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Nadine Sutherland and Jana Bent
A SMALL group attentively listened to the stories of achievement, heartache, disappointment, triumph, support and love that were told at The University of the West Indies, Mona on Saturday afternoon.
These stories were of women in reggae music and were told by the five women who lived them. Nadine Sutherland spoke of her up and down career; Jana Bent of the long road she has had to travel; Sabrina Williams of the need for women to do it for themselves; Crissy D of the power of positive thinking and Ce'Cile of the importance of knowledge. The speeches were interspersed with rousing and sometimes heart-rending performances from Della Manley, Kitese Brisset, Nadz, Omega Four and several of the speakers.
The event was the 'Women in Reggae' forum put on by the Reggae Studies Unit at the university and was hosted in the Social Sciences Lecture Theatre. The forum was the second of its kind and was being done in commemoration of International Women's Day.
The afternoon's MC Sandra Joy Alcott, better known in the world of poetry as Sajoya, explained that the event was about getting some perspective of the life of women in the male-dominated world of Reggae music. Through it all, if there was one thread that bound the women who spoke together it was, "I was chosen by music."
The guest speaker was Nadine Sutherland, who in a frank conversational style spoke about her history in the music business. For 45 minutes she took her listeners on the journey of her life in music and how she was almost forced to walk away from it all because of rumors and constant disappointments. After taking her audience through the twists and turns of her life she said: "Here I am recording still, after so many ups, so many downs."
She was followed by Sabrina Williams, who did not go into detail about her life in the music business but brought the message of taking responsibility. "We women, we are responsible for our own life conditions." Williams pointed out while explaining that the standard of our music had fallen a great deal and as such women needed to step forward to bring it back.
The first performance of the afternoon came courtesy of the supremely talented Della Manley. She did renditions of her popular song Ashes on the Windowsill before segueing into the relatively unknown Peter Pan. She closed out her three song set with "It's Okay" which seemed to tie the speeches of the two previous presenters and those to come together.
An emotional Jana Bent gripping her copy of ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE MUSIC BUSINESS'by Donald S. Pessman took the podium next. After doing so she broke down in tears and was joined by her mother Louise who helped her gain composure. As the floodgates to her tears flew open she said :"I am very overcome by emotion because all of the stories you have been reading in the paper, could not have been possible without this woman beside me. She has been my rock, my support emotional and financial, my everything."
Her mother followed with a brief speech to the audience and the other female panellists in which she said, "You know what you have to do, nobody is going to give it to you." Bent was then able to make her presentation. She told the gathering that her road was paved by Millie Small and Marguerite Mahfood, the first female solo acts to ever make it big in reggae.
She said that despite her own personal difficulties, "I have never felt more alive than I do now and in the past 10 years." Bent also explained her personal philosophy and why it was that she kept doing what she did with; "If you aim for the stars, you'll at least hit the tree tops."
She then performed Never Seen You Cry as she lived out her personal dream of being backed by an all female band in the guise of Omega Four.
Next up was Crissy D, who admitted that she did not have a tale of gloom and doom at the hands of the industry. In fact, she admitted that her biggest problem was herself. However she learnt the lesson of positive thinking. "Word is power" she said. "Anything that you want for yourself, you have to say the positive so that it can come out." She also pointed out that there was no difference between the genders. "There is nothing different with gender, only that we have the children."
She closed her speech by singing Hold On To Your Dreams a song that signified what it was that she was doing.
CéCile was next and as has become her style, she spoke 'her truth'. She pointed out that the music business was what you make of it and said she decided she would make her own way. "I figured that if somebody is going to be used, I am the one who is going to be doing the using," she said honestly.
When she was finished she delivered a new song that she said she had just written called Baby Why Yuh Do Me Dat. When she was through those present kept screaming 'number one' and 'hit' at her.
Several performances came next and Jamaican female rapper Nadz displayed her prowess. However while she was good she was upstaged by the next performer, Kitese Brisset. Her powerful voice and performance skill proved all she needed for the songs In the Name of Life and Glory to God Kiburellah Amlach.
When all was said and sung, for those who attended it proved to be an empowering way to spend an afternoon.
Starting tomorrow see excerpts of the
speeches delivered by the panellists.
First up is Nadine Sutherland.
