Babsy Grange Pleased At “Quality Submissions” For Jamaica Festival Song Competition This Year
Unlike in 2022, when she expressed dismay at the sub-par quality of the submissions for the Jamaica Festival Song competition, Minister of Culture and Entertainment Minister Olivia Grange is pleased at what she says is the “strong response” this year.
While releasing the recordings of the finalists several days ago, Grange said there has been a “flood of quality entries in the competition” this year, among them three produced by iconic Penthouse producer, Donovan Germain.
According to a release from Grange’s Ministry, the judges had selected 12 finalists, including the Fire Pon Rome artist Anthony B. However, the Trelawny native withdrew from the competition, as he is currently on an overseas tour.
Reggae artist Shuga is among the contenders this year, with the track titled Dancing Same Way, which is written by Mitsy Campbell and Duane Stephenson, and produced by Donovan Germain. The two other Germain-produced songs are Feel Like Home by Exco Levi and Best in the World by Donald Anderson.
Minister Grange also thanked broadcasters for their support of the Jamaica Festival Song Competition over the years and urged them to “give as much airplay as possible to the finalists so that the public will get to know the songs and be able to choose their favourite”.
According to the Culture Ministry, the 2023 Jamaica Festival Song will be “selected by a combination of judges scores and public vote”. The winning song will be selected following two televised shows on July 6 and 29 on TVJ and PBCJ. This year the winning entry will cop a $3 million which will be shared among the producer, the writer and the singer.
In June 2022, Grange had broken news that she had decided to forego the annual Festival Song Competition and produce a Jamaica 60 commemorative album for 2022, instead, as the quality of the songs submitted was deemed unsatisfactory by the selection panel which consisted of Reggae singers Alaine Laughton and Freddie McGregor, producers Gussie Clarke, and Cleveland “Clevie” Browne of Steelie and Clevie.
The Jamaica 60 commemorative album, Grange had said, would include two songs that were selected from the festival song entries and songs from Jamaica’s leading reggae ambassadors and emerging artistes.
During her 2022/23 Sectoral presentation in Parliament, Grange had disclosed that the panel, which was established to select the finalists of the competition, advised that it was unable to choose 10 suitable songs from among the entries despite extending the deadline. The panellists had said that 120 of the 123 submissions were inferior.
In expressing disappointment about the entries, the Minister had also said that the JCDC had taken a professional approach toward the competition, and had recommended that it be shelved.
Pointing out that Jamaica was now a global brand, Grange had said that as a consequence, 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”.
However, days after Grange’s announcement, Prime Minister Andrew Holness had intervened, declaring that the competition must be held. The PM had said that 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”.
According to the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, the National Festival Song Competition is the nation’s longest-running original song contest.
At its inception, the competition was aimed at providing a platform for ‘aspiring artistes, songwriters, and producers to showcase their talents’, as well as ‘identify a new and original song that is reflective of the spirit of the Jamaican people’.
The song, Bam Bam, by Toots and the Maytals, was Jamaica’s first National Festival Song winner back in 1966. It was written by Toots and performed by himself and members of his band, known only as the Maytals at the time.
Last year, St. Mary native Sacaj beat nine other entries to win the competition with her song Nuh Weh Nice Like Yard, becoming the fifth female winner in the history of the competition.