CHRONIXX has again called out the authorities on their failure to optimally market Jamaica’s culture.
Speaking at the launch of the Jamaican and wider Caribbean legs of his Chronology Tour at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in St Andrew yesterday, the reggae singer said corporate Jamaica has a moral responsibility to embrace and support the local culture.
“You cannot sell your products to a people and act as if those same people are cultureless. They are not cultureless, they are human beings with a culture which includes the music, a heartbeat, a taste a flavour, and a fashion; and it is not for you to exploit, it is not for you just walk in and profit off of. It is not for you to stick up artistes and when the artiste comes for sponsorship, you act as if it is not an opportunity for your country… to do what you are supposed to do, which is support the culture of your country,” he told the gathering.
“I always use my opportunity to charge the people of Jamaica to embrace our own culture. We have to embrace it 200 per cent because that’s the only way we will survive, and that’s the only way a Jamaican artiste is going to, someday, become the top reggae artiste in the world, because it’s not like that right now,” Chronixx continued.
The Chronology Tour began earlier this year with the summer concert series across North America into Europe, Japan and Israel. The tour of the wider Caribbean has four stops, starting on November 18 in Guyana; November 24 in Trinidad; November 25 in the spice isle of Grenada; and sugar city of St Kitts is the final stop on December 9.
Jamaican fans will get its share of the Chronology experience on December 1 at Mas Camp in the Corporate Area, and on December 2 at Pier 1 in Montego Bay.
Event producer Jerome Hamilton said the two local concerts follow on Chronixx’s Capture Land shows across Jamaica in 2015 and 2016.
He said the decision was taken to move the event to larger venues in an effort to take the music to a wider audience while staying true to the event’s essence, which is to present a full performance as is experienced in other markets. There are, however, a few changes to the shows when compared to previous years.
“We now have bigger space to work with, so we have included a VIP section at the front. Because of the level of production, ticket prices are a little higher, but not a lot — about a 20 per cent increase on general admission. To offset that we have set a pre-sale price as well as an early bird price. The biggest change for us, and this was really a hard change to get pass, is that we will be having some alcohol on sale, but we are limiting it to beers and wines and we are limit each person to two drinks. That was a hard compromise for the artiste and the brand.”
The Chronology Tour will also feature two guest performers.
“The concert, over the years, had featured just Zincfence Redemption Band, and when the idea came up this year with the bigger concert we wanted a bigger line-up. So, we have included Protoje and his band and Eesah, who is also connected to the Chronixx Music Group. Each will be allowed to have a full-length performance. Those who have seen a Chronixx show and have seen what we call the Reggae Revolution know that there is a group of artistes who work closely together so I expect surprise guests,” Hamilton added.
