Jamaica turns 50 this year, 2012, as an independent nation. The top 10 finalists and their songs in the 2012 Festival Song Competition have been selected from 160 hopefuls for the crown. 35 selections from Valentine’s Day were squared off at semi-finals the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre recently.
The ten copping the top to vie for the 50th anniversary crown are Bess A Bess by Denton “Monsoon” Bedward; Dis A Mi Island by Nester Chung; Down in Jamaica by Rudolph Tomlinson; I Love JA by Ryan Willis; Jamaica Beat Dem Bad by Tashina McKenzie; Jamaica Jah Mek Ya by Calvin Wisdom; Jamaica Mi Love Unu by Sheldon Howell; One for All Jamrock by Dorel Lecky, Reginald Mills and Gregory Allison; Real Born Jamaican by Abbygaye Dallas; and Still Going Strong by Oniel Scott.
The songs range in genre from mento to dancehall and David Reid, Festival Song coordinator heads the team to make the songs worthwile for the 50th anniversary celebrations. According to him in a Gleaner interview “The aim was to capture all our rhythms as long as they evoked national pride and have the ability to make people dance.”
Oneil Scott is the only finalist who did not enter the 2010 competition. Reid says the finalists “… are mainly semi-professional people who have been singing for a while but are unknown. This is their chance now to become known,” he said.
A slate of workshops, grooming excercises starting today are designed for the contestants. Today’s workshop will focus on grooming, media relations, stagecraft and vocal delivery, by some of Jamaica’s best practitioners in the respective crafts: Donovan Marshall (grooming); Dervan Malcolm (media relations), Dr L’Antoinette Stines (stagecraft), and Denae Greaves (vocal delivery).
The Jamaica Festival Song Competition which started in 1966 is the longest-running song competition in Jamaica, projecting some of Jamaica’s acclaimed singers.
The album of the songs set for release during the first week of May. The national final is slated for Saturday, July 7.
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