Four top bands to perform at 'Tribute to the Dragon'

In the tradition of The Dragon - the legendary musician and band leader Byron Lee, who carved out a reputation for always doing things bigger and better - the Byron Lee Foundation will on Saturday April 30, pull together four of Jamaica's top bands to perform on a show billed 'Tribute to The Dragon'.

Scheduled to take place in the Jamaica Pegasus Gardens, Tribute to the Dragon will see Fabulous 5 Inc., Errol Lee and the Bare Essentials, and Lloyd Parks and We the People bands, joining the rebranded Byron Lee's Dragonaires to honour the 'live' big-band legacy which Byron Lee helped forge.

As one of Lee's daughters, Julianne Lee Samuels, explained, "We are staging an event which will see all of those bands coming together to celebrate the impact and contribution that dad has had on the 'live' big-band industry in Jamaica over the last 55 years. It promises to be a truly phenomenal event that The Dragon would find very gratifying," she said.

Tribute to The Dragon is the first big entertainment event that the Byron Lee Foundation will be staging. However, it is the second major activity being undertaken by the foundation - following, as it does, the April 8 dedication of the sports field at Hillel Academy to which the Foundation donated seating for the bleachers.

Sheila Lee, Byron Lee's widow and head of the Foundation added that, in keeping with its mandate, the Byron Lee Foundation also intends to offer support for projects which record major milestones in the development of Jamaica's music, which are dedicated to capturing archival information about the music, and or which seek to present Jamaica's culture, and brand Jamaica as a whole, in a positive manner worldwide.

Additionally, the foundation will recognise, via scholarships and other appropriate means, bright sparks in the areas that were dearest to the heart of The Hon Byron Lee Sr, OJ: music and culture, sports and entrepreneurship, she said.

Musical offerings

The Lee family has also continued to keep The Dragon's legacy alive since his passing on November 4, 2008, largely through the release and sale of several musical offerings through which financing will be sourced to help support the work of the foundation. The most recent was the release of Soft Lee v9, the last in a series on which Byron Lee was working at the time of his passing.

Since that time also, the foundation released a compilation of Byron Lee and The Dragonaires' original soca hits and has disclosed that activities are under way for the 2011 release of two additional albums, including a gospel music album on which Lee had been working, and a Christmas album, due for release in 2012.

Tickets for the April 30 'Tribute to The Dragon' will go on sale on April 27 from ticket outlets at My Jamaica, Liguanea Plaza; The Jamaica Pegasus hotel; and Manor Collections, Manor Park Plaza.