The reggae music industry in Jamaica is poised to get a big boost in the new year with the launch of the Global Reggae Studies Centre, the brainchild of Dr Carolyn Cooper who is very well known both locally and internationally for her often controversial opinions on Jamaican society. At a time when dancehall culture is under attack and there are strident calls in the media for DJs to be silenced, Cooper proposes to offer training programmes to help professionalise the beleaguered industry. In 1992, Cooper first came to prominence as an expert on the cultural roots of Jamaican popular music when she was invited by Olivia 'Babsy' Grange to speak at the inaugural seminar on establishing a venture capital fund for the reggae music industry. In response to the furore provoked by Buju Banton's Boom Bye Bye, Cooper spoke about the implications of marketing reggae music internationally.
She warned that DJs couldn't simply export local cultural values without taking into account the complexity of the external market. At the same time, Cooper acknowledged the authority of deeply entrenched, local cultural norms - such as the institutionalised aversion to homosexuality, breakdown of 'values and attitudes. Much more recently, Cooper has been invited to make a submission in January to the Sessional Select Committee on Human Resources and Social Development of the Houses of Parliament on the current debate about what influence, if any, dancehall culture has on the perceived breakdown of "values and attitudes" in Jamaican society. In addition to facilitating public debate on contentious social issues, the Global Reggae Studies Centre will provide training for music industry practitioners through short courses and seminars on a variety of business-oriented topics. The centre is the culmination of Cooper's three decades of research and teaching on Jamaican culture.
An innovative scholar and cultural entrepreneur, Cooper is the author of two influential books on Jamaican culture: Sound Clash: Jamaican Dancehall Culture at Large (2004); and Noises in the Blood: Orality, Gender and the 'Vulgar' Body of Jamaican Popular Culture (1993). Her essays on culture are widely published, most recently in Jamaica Absolutely (2010). The Global Reggae Studies Centre will be launched with a lecture by Linton Kwesi Johnson, distinguished poet, performer, political activist and public intellectual, who will speak on 'African Consciousness in Reggae Music'. The launch event takes place on Sunday, January 3 at 6 p.m. at Villa Ronai, Old Stony Hill Road. The internationally acclaimed poets Mutabaruka, Jean 'Binta' Breeze and Joan Andrea Hutchinson will perform. Up-and-coming poet Robert Graham will read from his manuscript, Deportee: It's Not Over.
The business of music will never be the same . . . hundreds of traditional as well as online radio stations that play Reggae and Dancehall music. Some of these stations are also interactive and allow listeners to participate online by sending messages and voting for their favorite DJs. I would strongly recommend that our artists and producers check out one such station in the form of Supreme Vibz Radio at www.supremevibz.com . This is a station with DJs from a number of different cities around the globe. Several Jamaicans living overseas play on this station Please Read more
This page was last updated: By Flex January 8, 2010
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The American Foundation for the University of the West Indies (AFUWI) says it will honour four Caribbean prime ministers and Jamaica’s Olympic and World Athletic Champion, Usain Bolt, at its annual fundraising gala here in January. AFUWI says Barbados’ Prime Minister David Thompson, Belize’s Prime Minister Dean Barrow, Grenada’s Prime Minister Tillman Thomas, and Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Patrick Manning will be honoured at the event on January 28.
“The annual gala is the AFUWI’s premier fundraising event in the United States at which the prestigious Legacy Awards are conferred on notable individuals who represent high levels of achievement within their respective fields of industry and enterprise,” AFUWI said. “This year, the four Caribbean prime ministers will be presented with the Legacy Awards,” it added. The other categories are Caribbean Luminary, The Vice Chancellor’s Achievement Award, and The University of the West Indies Bob Marley Award.
Next year’s recipient of the University of the West Indies Bob Marley Award is Emmy Award winner Spike Lee, an African American. “This honour is granted to individuals whose contribution to the advancement of arts and culture transcends boundaries of race, color, creed and geographies, uniting people throughout the world in a spirit that embodies the essence of the music and lyrics of the Hon Robert Nesta Marley, OM,” the foundation said.
Dr Edison O. Jackson, a former president of Medgar Evers College, a Brooklyn-based Black college at the City University of New York, will be presented with the foundation’s Special Award. The foundation said Jackson, who headed Medgar Evers College for two decades, is ‘being honoured for his exemplary leadership and innovation in the field of education.’ AFUWI said Bolt, the Jamaican-born triple Olympic and World Athletic Champion, will be presented with a special award ‘in honour of his record-breaking performance in the recent Olympics and World Championships.’
Four Caribbean leaders and Jamaican sprint star to be honored . Read More
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Reggae music in Jamaica to get big boost in 2010, with the Global Reggae Studies Centre Read More
Dr. Carolyn Cooper
Usain Bolt
