Photo by Herbert McKennis
Roberta Flack rouses the crowd at the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival at Cinnamon Hill, Rose Hall, on January 30, 2005.Kesi Asher, Staff Reporter
In the midst of the record-breaking murder rate which tarnishes Jamaica's reputation, various festivals help soften the country's global image.
Three of these are the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival in St. James, the Calabash International Literary Festival in St. Elizabeth, and the Portland Jerk Festival.
The Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival 2006 is scheduled for the Rose Hall Resort & Country Club, Montego Bay, from January 26-28. Multi- Grammy Award nominee, John Legend. along with Shaggy, Air Supply, James Ingram, Lyfe Jennings, Patti Labelle and Bo Diddley, among others, will perform.
"I'm expecting the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival to be fun. The event pulls a lot of cultural people in a nice gathering. It's an event where people come together and enjoy quality music. This year I'll be doing something inspirational, My Life and Must Be Nice. My music speaks about common, everyday issues. I admire Bobo Sparks," said Lyfe Jennings, who will be performing on the festival.
small-stage sponsorship
This year, for the first time, the small stage, which is separate from the main stage, has received sponsorship and is now the Ocean Spray stage. Auditions to select bands for the small stage were held on December 18 and 21 at Coral Cliff, Montego Bay, and The Deck, Kingston, respectively. Of the 26 bands that auditioned, five were chosen to perform Evolucian, Marcus I, Diamara Neil, PACE, and Nicole Miller and Family.
"This is part of an effort to help to develop a new generation of local bands who wish to take their performances to the highest level ... But we know that there is still much talent that will go places if uncovered and given the opportunity to develop, and we do not want to leave such talent latent," said Zachary Harding, group marketing director at Wisynco, which distributes the Ocean Spray brand in Jamaica.
Since 1996, the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival has been showing the world a brighter side of Jamaica. In October of that year, Air Jamaica launched the star-studded event. The festival showcases world-renowned jazz and blues artistes alongside some of Jamaica's finest talent in the music industry.
The first festival was held at the Wyndham Rose Hall Great House in Montego Bay and attracted nearly 10,000 people from Jamaica, the Caribbean and the United States. The following years saw larger crowds and the show's date changed to December. In 1999 the festival was moved to James Bond Beach, Ocho Rios, where it stayed until 2000.
In 2001 the date was again changed to January and in 2002 the festival was held at the Three Palms Golf Course (later renamed Cinnamon Hill) of the Wyndham Rose Hall Resort, Montego Bay.
Among the persons to have performed on the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival are Branford Marsalis, George Benson, Roberta Flack, Lou Rawls, Kenny Rogers, Dionne Warwick, Alicia Keyes, Beres Hammond, Chaka Khan, Baby Face, Nora Jones, Boyz to Men, India Arie, Erykah Badu, Senegal's Baba Maal, Cuba's Buena Vista Social Club, Jamaica's guitar legend Ernie Ranglin and Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers.
talented musicians
"Overall, the festival was good. It enjoys a rich history of talented musicians and I look forward to going every year. It is good to know that people can go to a show and listen to quality music, no bottling the stage or excessive gyrations," said Carol, a consistent patron.
Another festival that captures the spirit of Jamaica is the Calabash International Literary Festival. Founded by internationally acclaimed author Colin Channer, it is the only international literary festival in the English-speaking Caribbean. Channer, author of Waiting In Vain, among other novels, is also the festival's artistic director. The festival was founded in 2001 in collaboration with poet Kwame Dawes and the festival's producer, Justine Henzell.
The mission of the Calabash International Literary Festival Trust is to transform the literary arts in the Caribbean by being the region's best-managed producer of workshops, seminars, film series and performances.
"We will achieve these goals by focusing on our audiences, managing our budget, creating a community of supporters in the media, government, business, the performing arts, philanthropic organisations and publishing, and by becoming the festival of choice for the world's most gifted authors," said Michael Bennett, music director of Calabash.
This year the festival will be held at Jake's, St. Elizabeth, on the weekend beginning May 26, 2006. The festival is spread over three days and contains readings, music and different forms of storytelling. The Calabash festival is described as earthy, inspirational, daring and diverse. The scheduled events at the festival are free and open to the public.
The festival, which attracts about 3,000 people each day, is produced by the Calabash International Literary Festival Trust. The trust is affiliated with the Friends of the Calabash International Literary Festival.
"The festival has a very positive image on the global front as we have extensive and always positive international press like the New York Times, Independent in London, Fox National News, Book Television in Canada and The Global Mail in Canada, among others," said Justine Henzell.
The Calabash Festival counteracts the negative view of Jamaica as a non-reading society. "Calabash portrays Jamaica as a highly educated and sophisticated literary society, that we have talent and that we cannot only sing music but we can also write books," Henzell said.
Among those who performed in 2005 were Edward Baugh, Dionne Brand, Oliver Clarke, Manthia Diawara, Fae Ellington, Joan Andrea Hutchinson, Wayne Armond, Alwin Bully, Mutabaruka, Diane Abu-Jaber, Meena Alexander, Robert Antoni, Russell Banks, Amiri Baraka, Roger Bonair-Agard, Staceyann Chin, Steve Golding, and Francisco Goldman.
The calibre of Jamaican novelists also goes global, courtesy of the Calabash Festival. "The festival also shows that our novelists can be on par with other authors in the world. The international authors say that the Calabash Festival, which is a small festival in a fishing village in a rural parish, is the best literary festival they've attended," Henzell said.
good programmes
One patron was very pleased with Niki Johnson's presentation. "The authors and the programmes were very good. The segment where the Jamaican poets go up was really good. This one girl, Niki Johnson, was very good. With a little more advertising, it will be even better," said Toni.
Another sumptuous festival that spices up the taste buds of Jamaicans and foreigners alike is the Portland Jerk Festival, held at the Boston playing field in the parish. Boston, the centre of 'jerk', is known for jerk pork and jerk chicken. The festival has everything jerked, including lobster, fish, chicken and pork. The day's activities include performances from local artistes and community dance groups, art & craft displays, a bounce-about, merry-go-round and face painting.
"I love jerk chicken, jerk pork, everything that is jerk. For me the Portland Jerk Festival does a lot for Jamaica's image, because jerk is the one thing that no one can take from us and food is always something positive. We are the pioneers of the jerk chicken pan with the foil paper and two slice a bread. In Elephant Man's video, Pon Di River Pon Di Bank, you see the jerk chicken man ah move in wid him jerk chicken pan," said Shauna, a patron.
