Frankie Campbell

For the singers and players that have contributed to the golden era of Jamaican popular music, life in the present era can present multiple challenges.

Economic pressures, coupled with the recording industry's general preoccupation with current acts has meant rough going for several of Jamaica's greats, some of whom were relatively unsung even in their hey day.

At the death last year of vintage artiste Scotty, artistes gathered that the only time many of them got together was at funerals or backstage at shows.

Compounding the issue was that Scotty's funeral expenses proved very onerous for the bereaved as the artiste had no insurance or other financial cover available.

Those factors led Michael Barnett, of Heineken Startime fame, vintage artist Bunny Brown and others to form the Jamaica Association of Vintage Artistes and Associates (JAVAA) which now celebrates one year.

JAVAA's principal Frankie Campbell, of Fabulous Five, told Splash that the Association was proceeding towards it objective of having an established fund to provide assistance to artistes, even if they are already members of the musicians union (here or overseas). One of the major planks in this programme is the weekly JAVAA Jammin' sessions hosted each Friday at the Jamaica Vibes Sports Bar and Lounge on Haining Road in Kingston.

A special one-year celebratory jam will be held this evening, and Campbell outlined that the aim was to put on as many of the member artistes and regulars as possible.

"We're going to have a whole array of artistes, but each limited to a single song or so in order to accommodate everyone in the programme. A number of special guests have been invited, including formidable rock/blues guitarist and Observer managing director Mark Pritchett.

Campbell also stated that the JAVAA jams had proved an ideal staging ground both for relatively new talent, like Keisha Patterson, as well as for more established acts who had been away from the Jamaican scene for an extended period, like Bunny Brown and Angela Stewart (sister of Festival Song winner Tinga).

Through JAVAA, it is hoped that there'll be more happy occasions for great Jamaican entertainers that they will at some stage get their due recognition from the wider public and that bereavement or other occasions of need can be comfortably handled.

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