Festival song ‘the pulse of Independence celebrations’ - Roy Rayon

There were a few moments of laughter and high excitement over at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre on Saturday night as more than 30 semifinalists sang and danced their hearts out hoping to impress the judges enough to secure one of the 10  slots available in the 2026 Jamaica Festival Song Competition. 

Staged by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), an agency of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the semifinal show for the 2026 Jamaica Festival Song Competition was free to  the public, but attendees comprised mainly family members and friends of the contestants who travelled from across the island to lustily cheer them on.

As the contestants took to the stage, starting with contestant number FS 29017, Denton Harris from Manchester, with Proud Jamaica, followed by Dalton Lindo (FS 29334) with Rebuild Jamaica and Dinno Pinnock from Portland with Wi Carry Jamaica and Andrew Livingston with Nah Sell Out Jamaica, a pattern emerged. Patriotism was the name of the game and the word ‘Jamaica’ was used in 25 of the 33 song titles presented. However, as chief judge, Roy Rayon, pointed out, “it is fine if you have ‘Jamaica’, but that is not the only ingredient”.

He shared some of the key things that the panel looked for.

“You are talking about celebration, you are thinking about Independence, you are thinking about Grand Gala, so the songs must be the pulse of Independence and once you can find that, you are on your way,” the Give Thanks and Praises singer said.

Quizzed how difficult it was to choose 10 songs out of 33, Rayon declared, “It is always going to be difficult” and for that reason there are five judges, so the majority carries in the decision-making process.

“If three judges say ‘Let’s go with this’, as long as it’s within the framework, that is how it’s going to go. Sometimes it’s unfortunate that that’s how it goes. Let me give you an example. My song in 1984 was the number 11 song, out of 10. Tinga Stewart’s brother who won with Hooray Festival … that was the number-seven song, when they had six songs. They always keep two in the back just in case somebody drops out,” he explained.

Rayon said that the talent pool this year was “varied”. From the initial batch of 180 entries, the judges selected 33, after listening to the songs which had each entry identified as a number rather than the name of the singer.

“We heard the songs before and some people who we heard on the record came out in person very strong. The writing was good … some of them came up with some clever things … we are doing well,” Rayon told The Gleaner.

Many in the audience certainly agreed with him and they were not shy to show their appreciation for artistes such as Latanya Stompp,  Chrisrina Evans, Elton Earlington who  gave out flags during his song Proud a Jamaica, Alberto Fray, Jodian Frith, Wilford Jennings, Ovando Levy of Levy’s Heritage, Hubert Mair, Tricia Cunningham, Charmaine Wright, Nicholas Burns and the others.

If there were a trophy for Most Amusing Song, it would have to go to Aba Jones, whose Teet A Fi Me was simply hilarious and, by crowd response alone as the measure, would certainly put him in strong contention for one of the slots reserved for the 10 finalists. His song weaves a tale about a man who finds himself attracted to a nice young lady, but “her teeth scatter”. He spends the money to fix them, but with this comes a warning, “If yuh eva cheat yuh haffi gimme back mi teeth … yuh mouth a fi yuh but di teet a fi mi”. A good performer, he had the crowd rolling with laughter. 

Ovando Levy, a teacher at Old Harbour High, with his entry Jamaica School Bingi Ling, made a great impression and so too did Solomon ‘Brother C’ Walters, last year’s second-place winner. The energetic Brother C was not accompanied by Jegz this time around, and he told The Gleaner that he wanted to go solo this year.

“I want to see how well I can really expand myself, sometimes it’s good to be alone. I got a few shows after the competition, but I am still giving thanks because I could get no shows. I just have mi fingers crossed that Jamaica Woiee a go come in this time,” Brother C said.

The Jamaica Festival Song Competition is one of the nation’s most-celebrated cultural traditions, serving as a cornerstone of Jamaica’s Independence Festival celebrations and a platform for emerging and established artistes to showcase their talent on a national stage. The longest-running competition of its kind in the country, it has spawned many winners who have gone on to become household names. These include Toots Hibbert, Eric Donaldson and Roy Rayon. Other winners have included The Astronauts, Stanley and the Turbines, Tinga Stewart, Stacious, and Buju Banton. Last year, Abigail ‘Abi-D’ Dunstan walked away with the top prize for her song, Sweet JA.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com 

CAPTIONS

Aba Jones created a huge impact with the hilarious ‘Teet A Fi Me’.Annika Minott performs 'One People' at JCDC's Festival Song Competition semi-final, on Saturday at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre. 

Last year’s second place winner, Brother C, returned this year to offer ‘’Jamaica Woie’

Lloyd Reece performs his entry titled ‘Build Back Jamaica’ at the semifinals show on Saturday.

Dean McGowan told the audience that there’s nowhere better than ‘Sweet Jamaica’

‘Melissa Mash We Up’ was Hubert Mair's entry in the JCDC's festival song competition. 

JodiAnn Frith came on stage like a ‘Champion’.