Rebel Salute brings jobs & joy to St Ann - Event organisers promise signature execution, plus more in 2020
Published:Thursday | December 19, 2019 | 12:00 AMKimberley Small/Staff Reporter
In its 26-year history, Rebel Salute has grown from strength to strength, all the while maintaining its Rastafari-friendly design of clean, conscious reggae music by a mix of veterans and newcomers, served up with mouthfuls of Pan-African ideologies, ital food and clouds of ganja smoke, sans alcohol. Now, with its 27th instalment scheduled for January 17 and 18, 2020, at Grizzly’s Plantation Cove, Rebel Salute is poised and happy to continue its signature execution, with event organisers boasting the festival’s economic contributions, citing an impressive foreign versus local audience ratio.
Rebel Salute began as an earthday celebration for reggae music icon Tony Rebel, but decades of nurture transformed the event into a beacon for the Jamaican diaspora. During the festival’s media launch on December 17 at the six-month-old AC Hotel by Marriott, the icon himself took care to specifically highlight that his team’s research concluded that as much as 49 per cent of the live audience are visitors.
The mayor of St Ann’s Bay, Councillor Michael Belnavis, reiterated Tony Rebel’s claim, noting the town’s increased hotel bookings, and the bustle the ‘busy-ness’ inspires in the township. “It goes right down to the little man that sells at the side of the road. There’s direct and indirect employment and we love that,” Belnavis said.
Alongside its economically viable model, Rebel Salute has developed a shining reputation as the stage that may introduce the world to the next big reggae music star. Or at least that’s what happened when Cocoa Tea pulled Koffee on to the stage in 2017. This time around, the effort is concerted. Festival organisers have introduced ‘Ready Fi Buss’, a competition for aspiring reggae music performers vying for a slot on the Rebel Salute stage. Ten aspirants will compete during the final leg of the Courts and Organic H.E.A.R.T presents Rebel Salute Live, on January 3, 2020 at Courts in Cross Roads, Kingston. The penultimate leg, featuring vocalists Mackeehan and Chevaughn, will take place this Friday, December 20, at Courts in Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth.
Pan-Africanism and reparations
In keeping with the contemporary temperament, Rebel Salute will go back to Africa for 2020. Courtesy of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, there will once again be a ‘reparations booth’, in order to continue national dialogue on the issue. “This year, the booth with take on great significance, as we are in the process of creating a docu-film on the challenges and contributions of African people as part of our programme, to celebrate the international decade for people of African descent,” Minister Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange revealed during the launch.
The festival will also see African performers, in Tricia from Kenya, and the return of Ugandan entertainer and political activist, Bobi Wine.
“I spoke to Bobi Wine, and he told me that he will be back in Jamaica after this time, but it will be a governmental visit, because he is now an official opposition member in Uganda. At this Rebel Salute, I am sure it will be the last time you see Bobi Wine as just an artiste. The next time you see him, after 2021, he will be the president,” Tony Rebel said. A Sudanese sound system will also be part of the edu-training package at Rebel Salute 2020. Along with Jack Scorpio, the incoming sound system will mount a display of dubplates.
Other acts confirmed for the upcoming two-day festival are Best Reggae Album Grammy nominees Steel Pulse, Toots and the Maytals, Beenie Man as Moses Davis, Leroy Sibbles, Singing Melody, Stevie Face, Queen Ifrica, Chi Ching Ching, General Trees, Michigan, Sugar Roy, Jermaine Ewards, Rhoda Isabella, the dancehall pastor Stephen Blake, the Wailers Trio, George Nooks, Mikey Spice and others.
Rebel Salute sponsors include the Jamaica Tourist Board, Mi Hungry Wholesale Foods, Strictly Roots Water, The Gleaner, The Star, AC Hotel by Marriot, The Cardiff Hotel, Hitz 92FM, Irie FM, Knutsford Express, Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Moon Palace, Visual Vibe and Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
Among the many sponsors invited to offer remarks, Mark Pike, general manager of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, managed to encapsulate the essence of the festival and the purpose of reggae music, in the grand scheme of things.
“After all, reggae music is both the redemption and resurrection of what is the Jamaican conscience. Reggae music is the nexus between rebellion and righteousness. And it is with that, we want to support the journey of everybody coming to Rebel Salute,” he said.