Jamaica’s culture has influenced the world

LONDON:

Leeds, home to the 1977-founded Jamaica Society, is spearheading the Jamaica 6oth anniversary of Independence celebrations in England, with the nine-month Out of Many Festival packed full of island vibes. The festival, which opened in May and runs until February 2023, boasts a host of music, arts, theatre, literature, film and heritage events.

Its festival director is Susan Pitter, born in Leeds to Jamaican parents whose childhood was full of island life; food, music, plus a whole lot of culture and heritage.

“Jamaica 60 means a lifetime – more than a lifetime – of generations being exposed to, being able to take part in, being able to experience the power of Jamaican culture and be influenced by it, whether we know it or not,” said Susan.

“It will be in the food that we eat, for sure, and also in the way that we consume culture as well.

“That style, that music – it might not be reggae music directly, but certainly grime and Afrobeats and hip hop are all connected to Jamaican music in particular, certainly in dance. Certainly, everywhere you go and you hear people speaking, there’s also some kind of Jamaican influence or dialect in popular language.”

Slowly perhaps, but certainly very surely, it shows how over 60 years Jamaica has influenced culture everywhere.

“Our parents were the ambassadors for when the world was ready to explore our culture. Jamaica had a platform and it was the right time.

“They were the ambassadors who had the contacts and the connections to it; whether that was music, whether that was comedy, whether that was theatre, whether that was dance, and so on.

“They also had us – the second generation of ambassadors that would take Jamaican culture forward and share that not just with our children, but with our peers from other Caribbean heritage, and also with our white school friends as well.

“I remember it was ‘bring a record day’ at school and I brought Last Date by T.T Ross, an old R ‘n’ B standard but in a reggae style. She was talking about her last date and it was really sad (she laughs), and I had to explain all that, but also what reggae music was and that was what we listened to at home – as well as the Bay City Rollers!

“We were also shaping our own black British identity, which was so influenced by Jamaican culture – we were listening to lovers rock, going to sound system dances, and the style as well – we didn’t know we were ambassadors then, and we still are.”

Growing up with such a rich culture and history at home was the perfect fuel for Pitter, but, perhaps not surprisingly, Jamaican and black British culture were still not being fêted in museums or galleries in her home town.

“I didn’t go into an art gallery in this city ‘til I was 30 or 31.. It was my uncle, a Jamaican artist, who took me to Leeds Art Gallery, telling me about the National Gallery of Jamaica, and I wanted to go there.

“And every time I go back to Jamaica, I go to the National Gallery of Jamaica. But it just makes me think, what’s missing here? Not just in Leeds, in the UK. And it’s not just about Jamaican culture, it’s just about seeing; seeing me, seeing us there.

“I was in PR and communications and went to live in Jamaica for several years, then moved into cultural producing and engagement when I came back.

“I had my heritage there in front of me and was a part of it every day. But when I came back, there wasn’t much of a choice. You engaged in it when you could, and I felt that there were gaps.

“So, you know, I wanted to give back, firstly to carnival (where I first became involved in PR and West Indian heritage events), and became more involved in the cultural sector in Leeds.

“I realised that I was one of the few making high-profile, high-quality carnival sector events happen. It shouldn’t be like that - I didn’t want to be pigeon holed, nor to take up that whole space that was making things happen in the ‘traditional’ cultural sector, and so after carnival I narrowed it down and honed in on my own heritage, firstly with ‘Eulogy’ (an exhibition looking at the lives and achievement of first-generation Jamaicans) and now the Out of Many Festival!

“The festival continues first-generation narratives, but it broadens out to look into second and subsequent generations ... also around the culture and the heritage, not just the stories. What I love about that is that it’s been shaped by local communities, the local community and other things.

“I shouldn’t have had to cross the Atlantic to see myself and my heritage, and my daughter and my grandchildren’s heritage, reflected in an art gallery 5,000 miles away, and now, in this Jamaica’s 60th year, hopefully neither will future (generations).”