COMPARED to Toronto, the Jamaican community in Montreal is a small one. But according to a top disc jockey in that city, Quebec’s largest city has quietly made strides as a leading reggae market in Canada.

James Bond is host of On The Reggae Jam, a weekly show on the K103.7FM radio station. For three hours (9:00 to midnight), he plays the latest reggae hits as well as classics from the 1970s and old school dancehall of the 1980s.

Bond (given name James Kornecook) was in Jamaica recently and spoke to the Jamaica Observer about the current state of reggae in Montreal.

“There are several reggae scenes in Montreal. There is a French scene that Haitians and Quebecers attend and there is an English West Indian scene in another part of town,” he said. “We also have communities from islands such as St Vincent, Grenada, Trinidad…all these cater specifically for these communities,” he added. “There is a large African population that also loves reggae music.”

According to Bond, that cosmopolitan populace usually supports the Montreal International Reggae Festival which takes place in August. Throughout the year, big names including Sizzla, Beres Hammond, Konshens and Sanchez perform at club dates, but he says for all this favourable growth, Montreal is still a distant second to Toronto when it comes to reggae.

“It is important to understand that the Montreal market is smaller than Toronto’s. A show in Toronto may have four or five name brand artistes but in Montreal only one artiste will come,” he explained. “The crowd is just not there to support too many big shows, and the promoter will not make back the money they invested.”

A graduate of McGill University, Bond says he has been listening to Jamaican music since the 1980s when he discovered Bob Marley. He was a selector for a Montreal sound system named Virgo before branching out on his own, spinning dancehall/reggae beats at house parties.

Since 2003, he has hosted On The Reggae Jam which caters mainly to the youth demographic.

“I usually devote most shows to new music, I play Mavado, Konshens, Chronixx, Chris Martin to Kabaka Pyramid and Iba Mahr,” he said. “I take it back from time to time with some classic dancehall and foundation music, playing artistes like Super Cat, Shabba, Josey Wales.”

Montreal is the epicentre of French Canada. A city with a thriving arts and culinary scene, it has become increasingly diverse in the last 20 years through immigration from Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean.

That diversity is reflected in the music, with hip hop and dancehall/reggae challenging rock as the sound of choice in Montreal. Bond notes listener feedback for On The Reggae Jam proves the appreciation for Jamaican music is on the rise.

“I have a great variety of listeners from all backgrounds. I receive requests from the ultra-knowledgeable fan who will ask for the very latest release or others calling in for tunes like Murder She Wrote or Night Nurse,” he said.