Amina Blackwood Meeks, Contributor
THE ISLANDWIDE talent search known as 'Rising Stars' allows us, once again, to examine seriously some issues fundamental to the nature of the vision for the development of the performing arts and then the development of the cultural industry in Jamaica.
Both of these include but are broader than the separate and combined missions of the Division of Culture, the Cultural Development Commission, the Creative and Production Training Centre (CPTC) and the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA).
It is a discussion that must be broadened to include every sector of the society, including the media and media practitioners, the banks and other financial institutions, the private sector, the creative artistes themselves and every single Jamaican who benefits directly or indirectly from the work of the performers.
Of course, there is no Jamaican who does not benefit. Every time we are identified with or recognised by the name of this or that singer, this or that international actor or actress or the work of a painter born within these shores or bearing Jamaican ancestry, all of us reap some reward. It is as inescapable as the dubious distinction of being the land of deportees.
At the centre of the discussion must be how we understand the performing arts, whether our perception embraces other art forms beside music and whether this music is larger than and not limited to reggae and dancehall.
The discussion must also involve an interrogation of the concepts of the performing arts that have to do with an enrichment of the nation beyond that which cannot be defined in terms of money or contribution to the gross domestic product.
That is ultimately where it will end up of course, but it cannot be where we begin. We must talk about its role in creating the kind of entertainment and sharing which function to hold communities together. We must talk as well as about its role in imparting information and about values such as teamwork, discipline, planning, consistency in quality and all the other attributes usually used to define and describe good citizens.
STAR QUALITY
If you have been following the 'Rising Stars' on Television Jamaica, you must have asked yourself the question at least once, what is it about Jamaica that keeps us producing so many stars, at least so many people who believe that they have a gift, a skill, a talent in the arts, that Jamaica needs as a necessary component of its salvation?
Further, how do they conclude that they could be an international phenomenon given half a chance even if nubaddi naw pay dem nuh mind, except perhaps to admonish them to go look wuk.
This without any clue about the nature of the amount of work required to do what they do, sometimes better than the people we pay money to see at the cinema or use to rent DVDs and video cassettes to take home and enjoy. True, you know, many undiscovered, penniless, untrained performers run rings around Hollywood movie stars but wannabe something like a politician taking home US$38million per movie.
Okay then, maybe all the world is really a stage and we don't expect politicians to have too much talent.
At least not for recognising what we could be reaping out of a properly envisioned and pursued cultural industry. Honestly, some of them I wouldn't vote for. Here I mean the 'Rising Star' contestants. In fact I don't know how the judges manage to vote for some of them with a straight face and anything but a compassionate heart.
Take for example this delightful senior citizen, he of the gap tooth wide gap tooth grin from Manchester. Back up, how him consider himself to be in the category of rising anything?
See? Many Jamaicans know, that is just tru de rest a we doan know de runnings, doan have an understanding of what the poet Mbala means when he writes, "there are more heroes than Nanny" why Jamaica has not yet emerged from on the brink on which it has stood from Whoppy deh bout and assumed its rightful position of the next world power.
Ana Strachan, first place winner in the world championships of performing arts cudda do dat by fi we by herself. She is a 'Rising Star' competitor.
One might very well ask why? Why has she not yet received the assistance she needs to pursue a career in music, besides the encouragement of the Prime Minister's Award for excellence. Why after all that did she have a need to be 'discovered' via 'Rising Stars'.
And here's the rub if you have been watching the programme or even if you have only been to some church concerts or special events you will see how many Ana Strachans there are out there waiting to be taken seriously. Or Williard Whites for that matter.
Well that is what I have dubbed that fabulous baritone from the Kingston leg of the competition (see, I cant even remember his name) who demanded attention from the first note of Great Is Thy Faithfulness.It is nothing short of a travesty, a dereliction of duty, that 42 years after Independence this nation does not have the means to ensure that all Jamaica could regularly feast on the offerings of these world class talent, these magnificent stars.
Me nuh mean nyam dem up 'bout how dem is to give free show for this or that charity, or give up dem likkle rest time to come and motivate this or that group: for this is what will happen after dem really turn big and start to bring the foreign currency on the island.
I mean right now, long before that, just put dem on a proper stage somewhere so we can feel good about what we have produced is spite of the need to produce tings to sell and pay the IMF, and they can know that we appreciate them in spite of how dem teck bus or walk to come perform for people who arrive in vehicles with unpronounceable insurance amounts.
One finalist said in a television interview that she entered the competition in order to get an understanding of how the business really works. Now every businessman, especially those seeking the formula for success in the best economic climate, moreover this crime-ridden one, knows that business needs investment, needs someone to believe in what you are about, believe that you are convinced enough about your vision that you work like a Trojan to make it succeed just to prove that you could do it.
Furthermore, you not going into sugar or banana which everybody with good economic sense trying to 'revive' year after year even when de poor crops dem begging dem to pull de plug and try something else so we all can rest in prosperity.So whose responsibility is this? Who will lead the discovery, training, producing and marketing of these fine talent and pave the way for prosperity through the wealth of cultural workers on which we have sitting? Can JCDC really be expected to do this on the small budget, when last I checked, that they are allocated, the limited staff, the limited facilities proper theatre spaces and still make money to keep them going. Ditto CPTC.
With everything else on the plate of the EMCVPA to teach the skills, to train teachers of the arts, is it really their responsibility how much can they really dedicate to artistic entrepeneurship? You have any idea how the Division of Culture is struggling to be taken seriously about the use of the culture of Jamaica as form and content in the delivery of education in our classrooms?
Whose responsibility is it to ensure that good singers and composers have a real opportunity to get into the top number of any going chart so that those who delight in doing nothing but find fault and guffaw will stop talk 'bout which and which singer should find a locksmith to help them find the key to turn the right note? And, too, besides exposure to star quality performers must be the best insurance against national tone deafness and basic school rhyming couplets as lyrics.
Beyond the rising star must be an acknowledgement of its value out side of the context of the immediate numerical impact of how many people turned up to this or that sponsored event, meaning how many people saw and might develop a loyalty to this or that product whether they heard the entertainer of not. Truth is in the long run, investment results in greater loyalty from a more informed audience base than the transient sponsorship of an event which might be 'part of the marketing strategy this year' but maybe not next year when the strategy changes.
The fact that we seem only to understand stardom in terms of music is another matter and 'Rising Stars' by making their logo a standing microphone might be guilty of that.
But what about our star painters, dancers, actors, storytellers, acrobats and the like? Who will invest in them and what will it take for us to learn that the wealth of this country lies in the uniqueness of its artistic resources both in form and content? It is waiting to be harnessed into assisting us to produce our way out of our poverty.
There is room in the firmament. One star might be a fluke. But a band a dem might just make everything shine brighter
