Dancehall Icon Sister Carol Wants More Women Headlining Shows In Jamaica: “The Thing Unbalanced”

“When I see a show wid 24 man, I don’t call it a show; I call it ‘a balls fest’.  Straight up.”

That’s the assessment of legendary Dancehall cultural deejay Sister Carol, as it relates to the disparity in the ratio of male to female artists on stage at many major Reggae/Dancehall shows and festivals.

Like her compatriot Lady G pointed out in 2020, Sister Carol believes there is still a wide-open space for young cultural female deejays to make their mark, and they should be nurtured and given opportunities like their male counterparts.

“Space out there fi every woman to do what they want to do, because the thing unbalanced,” Sister Carol, who is also referred to as Mother Culture explained in a recent interview with DancehallMag. 

“So you find that because of the imbalances there, there is always room for the sistas,” she added.

Sister Carol, who has performed all across the world for decades, while pointing out Jamaican music’s remarkable influence on the world, noted in her lamentations that based on what she has seen internationally, women are in demand, and promoters in Jamaica, the birthplace of Reggae, need to step up to the plate.

“I recognise that everybody from every country, every nook and cranny want to do what we are doing –  want to do the music that we are doing…  There is a female deejay inna every country, every state weh mi guh (but) they (female cultural artists) are not getting the support that they need here in Jamaica.   This is where the ting spring off enuh.  Suh we now haffi siddung an nurture di sistas dem and meck dem feel good, and put dem out on the platform that they can go out and inspire more people, empower more people,” the 1997 Grammy nominee stated.

“You have some young sisters that are taking it to dem and they are getting a positive responses: Sisters like Hempress Sativa, even Queen Ifrica, because she came long after we.  But these are sistas that went out with their music and they inspired and empowered the world,” the Lyrically Potent artiste added.

As far as Sister Carol is concerned, the globe is fertile ground with huge opportunities for female Reggae musicians, artists, promoters and all other functionaries in Reggae and Dancehall music.

The Dread Natty Congo artist’s advice to the women is to assertively move into these positions.

“There is space for the women.  Big space too.  All you have to do is just come een.  Do weh yuh haffi do.  You no must be a deejay or a singer.  You can do producing, you can be a promoter.  You can also be an engineer.  You can be the owner of a studio.  Space deh deh,” she advised.

“Suh woman fi come een, caw now is di time when dem have to recognise the feminine entity wid di feminine energy, to discover the feminine divine.  Suh woman fi step up an do di ting man.  Right now to,” she added.

In January 2020, Culture and Entertainment Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange had expressed concern about the fact that Jamaica’s output of female artists was very miniscule, and vowed use her powers to increase the numbers and to get more female artists from the various Jamaican genres out “in the streets, on charts and on stage”. 

“It is actually a concern to me why at this time we do not have enough female artistes; the well-established, they are few in numbers and primarily leave for tours and are not available for a lot of these events and I am concerned about that. There are some young female artistes coming up who are extremely good, but we need more,” the former Specs/Shang executive had told The Gleaner, in response to questions about the low representation of women artistes at Rebel Salute Reggae festival that year.

Grange, a former manager of superstars Patra, Shabba Ranks, and Bounty Killer, had also said she had made it a point of her duty to seek and find talented female artists in order to increase the number of women who get billed for the major Reggae festivals on the island.

“It is a mission that we going have to be on and it’s an important one; I made the decision to search for the artistes, work with them, help them develop and get exposure for the purpose of seeing the numbers change,” she stated then.

For her part, Lady G had told the newspaper that she would love to see more women gracing big stages, as they continue to be outnumbered by their male compatriots even on Rebel Salute, which has offered equal opportunities for both male and female performers since its inception.

“I have been with Rebel Salute from its inception and still here but I want to see more females on the stage because unlike the ’80s and ’90s, there are more of us dominating and making our presence felt … so promoters need fi check themselves,” Lady G had told The Gleaner following her performance at the festival.