Jacqueline Stewart collects an award on behalf of Bob Marley from Frankie Campbell, chairman of the Jamaica Association of Vintage Artistes and Affiliates (JAVAA). Marley was inducted in the JAVAA Hall of Fame at the association's induction ceremony on Tuesday night at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel. - Colin Hamilton/freelance photographer

Correction & Clarification

On Thursday, July 9, The Gleaner erroneously reported that Wilfred Warner, a member of the 1950s group Frats Quintet, is dead. Warner is, in fact, alive and is the only surviving member of the group. The Gleaner Company apologises for the misinformation.

When Dr Omar Davies, Opposition Spokesman on Finance, spoke at the second induction to the Jamaica Music Hall of Fame on Tuesday evening, he mentioned a previous statement made by someone who is an almost sure future hall of fame member.

But while Davies steered clear of the controversy ignited by Buju Banton's statement about Bob Marley at the launch of his Rasta Got Soul album, he related the context in which it was said to the attentive audience at the Talk of the Town Restaurant, Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston.

A unique phenomenon

While giving all kudos to Marley's achievements, Davies said, "he must not be seen as a single comet that shot across our musical universe". He noted that much of the writing on Jamaican music is done by foreigners and while the interest and contribution are welcome, they have often presented Bob Marley as a unique phenomenon.

Davies placed the Jamaica Music Hall of Fame, organised by the Jamaica Association of Vintage Artistes and Affiliates (JAVAA), in part as one effort to honour the many music stars who have contributed to Jamaica's incredibly rich musical heritage.

He also said that there is a need to generate greater public involvement in the selection process for the Jamaica Music Hall of Fame, though not making it a popularity contest, as explicit criteria would be given for potential inductees. This would widen the pool of inductees and create more public interest.

Bob Marley was the last of the individuals and organisations inducted on Tuesday evening at the black tie affair, music woven into the presentation of history. Norma Brown-Bell, who handled the entire programme, read the citations, which began at the beginning of Jamaica's commercial recorded music history with Stanley Motta Studio. The citation read "when Stanley Motta branched off from his electrical appliance repair business in 1951 and began to record local mento performers on a single-track recorder, releasing the results on his MRS label, he single-handedly jump-started the Jamaican recording industry".

The founder and his studio have long passed away, as have all the members of the Frats Quintet (Sydney Clarke, Henry Richards, Granville Lindo, Winston White and Wilfred Warner), credited with "being the first to record many of Jamaica's classic folk hits, including Linstead Market, Shine Eye Gal, Sammy Dead Oh and Nobody's Business.

On the gospel side, the Reverend Otis Wright's recording of Man From Galilee "is the first major recorded gospel hit in Jamaica's music history", while Cecil 'Prince Buster' Campbell was "a superstar in Jamaica, and almost as big in the UK".

There was enthusiastic applause at the announcement of Sonny Bradshaw's name, described as a "self-taught Jazz pioneer, bandleader, producer, composer, arranger, recording artiste, journalist and teacher ... a living legend". The Merritone Music trio of Winston Blake, Craig Ross and Michael Thompson collected the certificate of induction personally, the only inductees to do so. They were credited for not only "the melodic quality and variety of the music", but also "the shattering of the divide between sound systems and the Jamaica middle class".

Sharon Ellis represented for her father Alton, as did Byron Lee Jr. for his father, both relatively recently deceased. Ellis' citation included not only his records, but also noted that "Alton was a scintillating singer, with a humility and warmth that is rare among stars. Soft-spoken and a true gentleman, he was one of Jamaica's extraordinary gifts to the world".

Among Byron Lee's many accomplishments are that "in 1990, having defied all the odds, the Dragon realised his dream of bringing an Easter Caribbean-flavoured festival to Jamaica by launching Jamaica Carnival".

Dr The Honourable James Chambers, Jimmy Cliff, is "one of only two living musicians to hold the Order of Merit" (and the only person on Tuesday night for whom Brown-Bell broke into song, doing snatches of Many Rivers to Cross and The Harder They Come).

Cliff's citation also said: "A consistent advocate for world peace and unity, Cliff's lyrics reflect his abiding belief in the need to empower oneself as an individual and to rise up and achieve one's goals, whether spiritual or material".

Bob Marley's citation said he is "described as one of the most charismatic performers of our time" and "Marley, with the timeless message of revolution and social change, is credited with helping to spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari movement to a worldwide audience".

Generation gap

JAVAA chairman Frankie Campbell emphasised how quickly memories fade and the connection between generations is lost with the story of inviting a group to perform at a Dennis Brown celebration, 10 years after his death in 1999. "The first question they asked was, 'A who him? A who Dennis Brown?'"

And in the vote of thanks, done by Mary Isaacs, Michael Barnett was credited with the idea of JAVAA and she thanked the inductees as a whole for leaving a legacy to "warm our hearts, our souls and, most of all, our dancing feet".

Bagadito performs at the JAVAA Hall of Fame induction. - Colin Hamilton/Freelance photographer