Germaine Smith, Staff Reporter
Capleton (left) greets Joseph Hill, to smiles from Professor Barry Chevannes and Clayton 'Stoneface' Trench (right) at the Hilton Hotel on Tuesday. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
"THE FIRST thing I want to say is thanks to Jamaica, because this has happened all over the world, but I am proud when it happens at home 'cause I know that I am doing something good somehow."
Those were Joseph Hill's words to The Gleaner on Tuesday night, after being awarded a bronze medal award for his legendary contributions to reggae music in the group Culture.
The award was conceptualised and presented to Hill by Clayton Trench of Stone Face Productions at the official launch of his cultural stage show, 'Culture Shock Reloaded', at the Hilton Hotel, New Kingston, on Tuesday evening.
The 'Culture Shock Bronze Medal Award' was crafted by hand and cast in bronze, under the guidance of sculptor Paul Napier. To ensure its value and uniqueness, Trench of Stone Face Productions asked that only three copies be made from the mould for the three group members, after which it was destroyed.
The group's other two members, Telford Nelson and Albert Walker, were not present, but Hill expressed profound gratitude for being awarded in Jamaica and by Jamaicans. "It is better to be a big man in a small ocean, than a small 'humpph' in a big sea," he told the gathering in his acceptance speech.
"Wherever I am in the world, whenever I finish working, I always want to be wrapped with some ackee and saltfish and be sent back to JA," he continued.
The award was the highlight of a sober yet light-hearted night.
SHOWERED PRAISES
The Hilton ballroom was not streaming with hundreds of people as stage show launches normally go, but it was mixed with representatives from the different sectors who all showered praises on Hill and to Trench for the presence of the cultural show and the acts chosen to work on it.
There were endorsements from the Director of Culture in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture Mr. Sydney Bartley, president of the Jamaica Federation of Musicians (JFM) Mr. Desmond Young, and university lecturers Amina Blackwood Meeks and Professor Barry Chevannes.
Surprising the gathering was deejay Capleton, who made an unofficial stop. Capleton praised Hill, claiming that it was artistes like Hill who set the trend for younger acts like him to follow.
"It is a joy and pleasure being here fi salute icons like you inna the buisness. Fi me, it's an honour, and we give thanks fi the music," Capleton said.
Capleton then drove home a point which struck a solid chord with those present. "When we see the response we get when we go Europe, people who no speak a word of English a sing we song dem word fi word, mi haffi wonder if we as a people know the value of whe we have," he noted, getting a heated bout of applause in response.
He then performed a capella with Kulcha Knox to seal off a night which also saw performances by Althea Hewitt and E-Saw.
Culture Shock Reloaded will be held on May 21 at the Addison Park in Brown's Town and features a solid cultural line-up. The list includes the group Culture, Luciano, Capleton, Gregory Isaacs, Coco Tea, Everton Blenda, Richie Spice, I-Wayne, Ras Moses (Beenie Man) and Bushman, among others.
