Champions fall in action

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

The ear-drum and psyche-shattering sounds of explosive ordnance from Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town on May 24 were carried loud and clear by the electronic media to a deeply disturbed wider Jamaica.

However, the silence at another place, far out of earshot and gunshot from west Kingston, but which resulted from the Labour Day incursion was tantamount to an explosion for a subset of the Jamaican populace: the dancehall aficionados.

Champions in Action, the annual end-of-summer dancehall concert which was held at Jam World, Portmore, St Catherine, on August 15 last year, was not staged this year.

This was even as the entertainment calendar quickly filled out after the limited state of emergency was lifted - just in time for the released 'person of interest', Vybz Kartel, to perform on Reggae Sumfest's Dancehall Night.

Vybz Kartel was prominent at last year's Champions in Action, performing in tandem with Beenie Man before Bounty Killer and Mavado ended the show well after daylight. However, the four are only a few of the slew of singers and deejays who have performed at Champions in Action.

Respects to the 'President', Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, were a persistent feature of the Champion in Action concerts, once held at the Caymanas Polo Club but shifted to the larger, more prestigious Jam World in 2008.

In 2005, the respects also flowed for Christopher 'Chris Royal' Coke, killed at the intersection of Waterloo and West Kings House roads after being allegedly involved in the murder of Corporal Chandler Hewitt. The shout-outs to 'Chris Royal' happened even as police personnel providing security at the event looked on.

The on-stage homage to the Cokes was not surprising, as the event was staged by the Presidential Click, centred in Tivoli Gardens. As the reputed 'don of all dons' was removed, this year at least, the Champions in Action - normally a very well-organised, smooth-running concert - fell in action, a casualty of the ricochet from the May 24 security forces operation.

However, while the absence of Champions in Action was notable because of the scale of the concert and the sequence of events leading to the no-show, its connection with 'donship' is not remarkable.

A music industry insider said matter-of-factly:

"Most of the stage show keep in Jamaica, most of them hold by man in high places who have community respect. Them is a community leader. Him good a have a selling shop or a business place.

"You have to be a popular person to keep a party. If you is not a partygoer, how yu fi keep party?" the music industry insider asked rhetorically.

Staying popular

He argued that holding the events "keeps the don popular. He automatically becomes a person people look up to".

With specific reference to Champions in Action, the music insider said that its magnitude and stature grew because of the primary person associated with the event: Christopher 'Dudus' Coke. "Is a community leader. Various communities a go know you. Various communities a go support you," he said.

The insider noted that the event was not held this year because "the promoter nuh available nuh more. If a nex' man pinch it an' keep it, it nah go have da respec' deh". He argued that most persons who are seen as dons or community leaders promote major entertainment events. "Is a tradition from way back when."

And it holds true. Cleveland 'Cassie' Downer, who turned himself in to the police shortly after being named a person of interest in the post-incursion announcements, is associated with 'Spring Bling', last held in 2009 at the Constant Spring Football Field, not too far from Downer's Donmair Close ('Common') power base.

Danhai Williams, also named as a person of interest and who is yet to make himself available to the lawmen, once held patronage over a street dance on Windward Road.

The influence goes past events and into the recording studio and many of Jamaica's renowned hits. George Phang, named as a person of interest post-May 24, ran the hugely successful Powerhouse music label, which counts Half Pint's One Big Family on its hit list. In fact, Half Pint sings the reputed Arnett Gardens don's name, paying respects to "George Phang and Bunny Wizzie".

One of the original dons mentioned in a hit song, Kenneth 'Skeng Don' Black, was associated with the now defunct 'Blazay Blazay' street dance on the Winston Jones Highway in Manchester. Tiger deejayed in the mid-'80s: "Whe de don fi Mandeville name?" And the dancehall massive replied: "Skeng!"

George Phang and Dudus are among a slew of 'warriors' enshrined in song by Elephant Man and Spragga Benz in the early 2000s Warrior Cause.

So is William 'Willie Haggart' Moore, formerly of the Black Roses Crew, who was murdered in 2001. The Black Roses Crew, which also included Gerald 'Bogle' Levy (killed in 2005) and David 'Ice' Smith (murdered in 2008), was a dancehall fixture in its prime, Haggart and Bogle appearing in videos by Beenie Man (World Dance) and Barrington Levy (Work).

Before the street dons, though, came the political dons. Dennis Howard, in Political Patronage and Gun Violence in Dancehall, published in this year's Jamaica Journal special on Jamaican Popular Music, launched in late February, points to the long-established linkages which led to an event like Champions in Action. He writes:

"In the early days of dancehall music, circa 1979-1985, the dons were part of the driving force in the promotion of music". Well before that, he writes that "it was Prince Buster, the 'voice of the people' and popular singer and producer, who introduced Edward Seaga to western Kingston on the strength of his popularity as sound system owner and popular artiste.

"Michael Manley, as leader of the PNP, more than anyone before him understood the use of popular music in political campaigning and outmanoeuvred Hugh Shearer of the JLP in the use of popular music in the 1972 general elections."

And, just maybe, there is an understanding of the power of popular music by the dons and an unstated effort to use that same force, but outside their sphere of influence.

In the huge crowd on the first day of LIME School Aid - held at the place (Jam World Centre), and around the time (August 21-22) that Champions in Action would most likely have been held if the Dudus deportation saga had not blown up, were about 300 children from west Kingston.

Their attendance and getting LIME knapsacks with back-to-school supplies were arranged by the community policing officers in west Kingston, stationed there after May 24.

It is something that Presidential Click would have normally done, using Champions in Action to raise money for supporting children's education.

"Mos' a the don, a desso dem get some funds from," the music industry insider said. "When you a don, people a go want tings."

He also acknowledges the ongoing link between politics and music. "When a political leader a keep a campaign him haffi have a sound system fi play the music fi attract the people. That is why sometimes you see entertainer take to a different side," he said.

"Most of the stage show keep in Jamaica, most of them hold by man in high places who have community respect. Them is a community leader. Him good a have a selling shop or a business place.

"You have to be a popular person to keep a party. If you is not a partygoer, how yu fi keep party?" the music industry insider asked rhetorically.

Staying popular

He argued that holding the events "keeps the don popular. He automatically becomes a person people look up to".

With specific reference to Champions in Action, the music insider said that its magnitude and stature grew because of the primary person associated with the event: Christopher 'Dudus' Coke. "Is a community leader. Various communities a go know you. Various communities a go support you," he said.

The insider noted that the event was not held this year because "the promoter nuh available nuh more. If a nex' man pinch it an' keep it, it nah go have da respec' deh". He argued that most persons who are seen as dons or community leaders promote major entertainment events. "Is a tradition from way back when."

And it holds true. Cleveland 'Cassie' Downer, who turned himself in to the police shortly after being named a person of interest in the post-incursion announcements, is associated with 'Spring Bling', last held in 2009 at the Constant Spring Football Field, not too far from Downer's Donmair Close ('Common') power base.

Danhai Williams, also named as a person of interest and who is yet to make himself available to the lawmen, once held patronage over a street dance on Windward Road.

The influence goes past events and into the recording studio and many of Jamaica's renowned hits. George Phang, named as a person of interest post-May 24, ran the hugely successful Powerhouse music label, which counts Half Pint's One Big Family on its hit list. In fact, Half Pint sings the reputed Arnett Gardens don's name, paying respects to "George Phang and Bunny Wizzie".

One of the original dons mentioned in a hit song, Kenneth 'Skeng Don' Black, was associated with the now defunct 'Blazay Blazay' street dance on the Winston Jones Highway in Manchester. Tiger deejayed in the mid-'80s: "Whe de don fi Mandeville name?" And the dancehall massive replied: "Skeng!"

George Phang and Dudus are among a slew of 'warriors' enshrined in song by Elephant Man and Spragga Benz in the early 2000s Warrior Cause.

So is William 'Willie Haggart' Moore, formerly of the Black Roses Crew, who was murdered in 2001. The Black Roses Crew, which also included Gerald 'Bogle' Levy (killed in 2005) and David 'Ice' Smith (murdered in 2008), was a dancehall fixture in its prime, Haggart and Bogle appearing in videos by Beenie Man (World Dance) and Barrington Levy (Work).

Before the street dons, though, came the political dons. Dennis Howard, in Political Patronage and Gun Violence in Dancehall, published in this year's Jamaica Journal special on Jamaican Popular Music, launched in late February, points to the long-established linkages which led to an event like Champions in Action. He writes:

"In the early days of dancehall music, circa 1979-1985, the dons were part of the driving force in the promotion of music". Well before that, he writes that "it was Prince Buster, the 'voice of the people' and popular singer and producer, who introduced Edward Seaga to western Kingston on the strength of his popularity as sound system owner and popular artiste.

"Michael Manley, as leader of the PNP, more than anyone before him understood the use of popular music in political campaigning and outmanoeuvred Hugh Shearer of the JLP in the use of popular music in the 1972 general elections."

And, just maybe, there is an understanding of the power of popular music by the dons and an unstated effort to use that same force, but outside their sphere of influence.

In the huge crowd on the first day of LIME School Aid - held at the place (Jam World Centre), and around the time (August 21-22) that Champions in Action would most likely have been held if the Dudus deportation saga had not blown up - were about 300 children from west Kingston.

Their attendance and getting LIME knapsacks with back-to-school supplies were arranged by the community policing officers in west Kingston, stationed there after May 24.

It is something that Presidential Click would have normally done, using Champions in Action to raise money for supporting children's education.

"Mos' a the don, a desso dem get some funds from," the music industry insider said. "When you a don, people a go want tings."

He also acknowledges the ongoing link between politics and music. "When a political leader a keep a campaign him haffi have a sound system fi play the music fi attract the people. That is why sometimes you see entertainer take to a different side," he said.