Good music still Counts

Count Ossie receives Lifetime Achievement Award from JARIA

Kingston; Jamaica: The Jamaica Reggae Industry Association will present the inaugural JARIA Lifetime Achievement award to veteran musician Count Osie on Sunday March 1, at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel. This as the stars gather for the first ever Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JARIA) Honours Awards set to recognize eleven pioneers in the local music industry.

Facilitated by the Ministry of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, JARIA, a non-governmental, non-profit organisation was formed by industry players who met over several weeks to plan reggae month 2009. As part of the celebrations during reggae month, JARIA will be presenting the following awards to eleven individuals: the JARIA Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Count Osie and The Mystic Revelations, the JARIA Engineers Honours Awards will go to Sylvan Morris and Sid Bucknor. The JARIA Producers Honour Awards recognizes Lesley Kong and Sonia Pottinger, the JARIA Sound Systems Honour Awards will be given to King Tubby and Jah Love, the JARIA Musicians Honour Awards to Lennie Hibbert and Ansel Collins and the JARIA Artistes Honour Awards will honour Dennis Brown and Pam Hall.

According to Junior Lincoln, of JARIA’s Honour Awards planning committee, all honourees have been pioneers in the music industry and have built the stepping stones for Jamaican music today. The Honour Awards Committee also comprises of Jackie Lynch Stewart, Steve Golding, Freddie McGregor, Paul “Computer Paul” Henton, Desi Young and Dwight “Heavy D” Myers.

Lincoln elaborated on some of the awardees, “Count Osie, he was an original niabinghi drummer who played a very important part in the early establishment of Jamaican music, he performed on the recording Oh Carolina, and was the anchor of the song when it was created. Count Osie is a member of the The Mystic Revelations of Rastafari who are still going strong after over fifty years. Sid Bucknor, was the engineer of many of the hits of the Skalities, the Maytals and other early Jamaican songs. He also played an integral role in the production of early studio one music. Sylvan Morris took over from Sid Bucknor at Studio One, he was then responsible for the reggae compilations at Studio One, Sid Bucknor was like the daddy and Sylvan Morris followed him.” he said.

Lesley Kong was an early producer who was responsible for music from the legendary Jimmy Cliff and Desmond Decker. Lincoln elaborates, “Our theme this year is ‘to the world’. Lesley Kong was responsible for international hits from Desmond Decker like Israelites, he was one of the first producers in the 1960s to have an international hit. The second awardee Sonia Pottinger was the lady of Jamaican music; she was the lady and still is the lady of Jamaican record producers.”

King Tubby, an early 1960s sound system operator was a pioneer when it came to dubs in the dancehall and can easily be referred to as the ‘dubmaster’ of Jamaican music while Jah Love was considered to be the first the Rasta sound system. Musician Lenny Hibbert is known for his contributions to the Alpha Boys School where he assisted countless boys to pursue careers in the music industry. Ainsley Collins is perhaps best known for the smash hit Double Barrel which helped bring Jamaican music to the world.

When it comes to pioneering male and female singers the names Dennis Brown and Pan Hall, the ‘crown prince of reggae music’ are often at the top of the list. Junior Lincoln describes, “Pam Hall, has been around since the seventies. Pam started as a backup singer, the good thing about her is she has been involved in every part of the industry, in the music and the well fare of Jamaican artistes. Dennis Brown, crown prince of reggae is in my view the greatest singer Jamaica has ever known.”

The Awards Ceremony will be streamed live on the JIS website as well as televised for later broadcasts