JaRIA ends Black History Month celebrations

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Reggae historians usually concur that Jamaican popular music has been shaped by a diverse collection of personalities. On Saturday, 17 stalwarts were recognised by the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JaRIA) at its Honour Awards Ceremony at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in St Andrew.

The event brought the curtains down on JaRIA's Reggae Month celebrations.

Some perennial names including Ken Boothe, Judy Mowatt and The Paragons received plaques, but there was also recognition for respected veterans like bass player Val Douglas, producer Clive Hunt and broadcaster Winston Williams.

Boothe brought the proceedings to a close with a typically rousing performance that included his hit songs Everything I Own and Freedom Street. He received his award from singer Tarrus Riley, with whom he did an impromptu version of Say You.

Also receiving awards were sound system operators Winston Blake of Merritone and Noel Harper of Kilamanjaro; engineers Michael Reilly and Dennis Thompson; former Third World member Michael 'Ibo' Cooper for mentorship at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts; guitarist Dwight Pinkney; producers Wycliffe 'Steely' Johnson and Cleveland 'Clevie' Browne, and the Fabulous Five band which has been together 40 years.

The 2011 cast included some of the pioneers of Jamaican popular music.

That august category included four greats of the rock steady era: Boothe, The Paragons, Delroy Wilson and Phyllis Dillon.

Wilson and Dillon, who recorded mainly for rival producers Clement 'Coxson' Dodd and Arthur 'Duke' Reid, respectively, were honoured posthumously.

Bass player Lloyd Parks, founder of the We The People Band and former member of the legendary Revolutionaries band at Channel One, received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The evening featured strong performances from The Tamlins, Mary Isaacs, Prilly Hamilton and Pam Hall.

The Tamlins paid homage to Hunt with a version of their hit song Baltimore on which he played horns, and also did a medley of Paragons' hits.

Isaacs did stylish renditions of Breakfast in Bed (on which Douglas played), and the Dillon hits, Don't Stay Away and Perfidia.

Hamilton enthusiastically delivered Wilson's Dancing Mood and Smooth Operator, while Hall put a classy jazz spin on Mowatt's Black Woman.

Browne accepted the Producers Award on behalf of his longtime friend and keyboardist Wycliffe 'Steely' Johnson, who died in 2009 at age 47. They were responsible for most of the hit songs during dancehall's golden age of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Browne, a drummer, said the JaRIA recognition was a nod to the changes he and Steely brought to the music.

"It's important for me that the music of Wycliffe 'Steely' Johnson, an icon, is kept alive," Browne told The Gleaner.

"An award like this shows the music industry acknowledges the work he and I did."

Comedian Christopher 'Johnny' Daley provided the laughs in two energetic stints. His take on the Manatt-Dudus 'soap opera' at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston was particularly amusing, and even had Culture Minister Olivia 'Babsy' Grange in stitches.