JaRIA honours the underrecognised

Curtis Campbell, Gleaner Writer

As part of ongoing Reggae Month celebrations, JaRIA recently hosted its annual award show where it paid homage to several persons who have played invaluable roles in the development of Jamaican music.

JaRIA dug deep and came up with some unique categories, highlighting veterans who broke barriers for the current generation of musicians.

Dubbed the JaRIA Honour Awards, the show was a marathon and not a sprint, lasting seven hours as the organisers made sure to take patrons on a musical journey.

Each presentation was accompanied by a musical piece which was either produced, sung, written or inspired by the particular awardees.

The awardees, many of whom had never been recognised in Jamaica despite being icons in their own right, complained about that fact.

They all appeared to share JaRIA's vision of putting an end to the usual talk that Jamaica's music industry seldom pays homage to its creators.

JaRIA, which positions itself as the representatives of all Jamaican music, was equally honoured on the night courtesy of the appreciative honorees who lauded the body for their efforts to put an end to the lack of appreciation they have endured for years.

honour the veteran

Iconic inventor and musician Hedley Jones is credited as the man who invented Jamaica's first electric stop lights and created his own electronic guitar among other musical instruments.

He has been largely overlooked by the industry, however, JaRIA thought it fit to honour the veteran with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jones was unavailable to accept his award, however, his son who admitted that his father's shoes were hard to fill, accepted the award on his behalf.

He also said he grew up watching his father using his inventions to add to the quality of Jamaican music, and he was worried that his work would go unrecognised until the JaRIA Honour Awards came into play.

Bongo Herman and Michael 'Mikey' Chung were awarded for their Exceptional Contribution to the Reggae Music Industry.

Herman, who says he has been an active contributor to Jamaican music for more than 60 years, indicated that it was 'better late than never' during his acceptance speech.

"I am glad that at age 70, I am feeling appreciated. I want to thank JaRIA, there are a lot of artistes and musicians in Jamaica, and we need things like these to motivate them to carry on," he said.

The Heptones won the JaRIA Icon Award and also performed a short set of classic songs from their catalogue. "Who said 'a King has no honour in his own country?' JaRIA proved that wrong tonight," The Heptone's lead singer, Earl Morgan, said.

Veteran reggae/rocksteady artiste Johnny Clarke also shared similar sentiments. According to the singer, after a lengthy career in music, this was the first time he was receiving an award in Jamaica. He, along with Carlene Davis, were given Iconic Artiste in the Music Industry awards.

Over 22 awards were handed out on the night. Among the 22 awardees were Freddie McGregor, Zap-Pow reggae band, Paul Henton, Sly and Robbie, Asley Beresford 'Grub' Cooper, the late Don Drummond, Joe Higgs, Grace Thrillers, Adina Edwards, Mervyn Williams, King Tubby, Stone Love, Bass Odyssey, Winston 'Sparrow' Martin, Reggae Sumfest and Alfonso Walker.