ENTERTAINMENT

DANCEHALL'S COMING OF AGE
Reggae Sumfest - That's A Wrap!
By Dennis Howard
Friday, July 31, 2009
Dancehall Night at Reggae Sumfest was special in many ways: firstly, it shows the strength of the young people in Jamaica who are still hungry for the popular sound.
Secondly, there was hardly any hype about impending clashes or confrontations amongst the deejays and sing-jays who were billed for the event, nor was there any expectation of any fire burning and gay bashing from any of the usual suspects. Yet despite the usual marketing gimmicks the turnout was phenomenal.
What was significant for me was the effort from the likes of Bounty Killer, Vybz Kartel, Mavado, Kip Rich, Spice and others to create a show for presentation.
Bounty Killer, Mavado and Vybz Kartel in particular went out of their way to present an act, something that has been lacking in their presentation in the past. The fact that it worked to varying degrees for the above-mentioned performers is insignificant. The real story is that dancehall artistes are becoming real professionals on stage. It is really heartening to see the effort being made to entertain instead of looking for quick forwards and creating spurts of excitement, as we are used to in dancehall.

There was no importation of whole communities armed with fireworks and the dangerous aerosol torches to manufacture crowd response. It seems the recession has caught up with our entertainers. For the first time in a long time I felt I was at a world-class festival.
Congratulations to all the performers on Dancehall Night; they kept it reasonably clean, did not resort to cheap tricks and delivered some great performances - some weak, some boring but all with a professional approach. This is a turning point in popular entertainment that must be recognised and encouraged. The fact that there were so many contenders for the top performer of the night is an indication of the significance of the change in approach by the artistes.
Music historian Dennis Howard has worked with many of the top Jamaican musicians and talent including Sly and Robbie, Steely and Cleavie, Garnet Silk, Beenie Man and Luciano. The above is a sampling of his soon-to-be- published book.