Gungo Walk Festival 2014
As new roads provide a tool to strengthen and extend
commercial hegemonies, so do mutli-discipline entertainment/cultural events
provide a tool to extend and renew a Jamaican cultural hegemony which, while
still strong, has been buffeted over the last decade or so.
In that respect, the 2014 renewal of the Gungo Walk
festival, on the campus of the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing
Arts this past weekend, could well be regarded as a cultural super-highway
awaiting pavement.
Except that the organizers are thankfully, not waiting for
whatever covering may on offer from officialdom; truth be told, its foolhardy
to really expect the State, locked into admittedly stale yet still lucrative
conventions, to nurture the seeds and saplings of its own destruction, or at
least deconstruction.
But, the above is political discourse, a sideshow at best.
The main event is every bit worthy of attention and support, from the
“soul-Rasta” stylings of Mackeehan – joined artfully for a brief yet intense
moment by Duane Stephenson, to the “modern dub” of Don Z, who best managed to
blend the roots sensibility with a genuinely roughneck DJ delivery, aided and
abetted by some extra tasty riffs from the accompanying Dubsmart band. One can
hear the legitimacy of the heritage in the rendition of Peter Tosh’s “Steppin’
Razor” by Alexandra Love and the Warriah Love band.
And it shines through in the unexpected yet more than
welcome revelation that is Shanique Brown, aka GiRL. Nurtured at Ardenne, she
and an able quartet of young men took command of the stage and of the audience’s
affections with such unapologetic aplomb that by the end of her bouncy,
sing-along original “Press Play” (preceded by the deceptively simplistic “Love”
there was little doubt about the future health of Jamaican popular music – at least
nt from a live performance viewpoint.
There was also Maria Lindsay. The 17-year old Campionite,
largely self-taught, delivered of herself a well-modulated yet near epic (in
the best sense of that overused term) exposition of musical talent that
endeared her to the growing audience gathered on the school ground, doing two
originals (including “Wish” already in modest radio rotation) that wiped out
her tentative start with Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”.
The festival also affirmed that the present generation of
young Jamaicans (whichever letter you want to assign them) may be closer to
actual revolution than might be otherwise thought. They are certainly on point
in terms of acknowledging the Africanness which the oligarchy – with
Government’s tacit approval – has sought to deny while exploiting for decades.
For proof, look no further than the progress of capoeira,
that mythical Afro-Brazilian dance of war and of identity, in Jamaica. Led by maestro Eckart, the capoeira troupe, ranging in age from prep- schoolers
to adults, showed, in their mix of athleticism and angularity, the ongoing
assimilation process.
Assimilation worked in reverse as well: another Brazilian
import, singer Soraya laid down a vibe of funky grace, clad in various
iterations of her nation’s colours while going through reggae both classic and
contemporary, in Jamaican as well as in her native tongue, the accent serving
only to sweeten the effect.
And there was much more than music on offer - dramatic presentations, dance, film all took
their concurrent and independent turns for the audience’s attention and they in
turn appeared happy to be made nomads, shuffling from stage to stage and room to
room in search of the next enjoyment. In addition to festival merchandise, there was also a genuinely eye-catching array of handcraft items, and the near ubiquitous (but definitely welcome) I-Nation Books.
So if, in fulfilment of the late Gil Scott-Heron’s now
iconic statement, “the revolution will not be televised” then we need not worry
too much (though the publicity might loosen a few purse strings). It will be
phone-shared, Googled, Facebooked, Instagrammed and tweeted far and wide, and
even without those interventions, this, is clearly a movement whose energy will
not be inhibited nor quenched.
Big and broad, Gungo Walk!
