Festival song renaissance

Leighton Levy, Gleaner Writer

It can be argued that the golden era of the festival song contest occurred between 1966, when Bam Bam by the Maytals took top prize, and 1985, when Roy Rayon's Love Fever capped what was a great 20-year run. In-between, there were so many quality songs it is hard to pick a clear favourite from the likes of Ba Ba Boom, Music Like Dirt, Cherry Oh Baby, Pomps and Pride, Play the Music, Hooray Festival, Land of my Birth, and many others.

From 1985, the festival song competition was a roller-coaster ride, during which some songs slipped permanently from memory while others registered brief periods of popularity, but it was the first 20 years that still rule. That may be about to change as through a deliberate and so far successful campaign by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, the JCDC, the festival song competition seems to be experiencing something of a renaissance.

Difficult task for judges

Tomorrow night at the National Arena, the judges who will decide this year's winner have a difficult task on their hands, as about 80 per cent of the songs up for consideration are actually good enough to take the title as festival song 2011 and win for the singer/producer/songwriter a million dollars in cash. The singer will also drive away with a brand new Nissan Tiida, courtesy of Fidelity Motors. The competition starts at 8 p.m.

Coordinator of the festival song contest, David Stephen Reid, credits this resurgence of the competition to a plan that was put in place three years ago. "We returned to the name festival song in 2008 and since then there has been a drive to get the competition back to its glorious days. Since last year we went out to reshape what the competition should be," he said. "Last year was the first time and we did have some impact, and so it moved over into this year and we look forward to 2012."

Good songs

This year, he said, prior to the closing date for entries, representatives from the JCDC went out and met with the entrants, planting the seeds that would eventually evolve into the current crop up for consideration this year. "We were pushing our agenda that we needed not just a song that people will be interested in only for the Independence period, but songs that will carry over like Cherry Oh Baby did for the nation, songs that will touch people not only in Jamaica but across the diaspora, and other international music lovers. So it has been a drive to get the competition back to a standard which all of us can appreciate."

What came out of that process were Oh If We by Everton Pressoa; Everything Tun Up by Qshan Deya; Jamaicans Bright by Raheen; Bring on the Vibes by Marshell; Jamaica Sunshine by Andy Livingston; Start It by Rasmamaba; Big Celebration by Tinga Stewart; Change the Talk by Bunny Brown; No More Pressure by Charley Redlax and Jamaica Land of Beauty by Mojo Herb.

But the JCDC's intervention alone could not have yielded the desired results without the input of veteran producer Clifton 'Specialist' Dillon, whose expertise in music production helped make the final products worthy. He brought in other producers who also helped enhance the quality of the production.

"The final touches to the songs really enhanced the quality of the voices, and that was helped by the fact that we have some good singers - Tinga Stewart, Marshell, Bunny Brown and others," he said. The lyrics, said Reid, were also more structured and lends to the longevity of the songs.

Reid said he was pleasantly surprised by how quickly success has been realised. "We knew we had launched a drive to get to standard and after two years I don't want to say we have reached there because the journey continues - as the album comprising the songs is titled - but the standard this year, based on the feedback that we have been getting from people in the music industry, people like Tony Rebel, Queen Ifrica, is one of the best in many many moons. We are happy we have reached this far in this short period, but we will continue because we don't want to drop the ball."