Kesi Asher, Staff Reporter
The Akwaaba Drummers in performance at the Institute of Jamaica and ACIJ\JMB lunch hour concert at the Institute's lecture hall, East Street, Kingston, last October. They will return to the hall for Black History Month celebrations later this month. - JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
A NUMBER of organisations will be celebrating Black History Month, February, with entertainment-based events. Among them are the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica (ACIJ), the Portmore Healthcare Complex and the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC).
The ACIJ will be holding a lunch hour concert on February 23 at noon in the lecture hall of the Institute of Jamaica on East Street in Kingston. The concert features the Akwaaba Drummers and excerpts from Aston Cooke's play Jamaica to Rahtid.
"We are trying to preserve our history. Aspects of Jamaica to Rahtid spoke to our heritage as a people and we therefore decided to use those excerpts as a part of our celebrations," said Simone Shepherd, publications officer for the ACIJ. She said the lunch hour concert is a good way to teach Jamaicans about their heritage.
OPPORTUNITY FOR EXPOSURE
"Not many persons will sit down and read a book, but if you are able to sensitise them in another form, then you also have the opportunity to expose them to other things. The Akwaaba Drummers will also perform African pieces and cultural items," she said.
The Portmore Healthcare Complex will put on 'Celebrating Our Culture', an annual Black History Month event, on February 19 at the Portmore Heart Academy, beginning at 3:00 p.m. The Portmore Dancers, Kingston Drummers and 14 schools from the Portmore community will perform.
ISLANDWIDE SYMPOSIUM
The JCDC carried the celebrations islandwide, using its week of Bob Marley birthday celebrations, February 1-6, to stage Black History Month events. These took the form of four symposiums in each region of the island and a final grand show.
At each symposium, a trophy was given for the best rearrangement of Bob Marley's music. The winner from the west was Rusea's High; Titchfield High won in the east and Hampton High was first place in central Jamaica. The grand show took place in Brown's Town on February 6 and featured Gyptian, Turbulence, Fantan Mojah, Junior Reid, Ernie Smith, Everton Blender, Sugar Roy and Conrad Crystal, among others. The Gumption Band provided the music.
Glendon Watson, events specialist at the JCDC, said, "Our history is predominantly black, so it's good for us to pause and reflect on the positive black role models, even if it takes Black History Month for us to do it, it's good that it is done."
