JCDC Festival Song Presentation Show ‘excellent’

The nine finalists in this year’s Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) Festival Song Competition brought their ‘A’ game to the official Presentation Show held on Saturday at the Louise Bennett Garden Theatre in St Andrew. 
In front of a full house, as well as hundreds of viewers online, Aba Jones (Teet A Fi Me); Elton Earlington (Proud a Jamaica); Melbourne ‘dBurnz’ Douglas, (I Love Jamaica); Ovando Levy (Jamaica School Bingi Ling); Tricia ‘Trisstar’ Cunningham (I am Jamaican); Salomon ‘Brother C’ Walters (Jamaica Woie); Beverley ‘Bovia’ Henry (Jamaica Pon Di App); Christina ‘Lady Jazz’ Evans (Jamaica a Fiwi island); and Latanya ‘Song Bird’ Stampp (My Jamaica, Land of Festival) stepped on stage looking like winners and threw down award-worthy performances.
As indicated by the names, the songs are soaked in patriotism. However, there’s one that relies heavily on creativity, humour and storytelling, but it still hits the mark. As JCDC Executive Director Lenford Salmon told The Gleaner, “There are at least six songs that could win and nobody would have a problem.” 
The evening’s presentations was a mixture of performances and vignettes, through which the audience could get to know the contestants and start making their choices for the top three. As an introduction, the finalists performed a cover of a song of their choice, and this early segment was the perfect appetiser for the full-course meal ahead. 
Their choices were eclectic, with songs such as Toots and the Maytals’ Six and Seven Books; Queen Ifrica’s Lioness on the Rise; Everton Blender’s Ghetto Pepole Song; Neil Diamond’s I Am, I Said (made popular by Mikey Spice), and Lady G’s Nuff Respect. Ovando Levy took the Louise Bennett Theatre straight to church with Goodness of God and so, too ,did Song Bird, with a rousing gospel medley titled Oh What Singing.
Part Two of the presentation saw the finalists changed off in their Sunday best as they prepared to dazzle with their original entries and impress the judges – Chief Judge Roy Rayon, producer Omar ‘SmartKid’ Currie, producer Paul ‘Computer Paul’ Henton, and entertainment specialist, Judith Bodley – as well as the new fans they hoped to make. Song Bird got a lot of love for “jazzing and dubbing up the song”; Ovando Levy’s Bingi Ling got a high grade from the audience, and Aba Jones tickled the funny bones with the non-traditional Teet A Fi Mi, especially when he looked in the audience at the Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange and sang from his heart, “If yuh eva cheat Miss Babsy yuh betta gimme back mi teet.” 
Finalist dBurnz spoke for all the contestants when he told The Gleaner that “tonight was excellent”. 
“The feeling of being on stage and hearing the people react to the performances ... reacting to me when I got on stage before even performing was just awesome,” he said.
This year, JCDC is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Jamaica Festival Song Competitions and Minister Grange shared that she has “mixed emotions”.
“Because it’s almost like I’ve grown up with the Festival Song Competition ... in an out of Government. When I’m not a minister, I would be in West Kingston, where I coordinated a cultural programme, and I would have entries in the Festival Song Competition. So it’s really my baby,” Minister Grange told The Gleaner.
“I find that the competition is something that encourages patriotism.  Persons who enter come with a passion for Jamaica and want to express how they feel about Jamaica. And I really want to commend every single individual who has entered the competition over the years,” Grange said.
Saturday’s concert was organised by the JCDC. A welcoming party stationed at the entrance gave the event “big show vibes”. 
To determine the winners, the competition incorporates a public voting system that is combined with the verdict of the panel of judges. Fans can vote by calling or texting the word “VOTE” to the specific number assigned to that contestant. Overseas fans can participate by using the Reggae Jamaica App on their mobile devices.
Emcee for the evening was The Vibe Master Jerry D.
yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com