On Wednesday, March 4th the Coalition to Preserve Reggae music (CPR) in association with ZYNC TV NEW YORK LINKS hosted the highly anticipated community forum and panel discussion titled, “Could Dancehall be the ruination of Reggae and by extension the Jamaica brand?” The hot button debate was witnessed by about 200 persons who turned out to the historic Billie Holiday Theatre at Restoration Plaza in Brooklyn.
Jamaica’s Consul General to New York, Mrs. Genevieve Brown-Metzger brought greetings to the community stating that she personally welcomed the recent initiatives by the Government through its regulatory agency, the Broadcasting Commission; in saying enough is enough to those artistes, producers and mass media houses that have collaborated to bring the music and our popular culture into disrepute.
The impressive selection of panelists included Cristy Barber, VP of Marketing at VP Records; Jon “FX” Crawford , music producer; Ed Robinson, reggae singer and producer; Sheron Hamilton-Pearson, president of People of Black Heritage, a community based organization; Anthony Turner, journalist and publicist and Carter Van Pelt, host of Columbia University’s WKCR 89.9 FM’s Eastern Standard Time programme.
They, along with the audience agreed that dancehall is only one of the major ills affecting Jamaican youths, citing lack of employment opportunities, poor education and social dislocation as other ills threatening Jamaica’s youth. It was made clear that the Jamaican government has the responsibility to address the social, economic and educational deficiencies but panelists disagreed about the role of banning, agreeing instead that such regulation should come from within the industry.
CPR achieved its mission of gathering information which will inform its advocacy aimed at raising the bar in the production and performance of Jamaican music. According to Carlyle McKetty, cofounder of CPR, “CPR will continue its efforts to gather information regarding the state of the music and develop and implement strategies to effect it advancement.”
The Brooklyn forum came a week after another similar effort at the Jamaican Consulate as the Diaspora weighed in on recent developments within the popular culture industry during Reggae Month.
While calling attention to an industry that has contributed its fair share to the social and economic development of Independent Jamaica, the panelists led by Attorney/Broadcaster Jeffrey ‘Jeff’ Barnes agreed that the absence of a clearly defined social development agenda was influencing the music.
Another forum is being planned for the Bronx in April. Stay tuned.
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Contact:
Aubrey L. Campbell
JIS/NY
T: 212-935-7506