Capleton To Headline ‘Legends Are Forever’ In Clarendon

Donovan ‘Conscious’ Anderson, one of the founding members of well-known record label and production house, Kings of Kings, believes that it is time for a major stage show to be staged in the parish of Clarendon once again.

That is why he has conceptualised ‘Legends Are Forever’, a stage show that will be held for the first time in the parish in November.

“Clarendon and the south coast need a stage show like this to re-energise the reggae-dancehall community along the south coast,” he said.

Four years ago, Anderson moved to Red Hills, located four miles from Bullet Mountain in the Clarendon parish, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in a bid to avoid major urban areas.

“My parents are from Clarendon, so I moved to Clarendon in COVID time at the time that everybody got scared. After a few years, I observed there is no reggae show in this area…the last set of Coco Tea and Jam Jam and Everton Blender show, that’s how I came up with the idea, me and Wayne Francis and going to do a show for my birthday and name it Legends are Forever, this is for all the people of Clarendon,” Anderson said.

Anderson said Clarendon has given Jamaica and the world some of the greatest musical icons.

“The musical heritage of Clarendon is immense, with people like Millie Small, Derrick Morgan, The Clarendonians, I Octane, Desi Boyd, the late DJ Merciless, Everton Blender, Freddie McGregor and countless other world-renowned musical acts, so this parish deserves a big stage show,” he said.

The ‘Legends Are Forever’ stage show will blast off on November 29 at the Staford Block Factory in Summerfield, Clarendon. Musical heavyweights like Capleton, Tony Rebel, Frisco Kid, Lutan Fyah and Junior Reid are the major headliners of the event.

“We will have 14 artistes on the event, all of them are legends. Legends never die, legends are always forever,”,” Anderson said.

There will also be six-a-side and a cookout and kids’ fun day on the same day. Other standout artistes on the event include Errol Dunkley, Admiral Tibet, Natty King, Peter Metro, Nitty Kutchie, Little John, Mikey General, Junior Cat and Apache Scratchy.

Even though there has been a marked decrease in the number of live
stage shows in the entertainment calendar, Anderson remains positive that the event will do well because of its ‘true intent’.

“I think conscious and do conscious things, we’re doing this event for love and the consciousness in music, the upliftment of music. We don’t do it for the money alone,” he said.

Anderson is the head of Conscious International Productions, a fledgling company that handles artiste bookings and event productions, the latter of which Anderson has crafted a skilled expertise in over the past 20 years.

During that period he has been a senior production member for major events such as Rebel Salute, Red Rose For Gregory, and St Mary Mi Come. He even helped to produce a show in Canada under the Kings of Kings banner in June of this year.

“I really love events productions, taking live music to the people. Capleton is one of the biggest legends in music and he is coming to give an outstanding performance at this Legends Are Forever,” he said.

Anderson revealed that proceeds from the event will be donated to Red Hills Primary school in Clarendon and the Cricket River Primary school in Clarendon.

Conscious International Productions is also involved in music production. Among its first projects are songs by Canada-based singjay Lazah Current.

Interestingly, Anderson, who is from East Kingston, started his music career as an artiste. He recorded songs for different producers including Earl “Chinna” Smith and Henry “Junjo” Lawes before moving into show production in the early 2000s. He was instrumental in several musical productions released by the label Kings of Kings.