Pryce: ‘Should we sing about champagne and caviar?’
Published:Tuesday | June 14, 2022 | 12:08 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
RAYMOND PRYCE, the People’s National Party’s (PNP) former deputy general secretary, has taken a jab at the current controversy over the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport’s decision to cancel this year’s Festival Song Competition, pointing to Jamaica’s cultural status, ironically, being uplifted by other countries.
Culture Minister Olivia Grange had previously announced that the Festival Song Competition would be scrapped despite this year being heralded as the 60th year of Jamaica’s independence due to the reported poor quality of the 123 songs that were submitted for the competition. It has since been disclosed that three songs have been chosen for review.
But speaking at the PNP’s divisional conference in Brompton, St Elizabeth, on Sunday evening, Pryce argued that Jamaica’s Festival songs ought to focus on the celebration of actual Jamaican culture, which he noted had been praised by Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
“In the land of Bob Marley’s birth we have cancelled Festival songs because they sing about ackee and salt fish. Then nuh wi national dish? What should we sing about, champagne and caviar? Only one person from this constituency can sing about that, and that is your member of parliament,” said Pryce in a jab at St Elizabeth South Western Member of Parliament Floyd Green.
“And yet, another country’s prime minister embraced our culture and gave a presentation on the international stage about the beauty, the philosophy, the intelligence, and the relevance of Bob Marley. Jamaica’s culture is what Mia Mottley presented on, but our prime minister (Andrew Holness) was present. You know how in class some students are just there to say ‘Present, Miss’? He was present,” Pryce added.
The controversy over the cancellation of the Festival Song Competition prompted veteran musician Astley ‘Grub’ Cooper to call for the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) to be relieved of its role in planning and executing the competition.
It is understood that Cabinet has been slated to meet to discuss the decision to cancel the song competition. In addition, Minister Grange had announced that there would still be a Jamaica 60 commemorative album.
PROMOTE POSITIVE MESSAGE
Pryce also said that the messages in music can be interpreted positively or negatively and stressed the importance of putting forward positive messages.
“We have become a victim of the very songs we sing. If we sing about why one leader is not as good as another leader, Jamaicans hear a song of discontent, disharmony, and disunity. The only songs I sing are the songs of success and hope, answered on behalf of people who were trained through slavery and colonisation not to have hope,” said Pryce.
In the meantime, O’Neil Buchanan, the PNP’s endorsed councillor candidate for the Brompton division, pointed to the development of musical talent among the young people in the area as one of his focal points for his campaign to run the division.
“These are the desires of my heart, to improve the water supply and garbage collection, providing farming assistance, and having partnership with the music and entertainment industry. We have a lot of talented people in Brompton. The amount of musicians coming out of Brompton, and the Festival thing (Festival Song Competition controversy) is another story,” said Buchanan.