International Reggae Day – One July
On Friday, July 1, reggae music takes centre stage in 35 cities across the globe in commemoration of International Reggae Day (IRD).
Conceptualiser of IRD, Andrea Davis, said this represents a growth in the reach of the media event designed to bring attention to the music, with several new cities coming on board with events and celebrations.
“This year we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Rocksteady. We have managed to bring media on board in 35 cities for a 24-hour reggae party. This will see special playlists, programmes and interviews being conducted in these territories. Among the new cities coming on board this year is Beijing, China. We are very excited about this as it joins other new partners from Vietnam, Australia, South Africa, Madagascar, Singapore, Sierra Leone, Ibiza, Belize and three cities in Brazil. The total number of participating cities move from 25 last year and three the year before,” Davis told the Jamaica Observer.
She noted this growth has come as a result of partnerships forged with a number of international reggae partners. The early years of the celebrations, she said, were focused on building the product here at home, and now it is all about spreading the wings of the event. Davis said among the partners which has helped to spread the word is Dub Force Radio, which is a network of sound systems operating globally.
In addition to the media, there are a number of events including parties, yoga sessions, concerts and panel discussions taking place worldwide to celebrate the day. Here in Jamaica, the day will be celebrated on local media, as well as the staging of the IRD conference at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in St Andrew. This year’s conference will zero in on UNESCO’s recent designation of Kingston as a creative city.
“We are happy to have the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Jamaica Copyright Licensing Agency (Jamcopy) as sponsors of our annual conference which is divided into two parts. The morning session will focus on the digital content economy. This will focus on how to make money in this new dispensation — moving from downloads to streaming. It’s really a guide to navigating the new landscape. The afternoon session goes to the heart of the possibilities of Kingston as a creative city. We will be looking at the areas which can be developed and what that will mean for Kingston,” said Davis.
In addition, IRD is endorsing a number of events taking place from Thursday through to Saturday. These include The Merritone Rocksteady event at Waterfalls in St Andrew on Thursday, as well as Vinyl Thursdays in Cross Roads. There is also Clarendon Live, which features Duane Stephenson and Etana at the Fyah Side Jerk Bar as well as Trench Town Experience, both on Friday. The popular Startime concert series, which will be staged on Saturday, July 2, has also received the IRD’s nod.
IRD’s 2016 ambition is to link 35 cities over 24 hours in 1Love hosted by Kingston as the authentic home of Jamaica’s lifestyle music culture and celebrated in an international network of cities. The official network of international events on JulyOne will include Sandals Resorts’ synchronized Reggae party, the four main cities launched in the last two years – NY | Honolulu | Ft. Lauderdale | Mumbai plus others totaling 35 strategic cities worldwide including Beijing, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, London, Barcelona, Lisbon etc via a collaboration with DubForceRadio and their network of leading sound systems around the world http://www.dubforceradio.com/.