10 Finalists For 2022 Jamaica Festival Song Competition Chosen

Three weeks after she initially announced the scrapping of the now re-instated National Festival Song Competition, Culture and Entertainment Minister Olivia “Babsy” Grange, has announced that the selection process for the 10 finalists for the 2022 Jamaica Festival Song Competition is now complete.

Yesterday, Grange stated in a release that the selection panel has decided on the 10 finalists, and that she was pleased with the response to the re-opening of entries.

“We have never received so many entries in one week,” she noted.

Three weeks ago, Grange had broke the news that she had decided to forego the competition and produce a Jamaica 60 commemorative album for 2022, instead of hosting the annual Festival Song Competition, as the quality of submissions was substandard.  According to the team which also consisted of Alaine Laughton, Freddie McGregor, Gussie Clarke, and Cleveland “Clevie” Browne of Steelie and Clevie, 120 of the 123 submissions were inferior.

Grange had disclosed during her 2022/23 Sectoral presentation in Parliament, that the panel, which was established to select the finalists of this year’s competition, advised that it was unable to choose 10 suitable songs from among the entries despite extending the deadline.  In expressing disappointment about the entries, she had also said that the JCDC had taken a professional approach toward the competition, and had recommended that the competition be shelved this year.

The Minister also said that Jamaica is now a global brand, and as such, she was unwilling to put inferior productions on “30 digital platforms across the world” and that the JCDC did not have the time to “take a production from scratch to completion and then select the winning song”.

She had also announced that there would be, instead, a Jamaica 60 commemorative album which would include two songs that were selected from the festival song entries and songs from Jamaica’s leading reggae ambassadors and emerging artistes.

However, days later, Prime Minister Andrew Holness had intervened, stating that the competition must be held, as Jamaicans are very good at music and “there is no reason why we can’t find a festival song that will capture and project and promote optimism, positivity, togetherness and harmony”.

In Friday’s release, Grange announced that the chosen songs are being mastered and the recordings will be released soon and that there is a $3 million prize for the winning song to be shared among the producer, the writer and the singer.

“We will remember that initially, the panel selected three songs, which was not a sufficient number for a competition. After that we decided to re-open entries and we received 209 new entries during the course of a week. After reviewing all the entries, the panel has selected 10 finalists,” she noted.

“The Ministry through the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission is making arrangements to put the finalists on social media and on global music streaming platforms.  The winning song will be selected following two televised shows on July 14 and 28. The song will be selected by a combination of judges scores and telephone voting by members of the public,” her release added.

At the time Grange announced the decision to scrap the competition, she had come under scathing criticism from some Jamaicans, including self-proclaimed ‘Dancehall Defender’ Opposition Senator Damion Crawford, who blamed her for the developments, claiming she had reduced the Ministry of Culture to the “Ministry of Events”.

However, several of her musical compatriots had rushed to her defence, among them Dancehall producer and judging panel member, Donovan Germain who said the recommendation to abort the competition was fuelled by the fact that too many of the entries contained references to Jamaica’s national dish, and that that the panellists simply could not find songs that were worthy of consideration for the top 10.

“If we listen to 50 songs, 40 of them talking about ackee and salt fish and beach. So it would come down to who can sing best about ackee and salt fish and beach,” Germain had said.

The Penthouse producer had also said that the quality of the songs submitted was a reflection of “the demise of the music industry” which “started when everybody set up a studio at home” and that “from then, the standards started to drop because there were no professionals overseeing the process and the projects”.

However, Jamaicans had responded angrily, contending among other things, that there should be no problem with contestants singing about their national dish, that with this year being Jamaica’s  60th year of independence, was of great significance and the song competition is an integral part of the celebrations.

Others had complained that the selection panel had abused their authority and made their personal tastes guide their decision instead of approaching the selection process dispassionately.

However, chairman of the song selection panel Gussie Clarke, had  insisted that the quality of the entries did not meet standards and that many of the submissions were interpolation of other songs, had poor lyrical content, poorly mixed and some “were just acapella”.

Freddie McGregor, who was also a member of the five-member panel chosen to arrive at the top 10 finalists, had also defended Grange, pointing out that after listening to the entries and “being sorely disappointed with the submissions”, the panel had relayed their dismay to Grange.

He said they had recommended that the competition be aborted as “those songs that we listened to could not go out there and represent the music industry after 60 years of Independence” as “it would be a shame and disgrace”.

Tulox, who forms one-half of the duo, Twins of Twins, had also championed Grange’s cause, arguing that the Minister ought not to be faulted for initially taking the decision to abort the competition.

Like Germain, he pointed out that the quality of the songs was a reflection on the state of music in Jamaica generally, which has fallen drastically, and with Grange being a former music executive and producer, she has the credentials to ferret out the inferior songs which were submitted, from music which is solid.

According to him, in the heydays of multiple festival song winners such as Eric Donalson, Roy Rayon and Toots and the Maytals, and deejays like Buju Banton, who are real musicians, Jamaicans highly celebrated their culture, unlike nowadays where the musical landscape is predicated on “whosoever will may come”.