JAMAICA FESTIVAL
a national salute to local talent and ingenuity in local vernacular
"a bam
bam." How appropriate that the phrase introduced to the nation in 1966
by Toots and the Maytals in their winning festival song, can be used to
aptly describe Jamaica Festival itself. A major training opportunity for
thousands of Jamaicans, Jamaica Festival's mandate was (and still is)
to focus attention on "Things Jamaican" Jamaican creativity and
cultural awareness across socio-economic levels. As Edward Seaga, then
JLP Minister of Development and Welfare, spelled out in his Long-term
Development Plan for Jamaica (1963-8), festival was integral to national
development because it was a way of giving Jamaicans a sense of who we
are, and what our history and culture is all about. These concerns took
on added importance during that immediate post-Independence period.
 Seaga remembers the
1962 Independence Festival celebrations which he helped coordinate and
which laid the groundwork for the real start of festival as we know it
today, as being aimed at commemorating a substantial achievement with
the excitement and enthusiasm it deserved. Unlike other countries where
the sheer achievement of independence was itself an occasion for joyous
celebration, marked by a specific day, Jamaica's independence was achieved
gradually and a convenient day near to Emancipation Day was chosen (the
first Monday in August) to mark Independence. There was therefore a need
he said, for "something to mobilize the spirit of the people". That something
became Jamaica Festival, the first of which was really held in 1963, on
the anniversary of the previous year's Independence celebrations. Festival
has since been staged every succeeding year without fail. Although popular
support for it has varied at times over the past 4 decades, it has nevertheless
become part of the formal Jamaican development landscape a visible
and tangible expression of the vitality and range of Jamaican culture
and creativity.
In a 1968 presentation
to the House, Seaga sought to institutionalise and formalise festival
proceedings by proposing to establish the Jamaica Festival Commission.
The Act was passed unanimously. In 1980 another Bill was passed in Parliament
making The Festival Commission the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission
(JCDC), the name by which it is known today, and a name well suited to
its work which by then had become entwined with cultural development.
Today, the JCDC is also responsible for organizing aspects of the country's
annual independence celebrations.
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THE ROOTS OF FESTIVAL
Jamaica has a long
track record of creative arts competitions. One of the first known was
staged by the Institute of Jamaica in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victoria's
60th year on the throne. Competitions were held annually in vocal and
instrumental music, handicraft, poetry, architecture, essay writing and
natural history research until 1907 when the earthquake intervened. In
the early part of the 20th century, all-island elocution contests and
music festivals coupled with the tradition of eisteddfod (i.e.,
local gatherings of music competitions) organised by Mico, the Jesuits
at St. George's College, the Music Society of Jamaica and the Poetry League
became popular. The year 1910 is worth special note as it marked the introduction
of a young Jamaican named Marcus Garvey who represented his parish of
St. Ann in elocution, placing third overall. In general these contests
were judged by Englishmen and contained a decidedly English aesthetic.
In the 1930s, a decade
of significant social upheaval and change on the island, Jamaica Welfare
Ltd. was established and village competitions that included art, craft,
plays, preserves and traditional dance, began. In addition, Mico
graduates, exposed to music and art forms, took that influence with them
as they began their teaching assignments around the island, contributing
to the growth of a national art form. Yet, in spite of claims to be representative
of the entire island, these contests remained largely Kingston-based until
the 1946 Portland Festival. This week-long event, a spontaneous effort
organized by local citizens that included bringing schools and adults
together to allow for eliminations at the inter-school and inter-village
levels, marked the beginning of a movement. St. Catherine followed suit
in 1949, St. Ann in 1951 and Manchester in 1954.
In 1955, the movement
evolved to include celebrations that were not only islandwide but year-long.
For the first time parish level competitions led up to national competitions
with national finals held in Kingston. The popular three-hour long Jamaica
Bandwagon with its float parade organised by Eric Coverly was introduced.
Co-ordinated by arts stalwart Robert Verity and presented in all parish
capitals, the bandwagon took popular entertainment to the people at street
corners and in the villages. Bennett helped organise arts celebrations
in 1960 and 1962 as part of the Independence Festival, and went on to
be awarded the Order of Distinction in 1977 for his outstanding contributions
in the field of Jamaican theatre. By the early 1960s, however, no central
organisational structure to ensure the repetition, growth and increasing
Jamaicanisation of such events was yet in place.
That development came
in 1963, when following the success of the Independence Festival, such
an overall organisation was introduced. A small unit known as the Festival
Office was established in the Ministry of Development and Welfare under
Seaga's leadership, and in 1964, Hugh Nash, a man whose name would become
synonymous with Jamaica Festival over the years, was appointed director.
Nash held that post from 1964-67, in 1969, from 1974-77 and 1981-83. In
1983 he, too, was awarded the Order of Dis-tinction for his contributions
to the development of festival.
When asked to reflect
on the development of festival, Nash vividly recalls the enthusiasm of
the thousands of volunteers and the non-partisan nature of their involvement.
Each parish was divided into Festival Zones with a committee for each
zone charged with encouraging entries in dance, music, speech and the
culinary arts. (It wasn't until 1966 that the popular festival song competition
was added).
An important administrative strategy that began in the early years was
the annual national evaluation seminar that took place in September each
year to highlight what worked and what needed improvement. Nash recalls
these sessions as full of creative energy, with cultural activists like
Rex Nettleford and Dr. Joyce Robinson and himself sitting for hours with
Mr. Seaga (sometimes on the floor surrounded by papers), throwing out
idea after idea.
Nash explained that
the timing of festival during the summer linked it naturally to efforts
to stimulate travel to the island amongst non-Jamaicans and Jamaicans
living abroad. It also nicely coincided with the annual Denbigh Agricultural
Show which festival performers and queens often attended to add a cultural
element to the proceedings.
When asked to reflect
on the development of festival, Seaga feels that festival has in many
ways lived up to his dream of "maintaining, preserving and developing
our cultural resources, the unique natural, creative talents which belong
to our people, having opened the doors for young people around the country
in all fields of creativity and given them a means of expression."
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FESTIVAL
TODAY
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Participants
in the festival dance competition
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In the 40 years since
its inception, thousands of Jamaicans have benefited from Jamaica Festival
programmes. The Festival Commission and now the JCDC has exposed and nurtured
the talents of renowned cultural artistes as Bob Marley, Mervyn Morris,
Kapo, David Boxer, Barrington Watson, Lennie Little-White, Stephen "Cat"
Coore, Joan Andrea Hutchinson, Fae Ellington and Susan Alexander.
Today, the JCDC falls
under the auspices of the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development.
The administrative structure still maintains a large volunteer-base particularly
at the parish level where a JCDC officer is appointed to oversee activities.
Total JCDC staff numbers over 100 and includes National Youth Service
(NYS) members and holiday workers.
Current programmes
reap the benefit of the early Festival movement's attempt to establish
a comprehensive presentation of all the arts imaginable, from the graphic
to the culinary, to the performance and the literary. As a result, they
can now be called traditional festival events. These include Art and Photography,
Craft, Literary Arts, the National Mento Band competition, Dances, Speech
(in standard and Jamaican English), Drama, Music, the National Festival
Song and Gospel Song competitions as well as the Miss Jamaica Festival
Queen Contest.
The best of the Festival
of the Performing Arts (dance, speech, drama and music) is showcased in
the JCDC's annual Mello Go Roun' which this year will be staged in Montego
Bay in addition to Kingston. The JCDC also presents an annual exposition
of art, craft, traditional music, dance, games and food at the National
Mento Yard.
Current Executive
Director, Marcia Hextall, the fifth female to hold that post, is excited
at the activities planned for this special 40th year, particularly the
float parade an event that last took place in the 1980s. The parade
of 19 floats, 10 costume groups and 12 effigies will begin at Devon House
on Independence Day and end up at the National Stadium. Also new this
year is the 'Festival Train' a road show set to travel across the island
from Sunday, July 28 to Friday, August 2 stopping at 30 locations, featuring
the finalists in many of the competitions. Parishes will have at least
one matinee and one night event. Another key event is the 'Oldies Festival
Song Showcase' to be held in Morant Bay and Montego Bay featuring the
songs from the first 10 years Toots and the Maytals will headline.
Additional highlights of this year's independence celebrations include
the 'Grand Send-off' on Sunday, July 28 in Morant Bay and the final "Ol'
Time Independence Street Dance" in Half-Way Tree on Wednesday, July 31.
Forty years later,
what has now become a traditional report to the nation continues.
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