Balford HenryWorrell King, pro-minent Negril promoter, thinks that too much of the blame for the moral problems associated with Spring break are being placed on the tourists themselves.
"Negril is flocked by Spring-breakers every year at this time and what is happening is that people are coming in and doing things just to make money off these teenagers. It is not that the students come here for that kind of entertainment, but they are looking for fun and this is what they get," Mr. King said.
"You can't blame the Spring-breakers. They come here to have a good time, but what is happening is that they are getting drunk and getting robbed," he continued.
Mr. King heads King of Kings Productions which has staged major annual promotions like "Tribute to Peter Tosh" and "Western Consciousness."
He was in Kingston last weekend for the world premiere of Tony Rebel's Not All About The Money.
Although 'Western Conscious-ness' started before the Spring-break era began, it has become a major part of the Spring-breaker activities who are more interested in the island's cultural and social development.
It started in 1988 and was one of the main live concert attractions in the area until the Spring break passion broke out.
"Our concept of 'Western Consciousness' was to create a show which was not the norm, about gun and other derogatory lyrics, and present a more family-oriented show, where parents could take their children," Mr. King explained.
He thinks that, while this effort has led to changes, including the type of music played on the radio and the type of lyrics used at shows, it is not being supported as the morally correct type of show for Spring-breakers.
"I find that the tourists, including the Spring-breakers, are interested in our form of entertainment. They thoroughly enjoy it and we probably need to promote more of this kind of entertainment for them," he said.
But, Mr. King says he is not impervious to what is happening in the music.
"This year, for example, we will be having Capleton here for the younger people. Beres Hammond for the middle-agers and Marcia Griffiths and John Hold for the veterans," he said.
NEW SOCA SONG
Aswad Kefentse (Michael Smith), the New York-based singer, launched his new soca song for the 2001 carnival season last week.
This year he has come up with the song, Ruckus, the follow-up to the 2000 soca anthem, Pressure, which is being handled by Penthouse Records
Kefentse emigrated to the United States in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, he worked alongside Michael Ranglin, sone of world famous guitarist, Ernie Ranglin.
They formed a group with Junior and Alton Smikle called the Super Classic.
"We did a number of songs including Reggae Music Gone International and Mento Medley and popular covers like If You Should Lose Me. Some of the songs appeared on compilation albums and we did a number of shows in New York," he explained.
After the group broke up, Kefentse stuck to writing songs with his wife Empress Adama, as well as poetry for the African Love Institute, a performing arts company which she founded.
In 1999, he joined Haitian rapper, Bigga Haitian, on a number of performances and assisted him in landing a major deal with BMG Records.
He later recorded with producer Iauwata Selassie with whom he recorded Pressure for the McKoy Records label.
Ruckus has been released on his own Music Movement label and he thinks that it will make some impact on this year's Jamaica Carnival season.
