Dancehall Promoters React To Vaccinated Only Events In Jamaica
Popular promoter/sound system operator Marlon “Boom Boom” Wizard says while he is not coercing Jamaicans to take the coronavirus vaccines, they should consider that they have caused no fatalities.
He was speaking to DancehallMag following a statement by Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. Christopher Tufton, that there will be a forthcoming calendar of events. The catch is, patrons must be vaccinated.
“Whole heap a people vaccinated. Mi nah go tell nobody fi dweet. Dem haffi do weh dem haffi do. It nah kill nobody—it’s just the way that they go about it. It’s a thing weh open fi everybody tek. Mi see people all over the world tek it and nuttin nuh do dem. It’s just that social media mek the thing look a way. A nuh nuttin fi kill nobody,” the promoter, who is the principal of Boom Sundays in St. Andrew, said.
Boom Boom said he welcomes the news by the Health Minister, as this is an indication that he might be permitted to host his weekly events on a larger scale.
“Well, you done know, we a gwaan do we likkle ting same way. We likkle round robin, and suh. Cause we haffi mek some money and the fans dem love music. It better we get something going now, so me glad fi hear that,” he added.
Come March, Jamaica’s entertainment industry would have been closed for two years since the first detected case of the deadly coronavirus washed up on the island’s sure in 2020.
Jamaica is currently experiencing its fourth wave, and by all indications by the Minister of Entertainment two months ago, there would be no reopening of the industry on the horizon.
However, Tufton’s beam of light at the end of a long, and winding tunnel is also welcomed by Winston “Wee Pow” Powell, CEO of longstanding sound system Stone Love.
“We want it open right away. I’m happy to hear this (the announcement by Tufton) because I’ve been struggling,” he told DancehallMag.
Powell is also vaccinated, and like Boom Boom, is against forcing a vaccine mandate.
“It’s every man fi dem own order. I don’t have a problem if we can have events with vaccinated people, I just need to get something going cause the bills need paying.”
Stone Love became Jamaica’s most popular sound system, known for its superior sound quality, and maintained this position into the 21st century. It has also played overseas in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Stone Love is renowned for its exclusive dub plates which have included sides by many of the artists which it helped to establish, including Buju Banton and Wayne Wonder and Johnny Osbourne and Shabba Ranks and Sanchez and Beenie Man.
In his over four decades of entertainment biz, Powell says the prolonged dormancy of the industry is the first, and worst hurdle he has ever experienced.
”First me ever see something like this. First, first, first. I never thought I would ever see anything like it. I just want it to be over.”