Kingston, 21 July 2020 – The 2020 Jamaica Festival Song Album titled ‘Jamaica Festival 2020 Song Competition’ is now listed at number 13 on the Apple Music Reggae Album Chart.

“This is great news for our country and for the finalists,” said Minister Grange as she reacted to the news.

The 2020 Jamaica Festival Song album entered the chart at number 15 and has climbed two places to 13. It means that ‘Jamaica Festival 2020 Song Competition’ is among the most popular Reggae albums downloaded on Apple Music (formerly iTunes).

Minister Grange said:
“This is a great achievement. It is historic. It is the first time that we have had songs in the entry stage making it to an international chart. This says a lot about the renewed interest being showed in the Jamaica Festival Song Competition. The fact that we have so many established performers participating has been a tremendous fillip and this should encourage others in the future to see the competition for what it is; one of the oldest professional singing contests in the world.”

‘Jamaica Festival 2020 Song Competition’ features the top ten finalists this year.

Minister Grange has made an appeal to the public, particularly members of the Jamaican Diaspora to download and stream the Jamaica Festival Song album and add it to their playlists. “This will send the album further up the charts.”

In addition to the Apple Music platform, the 2020 Jamaica Festival Song album is also available for download and streaming on Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music and Tidal.

For the first time the Jamaica Festival Song Competition is being staged as a virtual event due to the necessary restrictions to fight the spread of covid-19. The live performance show of the Jamaica Festival Song competition was broadcast worldwide on Sunday, July 19, and attracted thousands of viewers.

The winner, to be decided by public vote, will be announced this Sunday, July 26, during a live broadcast on TVJ and online to viewers across the world.

Voting lines remain open for the public to choose this year’s winner.

The list of entries and associated voting line follows:

Buju Banton ‘I am a Jamaican’ (876)-444-7701
Xtra Bigg ‘Jamaica a Paradise’ (876)-444-7702
Papa Michigan ‘Jamaica Dance’ (876)-444-7703
Nazzle Man ‘Jamaica Nice’ (876)-444-7704
Shuga 'One People’ (876)-444-7705
Toots & the Maytals ‘Rise up Jamaicans’ (876)-444-7706
Radix OD ‘The Place to Be’ (876)-444-7707
Freddie McGregor ‘Tun up di Sound’ (876)-444-7708
L.U.S.T. ‘Wave Di Flag’ (876)-444-7709
Sakina ‘We are Jamaica’ (876)-444-7710

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THE EDITOR:

I write in response to the Letter of the Day published in The Gleaner of June 17, titled ‘Festival song competitors are shafted’ , which contains misinformation and incorrect assumptions.

The Jamaica Festival Song Competition is not, and has never been, restricted to ‘amateurs’, whether as performers, writers or producers.

Our very first winner in 1966, Toots and the Maytals, was a professional group when they entered the competition. Additionally, Eric Donaldson, Tommy Cowan and the Jamaicans, Hopeton Lewis, Bob Marley and Rita Marley were not amateurs when they entered.

The Jamaica Festival Song Competition is about celebrating the best of Jamaica and bringing the nation together. It is about finding that song that we all, as a nation, can sing together as we celebrate our Independence.

The impact and reach of the competition had fallen over the years, but we have worked hard to revitalise it. Over the last three years, we have witnessed renewed interest in the competition, demonstrated by the increase in number and quality of entries; and increased patronage of our events.

This year, we have 10 excellent finalists that each have a very good chance of victory. Each was selected by judges who listened to more than 150 recordings in a fair process in which the identity of the performer, writer or producer was not revealed.

Each entrant had the option to submit his/her/their entry on audio CD or come to one of three auditions, which we instituted for the first time this year, where they would be recorded for submission to the judges.

We are doing the final touches to the top 10 recordings and will be releasing the recordings to the media, which we continue to rely on in a special way to bring the entries to the public, especially since there are no roadshows this year. We will also post the songs on social media as we invite the public to help us to select the Jamaica Festival Song for 2020.

ORVILLE HILL

Chairman

Jamaica Festival Song Committee

Kingston, 10 June 2020 – “This year, we can say that the competition boasts some of the big names in the entertainment industry,” said the Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange as she announced the ten finalists for the Jamaica Festival Song Competition.

According to Minister Grange, “among the top ten finalists we have established names such as Buju Banton, Freddy McGregor, Nazzleman (who has won the competition several times), Toots and the Maytals (who’ve won the competition several times) and many others.”

The other established artistes in the top ten are Papa Michigan of Michigan and Smiley fame; the Reggae quartet, L.U.S.T., featuring Lukie D, Thriller U, Singing Melody & Tony Curtis; and the Rising Stars winner, Shuga (formerly Brown Shuga).

Upcoming dancehall artistes Xtra Bigg, Radix OD, as well as the actress and television presenter, Sakina, complete the top ten.

“It’s a professional competition and I’m happy that it is now generating interest once again by people in the industry,” said Minister Grange who was emphatic that it is now to be called the “Jamaica Festival Song Competition”.

Minister Grange has been, over the last three years, leading the initiative to revitalise the Jamaica Festival Song Competition. She is happy that the effort is paying off. Judges listened to more than 150 entries at auditions in Montego Bay, Mandeville and Kingston before selecting the ten finalists.

The Minister said that as part of the revival, she is working to re-introduce the Pop and Variety Competition to find, polish and promote talent in the communities.

Minister Grange said the public will decide the Jamaica Festival Song winner.

“The fact that we are in a period of covid-19 when we are restricted in terms of having mass audiences and so on, we have decided to do the competition virtually — so the world is our stage on this occasion. And the winning song will be selected by the public and so I just want to say that everybody can participate.”

The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, which runs the competition, is finalising arrangements with telecommunications service providers on the mechanism to enable the public to select the winning song.

“When that song is selected about mid-July, there is enough time leading up to the Independence celebration for the song to be known — we want to hear that song on the lips of every man, woman and child,” said Minister Grange.

There’s a prize of three million dollars for the winning song, to be shared among the producer, the writer and the singer. Other prizes will be announced.

The Jamaica Festival Song Competition top ten for 2020 follows:

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Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Honourable Olivia Grange has congratulated Freddie McGregor on his nomination for the ‘Guachupé de Oro’ award in Colombia saying, that “he truly embodies what the award is all about.”