Building a vibe in ‘Back To’
THE cheers for deejay Ouch were deafening as she left the stage following a scorching performance at the weekly live show in Majesty Gardens.
Ouch has been a star of the Sunday event which was first held three months ago. Organised by the Creator Family, the August 16 show was a final primer for BackTo Fest, which takes place on August 29.
Like previous shows, BackTo Fest is to be held at the community’s basketball court. Sizzla is a headliner but home-grown acts like Ouch, a 29-year-old mother of five, will also be in the spotlight.
The slender toaster has been in the dancehall game since 2004 but has not done any recordings. BackTo Fest will be her biggest gig.
“Mi look forward to it ’cause mi love the music really bad. Because a di show dem mi a deejay regular an’ rehearse regular, things wha’ mi neva do before,” she said.
Ouch (Myra Ford) helps provide for her children ‘doing nails’ in the community. She did cosmetology at St Patrick’s Foundation, a HEART facility in Majesty Gardens but dropped out of the programme before getting a diploma to care for a growing family.
Known as Back To, Majesty Gardens is a tough neighbourhood in South West St Andrew, for which Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller is the member of parliament.
Typical of most urban areas in Jamaica, unemployment and teen pregnancy is rife. Many youth look to entertainment as a way out of poverty.
Andrew Maylor was raised in Back To. He is a member of the Creator Family, an organisation formed by Travis Washington, a Guyanese businessman who heads the Georgetown-based Washington Communication and Transportation Service.
According to Maylor, 40, the Sunday shows are ‘the greatest thing to happen to Majesty Garden in a long time’.
He added: “The youth dem look forward to it…Is like yuh taking a gun out of dem hand an’ put in a mic.”
Maylor said he first met Washington three years ago while in Guyana on a fishing trip. They struck up a friendship that grew when the latter, a Pan African, began exporting fish to Jamaica.
Washington visited Back To and found out the origin of its misunderstood name. Rastafarians first settled in the expanse close to the Kingston wharves, waiting for ships Pan African Marcus Garvey said would take them ‘back to’ Africa.
“Him come an si the place an’ sey him feel the powers,” said Maylor.
Washington’s company has funded the weekly shows which Maylor notes gets no support from major businesses near to Majesty Gardens.
He expects BackTo Fest to be a success, and that some of these companies will support future events.
Some of the funds from BackTo Fest will be used to purchase back-to-school items for children in the community.
