Reggae icons headline Jamaica festival song contest

In one of the most star-filled group of contestants to enter in many, many years, festival lovers will see performances from Papa Michigan, of the famous Reggae duo Michigan & Smiley; LUST – the singing quartet of Thriller U, Tony Curtis, Lukie D, and Singing Melody and former Rising Star winner Brown Shuga, who now performs as Shuga.

Former Festival Song winner Nazzleman, who won titles in 2016 and 2018, is also among this year’s finalists, while completing the list are upcoming dancehall artistes Xtra Bigg and Radix OD, as well as actress and television presenter, Sakina.

“This year, we can say that the competition boasts some of the big names in the entertainment industry,” said the Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange as she announced the ten finalists for this year’s cultural event, which is among a series of annual activities to mark the country’s Independence celebrations in August.

Grange, one of the most respected voices and minds on cultural matters in Jamaica, has been trying desperately over the years to restore the allure of the festival song competition which to many Jamaicans has lost its appeal given the quality of submissions.

But in Buju Banton - a Reggae Grammy Award winner – and Toots Hibbert – the man who it is said coined the word Reggae and also founder and lead singer of Toots and the Maytals, festival winner of 1966, 1968 and 1972 – throwing their hat in the ring, general interest in the showpiece is sure to increase by the thousands if not by the millions.

“It’s a professional competition and I’m happy that it is now generating interest once again by people in the industry,” said Grange, who was emphatic that it is now to be called the ‘Jamaica Festival Song competition’.

Judges listened to more than 150 entries at auditions in Montego Bay, Mandeville and Kingston before selecting the ten finalists.
The public will decide this year’s winner.

“The fact that we are in a period of COVID-19 when we are restricted in terms of having mass audiences and so on, we have decided to do the competition virtually — so the world is our stage on this occasion.  And the winning song will be selected by the public and so I just want to say that everybody can participate,” said the culture minister.

The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), which runs the competition, is finalising arrangements with telecommunications service providers on the mechanism to enable the public to select the winning song.

“When that song is selected about mid-July, there is enough time leading up to the Independence celebration for the song to be known — we want to hear that song on the lips of every man, woman and child,” she said.

There’s a prize of three million dollars for the winning song, to be shared among the producer, the writer and the singer. Other prizes will be announced.