Festival Song Competition finals tonight

The finals of the Jamaica 60 Festival Song Competition get underway at the National Indoor Sports Centre at 8:30 tonight.

However, the show will also be aired live on TVJ and PBCJ and streamed live on the JCDC website, as well as the YouTube channel and the Facebook pages of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport and portfolio Minister Olivia 'Babsy' Grange.

The 10 finalists will perform live before a panel of judges, whose scores will form 50 per cent of their total. The other half of their final tally will come from votes.

Voting lines opened on July 9 and closed at 7 p.m. just before tonight's show.

The songs are: Jamaica Sweet Again by Dez I Boyd who was a finalist in the 2021 Festival Song Competition with the song Rumba Box; Jamaica Nice Again by Inspiyah; Rock to da Beat by Intrestt; I'm A Proud Jamaican by Magic Flute; Out of Many by Nazzleman, who won in 2016 and 2018; Defend Jamaica by Nitty Kutchie; Sixty by One1; Diamond Jubilee by Orkid; Bring Back the Love by Rory Stamp and Nuh Weh Nice Like Yard by Sacaj, the only female in the line-up.

The finalists will be jostling for the Festival Song title as Jamaica marks its 60th Anniversary of Independence under the theme Re-igniting A Nation for Greatness.

 Also to be won is the prize money of $3 million, which will split among the producer, writer and singer of the winning song.

- Yasmine Peru

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