for almost two decades, overlapping with his MPhil research on dancehall and experiential marketing with the Institute of Caribbean Studies, UWI, Mona, where he is now working on a PhD while lecturing in the Bachelor of Arts, Communication Arts and Technology (BACAT) programme at the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech, Ja.).