Beres Hammond welcomes Reggae Month with open arms
Port Royal Pier venue ‘a charm’
Published:Friday | February 18, 2022 | 12:08 AM
Internationally acclaimed reggae singer, Beres Hammond, is used to having fans shower him with love and appreciation, but when it comes to Reggae Month, the tables are turned, and Hammond becomes not just a fan, but a whole air conditioner, as they say.
“Ahhh ... Reggae Month! We should have at least three,” he said with a hearty laugh. “Reggae Month … I welcome it with open arms. Reggae is the heartbeat of this country.”
The singer, whose expansive catalogue of solid, year-to-year hit songs has endeared him to audiences worldwide and earned for him the description “legend”, was his usual charismatic self when The Gleaner caught up with him at the Port Royal Pier. Hammond’s enthusiasm was not only for Reggae Month, but also for the venue and the concert that was being filmed for broadcast later this month. He generously dished out kudos.
“For me, this is a wonderful occasion,” Hammond said of the concert staged by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport and VP Records in honour of Reggae Month, and which was authorised to have a limited specially invited vaccinated-only audience with all COVID-19 protocols strictly enforced.
He added, “We have been locked down for so long. It’s about time, and this is a good start. I hope that by the end of the month, everything will be opened up again so that we can have more beautiful moments like this.”
The singer’s enthusiasm for the Port Authority of Jamaica’s cruise port at the Historic Naval Dockyard was unmatched. With its sunken garden, green spaces ideal for picnics and weddings, a soon-to-be-completed museum and upscale restaurant, and enough space to host the biggest dance or concert in reggae land, the port is shining bright like a diamond as Jamaica celebrates 60 years of Independence. It was the venue which VP Records chose to host Spice, Shaggy, and Sean Paul’s performance which aired on ‘Good Morning America’ and ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ last June.
Hammond noted, “And, this particular venue … this is a charm, man, this is a charm! I never even knew that this place existed. And this is the standard that I would wish for the concerts to be on … produced like this and proper.”
He also embraced VP Records’ representative Michelle Williams’ suggestion for him to do a concert at the pier. “I got no problem with that,” he told Williams.
In closing, Hammond had a thought-provoking moment.
“In addition to Reggae Month, we need to show more interest in what we have because sometimes it feels like we all … government included … underestimate what this thing is all about. The world is trying to tell us, but we are just not listening. A so it guh. I guess we will grow,” the elder statesman of reggae declared.
Reggae on the Pier will aired at the end of the month.