Reggae actors wary of the shadow of crime

When Reggae Month officially got under way on Monday, most of the attention was focused on the monster of crime. The merriment that is usually associated with the month-long celebrations was virtually absent, so much so that many Jamaicans seemed to have forgotten that Monday was also the birthday of the late 'Crown Prince of Reggae', Dennis Brown.

Today, key stakeholders of Reggae Month say Jamaicans should not let the crime monster overshadow the month that is geared at celebrating the best of Jamaica.

"I hope that what is happening now and what happened at the beginning of the month in Trelawny does not overshadow the month and what it is that we're trying to achieve in terms of the celebration of reggae. There is a small minority of persons out there who are perpetrating these acts and are contributing to how negatively our country is perceived," said Howard McIntosh, chairman of the Entertainment Advisory Board and a member of the Sports and Entertainment linkages network in the Ministry of Tourism.

"But when it comes to the creative industries, we have a brilliant brand in Jamaica and part of that brand is reggae music. We cannot allow a small minority to do anything that will devalue that brand, and so we should do what we can to celebrate it. Yes, there is the monster of crime that we're constantly fighting but there is also so much good happening in Jamaica," he said.

Ewan Simpson, president of the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association, opined that though crime has been a major part of the conversation in Jamaica for a while, "we still have a lot to celebrate in our music and our cultural product".

"And we will celebrate them despite the upsurge in violence, despite the coronavirus, despite the restrictions and the lockdown. We will celebrate ourselves and our music because it continues to be a source of inspiration not just for Jamaicans but for the rest of the world," he said.

"There will always be the negative and there is an appetite for that, but as a people we must determine how we use the positive and magnify that. We should be trying to identify the missionaries of positive music and celebrate them. We should make it about them, giving them the spotlight instead of staining the entire product in the negative shadow of crime and violence."