Jana and Rupert Bennet -File'...there is no shortage of live entertainment in Jamaica in the true sense of the word, ...'
Chaos, Freelance Writer
ONCE UPON a time, a man in a pinstriped suit would be blowing his lungs out on the saxophone, face and body contorted to produce lush notes...
Once upon a time, some genius would use his guitar to transport you to another time and place, one of his own devising...
Once upon a time, some songbird, some singer would charm and seduce...
Once upon a time...
Throughout the ages of ska, rock steady, reggae and whatever other sub genres one may think of, live music music played by real people on real instruments, people and things you could see and feel, were an integral part of the Jamaican musical landscape.
Slowly, but surely, the live bands began to disappear and, with them, many of the little jam sessions that dotted the landscape.
When The Sunday Gleaner decided to investigate the state of live entertainment in Jamaica, the problem of defining exactly what live entertainment is immediately came up. Do deejays on stage shows qualify, if they are performing over tracks? Of course they do. Looking at it logically, there is no shortage of live entertainment in Jamaica in the true sense of the word, with stage shows, parties featuring live performances and the odd jazz show all populating the Jamaican musical landscape. What was found to be missing however, were the smaller shows, the more intimate settings, places where musicians and artistes plied their trade with less electronic involvement, to the enjoyment of patrons who would close dance or just sit and absorb the music.
The Sunday Gleaner spoke to a number of the island's musicians, promoters and patrons in an effort to find out why and a number of interesting ideas came to light.
They can be summarised as follows: money, musicians, location, sound and again, money.
One bone of contention was the perceived lack of venues to host such events on a regular basis. The Village Café in Liguanea hosts an 'Open Microphone' night with house band Ting Deh every Tuesday. Red Bones the Blues Café has jazz shows and poetry readings on somewhat of a regular basis. Waterfalls in Liguanea is being touted as a possibility. Maurice Gordon has moved his semi-regular jazz shows from the now-defunct Grog Shoppe at Devon House to the Ashanti Oasis Vegetarian Restaurant at Hope Gardens.
This is a far cry from the days of old. Others have taken a stab or two at staging such events,but fail.
One such is Mile High bassist Jason Morris, who with his father Valmore, set up the Colours Lounge at the Olympia Crowne Hotel on Molynes Road with live music in mind. " I had the greatest musicians to come and play, Desi Jones..", Jason explained " ... but everyone was too scared too come".
Saxophonist Tony Greene and keyboardist/singer/promoter Harold Davis both agreed that more venues are needed, or more to the point, more live shows are needed at venues that already exist. "We need to have more live sessions and more live spots. It's one of the things holding back the music in Kingston; it can't be just in Montego Bay," stated Greene. Davis, who produces his 'Moonlighting' series of shows on a quarterly basis, had more to say. "There are venues that should have live music every week Emancipation Park is one of them. The Government should set aside a budget to have live music and such shows every week," he stated.
His was not the only call for Government intervention. Robert Collins, who is the proprietor of the Village Café, was just as vehement with his protestations. "Government agencies like the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) and Jampro need to get involved at the grassroots level. A lot of people feel like live music is North Coast; it must be represented in Kingston and the Government and the people have to support it. It s like football do you remember when the Reggae Boyz were qualifying for the World Cup (in 1998)? See what happened? If everybody got behind live music in the same way..." Collins told The Sunday Gleaner.
The call for Government aid comes on the heels of the prohibitive costs involved in staging a proper live show, which in turn stems from the way most of the venues mentioned are constructed, which is not very conducive for live music.
As with everything in these ever-changing times, people have become more discerning and selective when it comes to quality entertainment. So believes former Third World member, producer and freelance musician Rupert Bent III. "I might be the wrong person to ask I've been trying to do it for years," Bent laughed when asked how the live music scene in Jamaica could be brought back to life. "What has happened, we have a lot of stage and live shows which are produced at a certain level. When people go out and can t hear or see the singer, if they don t get at least a certain level of quality, it s going to be difficult to get them to come back. When you go to Asylum week after week, there are certain things you come to expect, so you keep going back.
In order to do anything you generally need professionals and professionals do not come cheap - unless you re me (laughs.) It's easier and cheaper to find a professional deejay than to find and pay a professional musician or set of musicians," he said.
An idea of some of the costs involved in staging live shows was obtained from sound and stage technician Ian Gibson. "Rent can vary from the owners taking the bar and food (income) to anything $250,000. A P.A. (Public Address) system rental can be anything from a low of $20,000 to $250,000 at somewhere like Sumfest", he stated before going on to list other equally prohibitive costs for equipment such as stage and lighting, all of this before manpower to set up and take down the equipment is taken into account.
Many of these costs become necessary because many events are staged in open air venues or buildings which were not designed and set up for live performances. For a band to perform properly, the experts indicate, not only does the audience need to hear them clearly; they need to hear themselves. For this, a proper system must be in place, as well as studio engineers and the like, and this costs money.
Nowadays clubs don t have their own systems and they have to be rented or the musicians bring their own and the kinds of returns (to make this viable on a regular basis) are not going to come in. I've seen it work at Carlos Café, Raphael's and at Devon House ...
What it really takes is for the club owners too suck it up profit wise, the way artistes and musicians are being asked to suck it up now, Bent explained, unwittingly echoing Tony Greene, who stated that he does not do many local shows because ...they don t meet my financial requirements. Not even me, but I have a crew to pay and certain things are just basic, he explained The Sunday Gleaner.
Collins believes that what needs to happen is that everyone finds some sort of middle ground. The artistes, promoters and owners need to be in a win-win situation if any of them have a problem, it s an industry destined for failure .
Jason Morris had earlier said to The Sunday Gleaner that owners/proprietors need to be more reasonable when it comes to venue rentals. Something which was hinted at, but never directly stated, was that the owners of potential venues tend to either offer deals which would leave the performers with little or nothing in their pockets or were charging exorbitant fee for the use of their facilities without having the necessary facilities to provide a decent sound.
On the other hand, owners suggested that the promoters and/or performers were the ones being unfair, because they were responsible for ensuring that people came to their shows and they at least recoup their expenses.
This brings us to the marketing aspect of events. Advertising does not come cheap in this day and age.
Of course, with all the money involved, the issue of corporate sponsorship also came up for scrutiny. According to Red Stripe brand manager Roger Thompson, who was quoted in The Sunday Gleaner of January 5 as saying "We must be mindful of the type of event, the promoter's track record and reputation and the type of audience targeted when deciding whether or not to sponsor an event".
This poses obvious problems for those wishing to stage events that are not popular music-oriented, for which one can read dancehall, and to a lesser extent jazz. Shows that feature established stars such as Bounty Killer and Beenie Man have little problem attracting corporate attention, as is the case with the Heineken Startime series, which relies largely on nostalgia for the hits and stars of yesteryear such as Gregory Isaacs.
Yet there is a wealth of musical talent in the island which deserves equal attention. Harold Davis' ' Moonlighting' series is one such example. The last staging, My Lunar Valentine , was a marvelous production. Yet what Davis largely relies on is friendship to get the event staged and word of mouth to advertise the series, the proceeds of which go to various charities. Another example is the Village Café, where performers of less popular genres in the island can go to ply their trade, such as Jana Bent and Mile High, names which do not, yet, draw the amount of attention that will interest corporate backers. It also serves has an avenue where new talent can come to light.
Rupert Bent told The Sunday Gleaner that " I go to karaoke shows and I see some people with amazing talent -the same thing with 'Open Mic' (at the Village Café) who knows, I might see someone who blows my socks off and I'd take them and work with them," he explained. Yet this avenue for hopefuls is being strangled by the green chokehold and there seems that not much can be done to relieve the pressure.
Unless, of course, people start to work together. If owners, promoters and performers can meet midway with their demands, if suitable permanent venues can be set up so that the enormous expenses involved in preparing the same each time a live show is planned can be reduced, if people come out to the shows if they once again become part of Jamaica's entertainment calendars, who knows what might be possible? Suppose the Government, with its new Entertainment Advisory Board, does get involved?
As Davis put it, "I wouldn't call them problems, I call them challenges. Investments need to be put in place but the onus is on us to show that there is good, honest, clean fun to be had. It's our responsibility .
Or, as Collins says, "...live music is not very cost-effective but the key is to develop consistency. Jamaica has to understand that live music didn t end with Bob Marley. It started with him and we need to build on his heritage."
