Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
Fantan Mojah - FILE
WORRELL KING of Kings of Kings Promotions noted the landmark year for the Western Consciousness concert at the Talk of the Town Restaurant, Jamaica Pegasus, New Kingston, on Monday evening.
"The ladies would know what it feels like to give birth and see your child reach 18 ... It is joyful to have spent 18 years doing what we do best," King said.
The concert's 2006 staging takes place at the Llandilo Cultural Centre, Westmoreland, on Saturday, April 29, with Lee 'Scratch' Perry slated to do a very rare performance in Jamaica on a line-up which includes Freddie McGreggor, Judy Mowatt, Capleton, I-Wayne, Perfect, John Holt, Capital D, Nanko, Barrington Levy, Richie Spice, Jimmy Riley, Jah Mason, Gyptian, Tarrus Riley and Fantan Mojah.
"We believe in the redemptive force and we won't even dwell on that," King said in announcing Fantan Mojah, whose closing performance at last year's festival ended in bottle-throwing, and who ended up before the courts for using language which breached the Town and Communities Act.
PUBLIC ENDORSEMENTS
Representatives of Wisynco, whose Ocean Spray and Wata brands are sponsoring Western Consciousness 2006, and Juciful gave their public endorsements of the concert.
The official start of the run-up to the show, which will be staged with the theme 'Replanting the Roots', was held on Perry's 70th birthday, and doubled as a Music Conference on the work of someone whom the evening's host, Cordell Green, described as "one who is so wonderfully eccentric."
And in a videotaped interview, Perry said, "I am feeling great after being so long away," about his performance on Western Consciousness 2006. "I am feeling 100 per cent good about the idea," he said.
Dr. Leachim Semaj, the evening's guest speaker, in an extensive presentation, spoke of business and culture, covering areas as diverse as crime, education, the original Reggae Sunsplash, socialisation and, without mentioning their names, the situation with Beenie Man, Bounty Killer and D'Angel. He asked why when Cindy Breakspeare's relationship with Bob Marley ended and Rupert Bent Sr. married her the media did not push that fire, yet "why are they scandalising the current situation. Why are they pushing fire?"
DON'T SET UP PEOPLE
"I am putting the media houses on notice, you can't play with people's lives. You can't set up people that way," Semaj said.
On the matter of the business of music, Semaj said, "It is hard for a business-minded person in Jamaica to take Jamaican music seriously when those in the music business don't take it as a business." Still, "when we combine the pieces - consciousness, culture, commerce - it can work."
Music produced by Perry was featured on Monday evening, Sangie Davis singing the 1972 Words of My Mouth and Nateesha performing Rastaman Live Up while there were roars for Junior Mervin's Police and Thieves, both to the music of SANE Band.
