AWARDS WITH A TWIST
"IN FI MI EYES"
By: Christopher Icey Jace Campbell
January 23, 2008
Tis’ the season to be jolly, yes Christmas is over and a new year is underway but somehow it seems some people are in the giving mood and just can't wait for December2008. Just incase you haven't heard. Reggae will be getting a huge treat this and every February thereafter in Jamaicathanks to a group of influential industry button pusher finally saw it fit to pay tribute to our most significant, most widely respected & loved cultural genre. Ok simply put Reggae will now be officially celebrated in February as it was recently declared by our esteemed prime minister the Hon. Bruce Golding. February is Reggae Month and for the inaugural kick-off the local music & film fraternity by extension has gotten busy planning a sea of shows, ceremonies and activities for the 28 day period.
It’s rather easy to ask the obvious question of what sparked this sudden interest in developing and structuring professional formats for our cultural creativeness but hey don’t ask me, ask the Chairman of the now Reggae Academy Awards, Mr. Lloyd Stanbury, ask Radio Host "Richie B" of the EME - Excellence in Music & Entertainment Awards, ask the people behind other ceremonies like the Reggae Film Festival or the IRIE FM AWARDS, these are the people who for the first time ever in Jamaica has forced three prestigious music ceremonies that will highlight and award our talented artists, songwriters, producers, music video directors, engineers and promoters. Honestly speaking they deserve the applause of the entire nation, not just Jamaicans but music lovers internationally, "In Fi Mi Eyes"some things don't add up and this should be as easy as 1+1= 11. [laughs] sorry I mean 2.
Just to give you a breakdown of what actually will happen:
Thursday Feb 7th - EME (Excellence in Music & Entertainment) AWARDS
Wednesday Feb 13th - IRIE FM AWARDS
Wednesday Feb 20 - 22nd - REGGAE FILM FESTIVAL
Sunday 24th - REGGAE ACADEMY AWARDS CEREMONY
Alright! Now that we have every artist in Jamaica hyped about potentially winning a prestigious award in a specific category. The haunting fact still remains that a few from the lot may find that they didn't make the cut. Wow... that must be mind bobbling, just imagine a veteran DJ saying "BloodClat... Star a straight diss…res...pect.. diss, my big tune nuh dey pon the list".As with any awards scrutiny always presents itself when there's a lack of transparency, and even though I am sure many of theses Awards have criteria's for the selection of a nominee. Quite frankly, I'm already bitter about a few selections and I'm not an artist. In college when I just didn't get what the lecturer was saying I asked for examples or instances so here are a few just to prove my point.
SINGER OF THE YEAR – FEMALE
1. ETANA
2. ALAINE
3. TAMMY CHIN
4. CHERINE ANDERSON
5. TESANNE CHIN
Ok let’s go, in this category from the IRIE FM Awards list of nominees we have 5 talented and beautiful female singers up for the Singer of the Year Awards. My problem with this list is that TAMMY CHIN to the best of my knowledge has done nothing outstanding to merit a nomination above lets say a QUEEN IFRICA who had two of the biggest singles in 2007. Without any bias I can't understand why this is. That does not add up.
SONG OF THE YEAR
1. BACK IT UP – BEENIE MAN
2. SHE’S ROYAL – TAURUS RILEY
3. BELOW THE WAIST – QUEEN IFRIKA
4. GULLY SIDE – MAVADO
5. THESE DAYS – BUSY SIGNAL
Next is the Song of the year category which for the most part is fairly balanced with what I think are great nominations for this category, but seeing that only 5 persons can be nominated. Am I to understand and accept the fact that reggae singer ETANA with her song ROOTS did not make the cut after spending more than 23 weeks on local charts. Just to break things down in details, ROOTS spent over 5 months on local charts both by video and single. It was easily one of the most influential songs over the 2007 period. Now just to do a comparison MAVADO'S GULLY SIDE though it was a big hit didn't spend 4 much less 5 months on any local Dancehall Chart. Again I don't know the criteria but it doesn't look right to have such a huge record left out the list.
All in all I fully support any venture that will help the music industry progress internationally. By far this is great for Reggae, I would appreciate a bit more transparency, fine you don't have to tell us why you chose who won a category but I would love if these award associations document for public scrutiny material / evidence used to select nominees - whether it be play lists, chart data, request sheets or album sale.
PLEASE I BEG YOU lets not have one of our artists having a KANYE WESTfit at any of the upcoming ceremonies. Until next time Bless up and stay logged on to DancehallSoca for more "In fi mi eyes."
Big up my good friend radio Disc Jock NIKKI Z you hot - "to di world" and to the BOSS LADY of Solid Agency Co. respect due.. Ms. Sharon Burke - "to the world"