Jah Mike finds path for the young

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Jah Mike the Ambassador has had many overseas postings in his long tenure as a singer and promoter, among them just over two years in Japan, over a decade in the United States of America and stints in South Korea and Hawaii.

However, from his Barbican home base where he went to after spending his early years in Grants Pen, Jah Mike has established a foundation in promotion which is firmly rooted at home.

He tells The Gleaner that his first promotion was done at 14 years old, when he was known simply as Lawrence Lugg.

"Growing up in Barbican, the kids had talent but nothing go on more than sound play and them have fun. They had no opportunity. I was in a club called Ashanti and they asked me to put on a concert. I put on a nice concert to help with some fund-raising," he said.

From there, even as he continued to work the stage as a singer, Jah Mike put on a regular free concert in Barbican Square, close to where the Hi-Lo outlet now is. He names Buju Banton, Yellowman, Nadine Sutherland, Burru Banton and Brigadier Jerry among the artistes who performed there in the early to mid-1980s.

The Outcast Band was on the stand and the top sounds played there as well - Lee's Unlimited, Creation, Music Merchant and Stereo One among them.

"People came from Jack's Hill, town ... ," Jah Mike the Ambassador said, describing the spectrum of his audience.

Those people spread the names of the artistes who were getting rare performances time. "A lot of kids were coming up, but nobody never hear about them. If you don't have no name you couldn't go on a stage show, no matter how good you is," he said.

However, he took the approach of giving talented people who had not yet made a name for themselves a chance to perform.

"A so the youths them get to rate me," Jah Mike the Ambassador said.

He also counts the late Sugar Minott's Reggae in the Hills concert among his promotion credits, as he assisted with that show. But Jah Mike speaks with special pride about the promotions that he did for Maxfield Park Children's Home, as well as a children's home in Barbican.

For the former, he did a show at the Ward Theatre, Kingston, in the late 1990s, featuring Bounty Killer, Third World, Baby Cham, Red Rat, Junior Reid, Ken Boothe, Everton Blender, Ruff Kut Band and Road Star sound system. Plus, he says, he was associated with an effort to buy clothes and other supplies for street boys in Half-Way Tree.

"I like charity work," Jah Mike the Ambassador said, pointing out that he received trophies for his children's home fund-raising efforts.

When he moved to 116 Barbican Road, Jah Mike ended up living in the same yard as landmark recording Nanny Goat singer Larry Marshall.

"Every night them used to rehearse in the yard. I used to wonder why them rehearse every night till I hear them on the radio," he said.

He would soon follow suit, as after singing in church and school and getting his official sound system debut on Papa Roots when Nicodemus handed him the microphone, Jah Mike the Ambassador recorded Fighting to the Top at the Jamaica Information Service studio.

Trevor Elliot afforded him that opportunity and he went on to record Reggae Anthem with The Wailers at Tuff Gong, this after Bob Marley's death.

Now it seems that the singing and promotion, are meeting again for Jah Mike, as he has a cover of I Wanna Know in rotation and next Saturday his promotion Brawta7 will be at Studio 38, Trafalgar Road, New Kingston. The concert features Ken Boothe, The Heptones, Angella Stewart, Chizzy and Ataru, with Rasta Uprising Band providing the music and Informative Historyman as MC.