The Jamaica Independence Festival is a celebration of Jamaica's independence, a status gained in 1962.
The festival was initiated in 1962 by then Minister of Community Development (and later Prime Minister) Edward Seaga, to showcase literary, fine, and performing artists, [1] and to celebrate "things Jamaican". [2] The festival was considered integral to national development as a way of giving Jamaicans a sense of who they are, and what their history and culture is all about. [2] The festival was scheduled for the first Monday in August, to coincide with the holiday to celebrate both independence and emancipation. [1] The festival includes agricultural exhibitions, and street parades, climaxing in a grand gala at Kingston's National Stadium. Supporting events take place all over the island. A formal organizing group, the Jamaica Festival Commission was established by an act of parliament in 1968, which became the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) by another parliamentary act in 1980. [2] Today, the administrative structure includes a large volunteer-base with a JCDC officer appointed to oversee activities in each parish. The festival now includes the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen Contest, a national Mento band competition, and a gospel song competition. [2]
One of the highlights of the festival is the Popular Song Competition (before 1990 known as the Independence Festival Song Competition), which first took place in 1966, and has been won by artists such as The Maytals, Desmond Dekker, Freddie McKay, and Eric Donaldson. [1]
The Popular Song Competition has taken place since 1966, with the winners as follows:
In 2004, in a move to widen the genre of entries submitted, the JCDC announced a $1 million grand prize to be shared among songwriter, singer and producer of the winning entry. [8] By 2010 the prize had risen to a million dollars and a car. [3]
In 2008, the JCDC announced that the Jamaican Festival Song Competition title would return, running in parallel with the Popular Song Competition, hoping that the previous title would re-create feelings of celebration among Jamaicans at Independence time. [9]
The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music.
Desmond Dekker was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group the Aces, he had one of the earliest international reggae hits with "Israelites" (1968). Other hits include "007 " (1967), "It Mek" (1969) and "You Can Get It If You Really Want" (1970).
Frederick Nathaniel "Toots" Hibbert, was a Jamaican singer and songwriter who was the lead vocalist for the reggae and ska band Toots and the Maytals. A reggae pioneer, he performed for six decades and helped establish some of the fundamentals of reggae music. Hibbert's 1968 song "Do the Reggay" is widely credited as the genesis of the genre name reggae. His band's album True Love won a Grammy Award in 2005.
Sly and Robbie were a prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production duo, associated primarily with the reggae and dub genres. Drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare teamed up in the mid-1970s after establishing themselves separately in Jamaica as professional musicians. Shakespeare died in December 2021 following kidney surgery.
Leighton Keith "Pluto" Shervington was a Jamaican reggae musician, singer, audio engineer, and record producer.
Eric Donaldson is a Jamaican reggae singer-songwriter. He originated in Saint Catherine, Jamaica.
Derrick Morgan OD is a Jamaican musical artist who was popular in the 1960s and 1970s. He worked with Desmond Dekker, Bob Marley, and Jimmy Cliff in the rhythm and blues and ska genres, and he also performed rocksteady and skinhead reggae.
Byron Lee and the Dragonaires are a Jamaican ska, calypso and soca band. The band played a crucial pioneering role in bringing Caribbean music to the world. Byron Lee died on 4 November 2008, after suffering from cancer for a sustained period.
The Skatalites are a ska band from Jamaica. They played initially between 1963 and 1965, and recorded many of their best known songs in the period, including "Guns of Navarone." They also played on records by Prince Buster and backed many other Jamaican artists who recorded during that period, including Bob Marley & The Wailers, on their first single "Simmer Down." They reformed in 1983 and have played together ever since.
Tinga Stewart is a Jamaican reggae singer. Stewart won the Festival Song Contest three times, twice as a singer and once as a songwriter.
Ophlin Russell, better known as Sister Nancy, is a Jamaican dancehall DJ and singer. She is known as the first female dancehall DJ and was described as being a "dominating female voice for over two decades" on the dancehall scene.
The Jamaicans were a ska/rocksteady group formed in Jamaica in 1967, consisting of members Tommy Cowan, Norris Weir, Derrick Brown and Martin Williams.
Stanley Beckford (1942–2007) was a Jamaican born Mento singer, songwriter, and four time Jamaica Independence Festival song contest winner who recorded as a solo artist and with the bands The Starlights/Starlites, Stanley and the Turbines, and Stanley and the Astronauts.
Jeffrey E. Campbell, better known as Agent Sasco, and Assassin, is a Jamaican dancehall deejay.
Roy Rayon is a Jamaican singer who has won the Jamaica Independence Festival Popular Song Competition four times.
The Independence Day of Jamaica is a national holiday celebrated in Jamaica. This holiday commemorates such an event, it is one of the most senior public holidays celebrated in Jamaica.
"Bam Bam" is a 1982 song by Jamaican dancehall recording artist Sister Nancy. The song's chorus was inspired by the 1966 song of the same name, by The Maytals and Byron Lee and the Dragonaires. The song's instrumental samples the 1974 song "Stalag 17", by Ansell Collins, a well known riddim, alternatively known as a backing track used repeatedly. The song has been labeled as a "well-known reggae anthem" by BBC and a "classic" by The Observer.
Paul Douglas is a Jamaican musician, best known for his work as the drummer, percussionist and bandleader of Toots and the Maytals. His career spans more than five decades as one of reggae's most recorded drummers. Music journalist and reggae historian David Katz wrote, "dependable drummer Paul Douglas played on countless reggae hits."
This Is Reggae Music: The Golden Era 1960–1975 is a reggae retrospective anthology issued as a 4-CD box set in 2004 by Trojan Records. The anthology, which was compiled by Colin Escott and Bas Hartong, is arranged in chronological order and features tracks by various artists, starting with mento and ska from the first half of the 1960s, then progressing to the slower rhythms of rocksteady and reggae, which both emerged later in the decade, continuing into the 1970s. Several of the acts featured are Derrick Morgan, Desmond Decker & the Aces, Toots & the Maytals, Jimmy Cliff, and Bob Marley and the Wailers.
West Indies Records Limited (WIRL) was a recording studio in Kingston, Jamaica established by future Prime Minister Edward Seaga in 1958. Seaga recruited and recorded many artists such as Higgs and Wilson, and Byron Lee and the Dragonaires. As Seaga pursued his political career he sold it to Byron Lee in 1964 who renamed it Dynamic Sounds. Dynamic became one of the best-equipped studios in the Caribbean, attracting both local and international recording artists including Eric Clapton, Paul Simon and The Rolling Stones.