Stone Love Is On Double Duty This Christmas Eve

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. And what would Christmas be without the Stone Love sound system doing double duty on Christmas Eve?

The top-ranked sound system will be playing on traditionally busy Grand Market Night at Weddy Weddy at its Burlington Avenue HQ before heading to Gran’ Market inside the St William Grant Park, downton Kingston.

“It’s been a long time since something like Gran’ Market has been done … and this year, in particular, we want to play our part in helping to lift the spirits of everyone in the surrounding communities,” Stone Love founder, Winston ‘Wee Pow’ Powell said.

The veteran sound system man, who will be celebrating Stone Love’s 53rd anniversary on Saturday at D’Lux Restaurant and Lounge said that he and the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation have been in discussion about bringing gran’ market back since September.

“As a youngster growing up, me used to love Gran Market,” Powell said. “It’s part of our culture and it’s sad that there’s so many things where culture is concerned that we are putting aside.

He reminisced about Jamaica’s past Christmas traditions.

“We getting too ‘foreign-ised’. Look at Independence celebrations for example. Ever since we get Independence, we used to have street dance. I remember [that] the biggest street dance used to be at Papine and Half-Way Tree Square … no more,” he reminisced.

He noted that Gran’ Market used to be a huge night, especially in Brown’s Town, but opined that in Kingston, it has waned.

“Redman Sound Station used to be the sound until it change to Jamrock and then it continue til it fade out,” he said. Powell said that when the idea for this year’s Gran’ Market came up, he ” jumped on and seh it haffi happen by all means necessary”.

Wee Pow said he will be doing his best to spread Christmas cheer.

“I’ll be carrying my likkle basket and put it in a little corner and hope for Santa to put something in there. Back in the days we use to put our caps behind the door and when you wake up next morning bare goodies… Santa pass through,” Powell said with a hearty laugh.