A fete set to recapture the golden days of dancehall - when it was not yet known as a beat, but as a space for great fun and frolicking - is planned for July 31.

Laing... we ah bring back the original ting inna dance

In other words, the event slated for Jamworld is about what Lou Gooden describes in his controversial book, Reggae Heritage, as "Dancin' Halls.....homes of most of Jamaica's popular sound systems."
In keeping with the historical and cultural significance, this "session" (as dances were then called) that is aimed at reliving the glory days of such events, will be appropriately held on the eve of the annual celebration of Emancipation Day.

Dubbed 'When Dancehall was King' the show will feature Five-the-Hard-Way at the premier Portmore show ground, which will be recreated to reflect the ethos of that bygone period. "We ah bring back the original ting inna dance with sounds like Stero Grav with Josie Wales and Charlie Chaplin, U-Roy, Ninjaman, Admiral Bailey," explained promoter Isiah Laing of Supreme Promotions fame.

"People in the age group of 35 and 40 years, hardly know the real dance of 30 years ago. Because when dance used to gwaan dem time deh dem ah pickney. Dem couldn't go out. What we really want to do is to bring what used to happen before, when dancehall was really king. When you have King Yellowman, and yuh 'ave di Josie Wales, di Charlie Chaplin and Brigadier Jerry," explains the man behind Sting, the greatest one night show on earth.

"When people ah chat pon sound," Laing continues, "dem DJs used to talk pon sound like di ole night. And every riddim come dem find lyrics pon spot and deal wid di ting. Put most a these now-a-days DJs pon dem riddim deh and dem drop off one million time before di riddim dun. Soh wi really ah bring back di original dancehall."

The line-up, Laing says will include such old school deejays like Peter Metro who used to be with Metro Media Sound System. "Yuh coulda goh see him (Peter Metro) every Wednesday night ova Allman Town. Dat was a dance people goh fi see Peter Metro, Tanto Metro, Squidley Ranking, those guys. And from yuh sey Black Scorpio, yuh sey General Trees - Straight!," recalls Laing with a passion.

He added, "And den yuh ave Pinchers, who use to chat pon it too. Echo Minott, Barrington Levy to a lesser extent, but this time we are going to be using Barrington Levy with Addis International from out of New York. Yuh 'ave Barrington and Sanchez, George Nooks.

The last time they played here I think it was a dance with Jaro in Newland..... We are using Bodyguard. Dem (Bodyguard) neva used to have a lot of DJs those days, but we gonna use dem because dem 'ave a nice sound system. Because everybody 'ave fi come wid dem own sound dis time. Wi ah do the original ting. Is not jus coming wid record fi play tune."

Outlining the arrangement that will see Jamworld transforming into a village of dancing halls, Laing promised: "I'm going to be doing two stages inside of Jamworld out in de lawn. Not where the stage is right now. Wi going use Two Tone portable stages out there. Dat's where I'm going put the sound.

Three on one, because one of the stages bigger than the other. Three sounds on one stage and two on the other... And we're gonna be naming areas inside of Jamworld like a Metro Media Way, or a Stero Grav Boulevard, etc, etc.... It is going to be something to remember."

The staging of "When Dancehall was King", comes on the heels of one such session on Labour Day in honour of legendary disjock, Winston "King Stitt" Parks, by a slew of old school selectors.

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