Tony Mack helps to promote community development concert
Published:Saturday | March 12, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer
EWARTON, St Catherine:
MOST PEOPLE familiar with music business veteran Tony Mack know of his work as a producer and booking agent for some of the biggest acts in the Greenwich Farm area of Kingston.
On April 2, Mack turns his attention to Ewarton, St Catherine, where the Ewarton Family Fun Day takes place at the Ewarton Community Centre. It features old-school artistes like singer Jimmy Riley, dancehall favourite Mavado and home-grown acts such as Shanti High.
Mack has been an Ewarton resident for some time and is part of its farming community. He said he was recently approached by the district's councillor, Beverly Jobson-Grant, to promote an event that will help raise funds to purchase instruments for the community centre's music programme.
"It's very important for me to get this off the ground. It's where I live and I would like to build something there," Mack told The Gleaner.
Jobson-Grant has been principal of the Polly Ground Primary School in Ewarton for 31 years. She said although many persons in the community have been employed by the Alcan and Windalco bauxite companies over the years, unemployment is the biggest concern among her constituents.
"If we could get the young people engaged or attached to some companies, even on a short-term basis, it woud help. It would give them a taste of what it is to work," Jobson-Grant said.
She disclosed that the Ewarton Community Development Action Committee and Bramwell Clarke Sports Complex, two local organisations, are working to address the lack of employment in her hometown.
Born in Greenwich Farm, Tony Mack lived for many years in Philadelphia. He maintained his ties to Jamaican entertainment, particularly in Greenwich Farm during the 1970s and 1980s.
Mack was part of his hometown's vibrant music scene during that period when producer Bunny Lee, the Soul Syndicate Band and artistes such as Max Romeo, Johnny Clarke and Cornel Campbell were at their peak.