ONE of the sad features of our Jamaican reality is the scant attention we pay to those on whose shoulders we stand.

Looking back in our culture is often deemed the preserve of losers who have not managed to fare well in their current circumstance. How often have we been reminded that we should stop living in the past? I have pointed out in previous articles that acknowledging those who have paved the way for our current success (often without the benefit of the requisite rewards) serve more to enrich our society than to benefit those we honour. Honouring exemplary lives is a means of ordering our society by pointing to those achievements and accomplishments we deem worthy of emulation.

As I noted in previous articles individuals such as Alpha Boy’s School’s Sister Ignatius do not need the honours we sometimes bestow on them. They often derive their satisfaction in doing what they love. However, our society needs to ensure that these individuals are honoured, as it is through the celebration of their achievements that we will be able to promote that which is worthy of emulation.

Queen Ifrica cries that we need our heroes. Her lament is a poignant reminder of the absence of real role models and its attendant consequences in the Jamaican society. Modern societies are more often caught up with form than with substance and too often celebrate those with a penchant for self-promotion, while ignoring the real accomplishments of those who would not deign to blow their own trumpets. I was therefore quite heartened by two recent efforts at honouring two outstanding Jamaicans who have made immense contributions to the music industry and the Jamaican society.

The recent decision by the Institute of Jamaica to honour Hedley Jones with the prestigious gold Musgrave medal is one that we should all applaud even if some might argue that it is a bit belated. Many of the beneficiaries of the pioneering contribution of this colossus of Jamaican culture are totally oblivious to his accomplishments and existence, as they move blithely along secure in their solipsistic vanity that history begins and ends with them. Jones through his awesome technical prowess was able lay the foundation for modern Jamaican music and could well be called the father of the sound system at least in its current bass privileged manifestation. Jones was responsible for building a number of the recording studios which would feature prominently in modern popular culture. He was not given to self-promotion hence his relative obscurity. Sadly Jamaica has been the poorer for not taking advantage of the enormous insight which is still resident in this man now in his tenth decade of existence. How many Jamaicans would ever be able to identify a picture of Hedley Jones whose speakers and amplifiers gave body to the sound we call Jamaican music and to which we gyrate with such wild abandon.

Few areas of modern Jamaican culture remain untouched by his remarkable influence. Yet, so few would be able to identify this remarkable Jamaican. This sadly is an indictment on how we assign priorities in this country. I often tell the story of my shock and horror watching School’s Challenge Quiz some years ago and seeing eight of the brightest students in our country failing to recognise Ernest Ranglin arguably the greatest musician this country has ever produced. . How many of our current crop of stars are aware of Lord Flea, who was a major international star in the 1950s and who even appeared in movies. The fact is that there is not much by way of written information that is available on these men, but sadly, even if we had books documenting their achievements few members of our current generation would have taken note of them.

There are few who call themselves artistes and musicians today who would be able to recognise the name Jackie Mittoo an incredible instrumentalist and arranger who carried the musical direction of the legendary Studio One on his teenage shoulders. My great privilege in life is to be able to secure the opportunity of sitting at the feet some of these legends who were able to share their vast and rich experiences with me. I will be forever in the debt of my friend and mentor Samah Reid who exposed me in my adolescent years to such personalities as Joe Ruglass, Cedric Brooks, Leslie Samuels, Sparrow Martin, Pete ‘Count Mug’ Dillon and a host of other notables who served as founts of information for my curious mind. I will be forever grateful to such personalities as Carl and Bunny Goodison, Patrick ‘Ska Tunna’ Blackwood and my own father and cousins, who opened my mind to the wondrous possibilities of art and culture. Sadly these structures of mentoring are largely absent in our current arrangements where we are obsessed with the eternal now. This obsession with the present is at the heart of so many of our social ills. There is an absence of empathy in a society concerned only with here and now with crime and other forms of antisocial behaviour being its natural outcome.

I am heartened to see that a group of individuals close to the music industry and headed by the indefatigable Junior Lincoln a man who himself is deserving of honours has decided to stage a tribute songwriter extraordinaire Bob Andy. Charles Campbell in his remarkable tribute to this Jamaican icon did a fine job locating the contribution of Andy to our musical legacy so it is unnecessary for me to chronicle the creative accomplishments of this remarkable life at this point. Yet what we certainly need are more properly researched written accounts of the lives of those who came saw and delivered. We owe this to ourselves as we move into the celebration of fifty years of independence.

cpamckenzie@gmail.com