Minister of Entertainment and Culture Olivia “Babsy” Grange will seek Cabinet intervention on the topic today, following public uproar that there will be no Festival Song Competition to commemorate Jamaica’s 60th anniversary of independence.
According to Grange, only three songs out of 123 entrants had the potential to make the cut.
“At a policy level, it is for me to have a conversation and be advised, even by Cabinet, on whether we should have a competition between the three songs or just release the three songs?” Do we choose one of those songs as the Jamaica 60 theme song? “These are things that will be unveiled in a couple of days,” Grange said at a virtual press conference hosted by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission on Saturday.
Journalists, Festival Song judges, and executives from the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) were in attendance.
The Jamaica Festival Song Competition is organized by the JCDC.
“I’d like to inform the public that three songs have been chosen. It is usually a competition between ten songs. Do we want a competition between three songs, or do we want to have a Jamaica 60 anniversary album on which those three songs would be included, as was suggested to me and which we’ve already initiated?” she inquired.
Singers Freddie McGregor and Alaine Laughton, as well as music producers Cleveland “Clevie” Browne, Gussie Clarke, and Donovan Germain, made up the judging panel.
Grange announced the suspension of this year’s Festival Song Competition in her sectoral debate presentation to Parliament last Wednesday, citing the low quality of entries.
Despite a deadline extension, she said the assessors were unable to select 10 suitable songs.
The minister also discussed the upcoming Jamaica 60 CD.
“Those songs will be commissioned tunes or requests from individuals, more or less.” I’ve approached a few people and received responses from a few of them. “There will be a Koffee track, a Shaggy track, a Freddie McGregor track, an OMI track, and an Inner Circle track,” she revealed.
“There have been a number of people who have expressed an interest in helping.” A number of producers are in contact with a number of Jamaican artists with whom they would like to collaborate on tunes. With or without a Jamaica Festival Song Competition, the process has begun; we will have a Jamaica 60 commemorative CD… She said, “It will be ready soon, and I will make an announcement soon.”
The Jamaica Festival Song Competition has been canceled for the third time. It was first put on hold in 2013 by then-Minister of Youth and Culture Lisa Hanna, who intended to reposition the competition and incorporate a voting mechanism so that people could vote for their favorite Festival Song.
Grange, who was the Opposition’s entertainment spokesman at the time, called the cancellation a “backward step and a disgrace.”
It was canceled in 2017 during Grange’s reign.
The Jamaica Festival Song Competition, formerly known as the Popular Song Contest, began in 1966 and is one of the highlights of the country’s Independence festivities.
The Maytals (Bam Bam), Eric Donaldson (Cherry Oh Baby and Land of My Birth), and Roy Rayon are among the previous winners (Give Thanks And Praises).
Stacious’ Jamaican Spirit took first place last year. Buju Banton won in 2020 with his song I Am A Jamaican.
