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Sunday | May 28, 2000
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Concern over music administration
Balford Henry, Staff Reporter
They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions and that saying has been occupying the minds of some people in the music industry.
The reason being the haphazard way the industry is being dealt with by the Government:
Portia Simpson Miller may be the minister responsible for music, yet within her ministry there is no structure yet to accommodate the industry.
The industry has to operate thus: For matters pertaining to duties and taxes, the Ministry of Finance and Planning; for matters involving the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, Festival and other live cultural programmes, as well as the Jam World project, the Ministry of Local Government, Youth and Community Development; the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Technology is responsible for commercial and technological matters, including Internet related services and JAMPRO's initiatives; and, we understand, if a monument is to built for an entertainer that would be under the Ministry of Education and Culture.
One would have thought that all matters pertaining to the entertainment sector would have been brought under the umbrella of the Ministry of Tourism, which would laise with the other ministries.
Beenie Man was off to New York last week to shoot a video with R&B act Mya.
The video, Girls Dem Sugar, provides visual promotional support for the cut from his debut Virgin album, Art & Life, scheduled to be released in July. Beenie Man had done a track for Mya's new album in return, titled Lie Detector.
The deejay is also busy promoting his kick-off single from the upcoming album, Love Me Now which features Wyclef Jean. The single is now available locally on vinyl from Dynamic Sounds and the video is being rotated on major U.S. music networks.
Incidentally, Beenie Man returns home on Monday, just in time for his first local performance in many moons.
He and the Shocking Vibes Crew will be headlining Spring Swing 2000 at Fort Clarence Beach on Sunday, June 4. This is one of the biggest promotions for the pre-summer period and will also feature Josey Wales, Beres Hammond, Junior Reid, Richie Stephens, Luciano, Cocoa Tea, Lexxus, Luciano, Gregory Isaacs, Cobra, Merciless, Tony Matterhorn, Ricky Trooper, Stone Love and Money Cologne.
The internationally renowned exponents of ska music, the Skatalites, beginning their 35th anniversary world tour on Thursday, June 1.
The tour which will last about a year, follows the band's performance on Sunday, May 21, in Montreal, Canada, and will take them through the United States, Europe and Japan.
According to the new manager of the group, Stamma Haughton, chief executive officer of Marston Recording Corporation(MRC) in Sarasota, Florida, a management contract was signed in March between his company and the band for representation at various levels.
A 15-track CD, featuring Ken Boothe as guest artiste, has been recorded at the Marston Recording Studios in Saratosa as well as at Criteria Hit Factory in Miami, with which Haughton has been associated as an engineer in the past.
The group recorded the CD over a three-week period and, according to Haughton, it will be released at the end of June. It will be distributed by Marston Recording Corporation in the United States and its affiliates in Japan and Europe and will be available on the Web at www.marstonrec.com owned by MRC.
It will feature new materials from the group comprising Lloyd Knibbs, Lloyd Brevett, Lester Sterling, Devon James, Cedric Brooks, Mark Barney, Ken Stewart, Welford Clarke and Dorraine Shaefer.
Plans are now being finalised for the group to perform on the Heineken Startime series on July 29 in Kingston as well as at the Day-O Plantation Restaurant in Montego Bay on August 1.
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