Every announcement of the Reggae Grammy winner, including this year’s, reopens a festering wound in the body of the Jamaican recording artiste community.

The nonsensical moot in a now aging debate holds that once a member of the family of reggae legend Robert Nesta “Bob” Marley is nominated, he will win the award.

This is based on the view that the US-based National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which stages the awards, is biased towards the Third World’s first superstar and by extension members of his family.

They cite the fact that a Marley has taken the award on 12 occasions between 1989 — when Bob’s Marley’s son, Ziggy Marley won — and 2017, when he took it again.

Indeed, the Marleys have done extremely well, especially Ziggy, as the following list shows: 1989 Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers for the album Conscious Party 1990 Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers – One Bright Day 1998 Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers – Fallen Is Babylon 2002 Damian Marley Damian Marley — Half-Way-Tree 2006 Damian Marley — Welcome to Jamrock 2007 Ziggy Marley — Love Is My Religion 2008 Stephen Marley — Mind Control 2010 Stephen Marley — Mind Control – Acoustic 2012 Stephen Marley — Revelations Pt 1 — The Root of Life 2014 Ziggy Marley — In Concert 2015 Ziggy Marley — Fly Rasta 2017 Ziggy Marley – Ziggy Marley The observation made about the numerous Marley wins is posited not in celebration of their genius or that it is well-deserved, but framed in the context of that supposed bias towards the Marley brand.

However, it is not factual to suggest that no other nominee can beat a Marley.

The record shows that in 1986, the year after the Reggae category was first included in the Grammy Awards, Jimmy Cliff, with his album Cliff Hanger, won over four other nominees including Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers; in 1992, Shabba Ranks — As raw as ever — beat out Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers; in 1994, Inner Circle — Bad Boys which made the soundtrack of the movie of the same name, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, again beat out Ziggy and his siblings; and in 1996, Shaggy with Boombastic, won over Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers.

So much for the argument that no nominee is able to beat the Marleys. One good thing that came out of the Grammy Awards discussion was the Jamaica Music Awards, dubbed the ‘Jammys’, which was supposed to give full recognition to Jamaican music performers in recognition of our own, instead of depending on foreigners to honour us.

That flame flickered for a while before it was eventually doused by, among other things, lack of support from the artistes who still pined for a Grammy Award and, with a few exceptions, stayed away from the presentation shows.

Local or Jamaican-inspired awards recognising reggae, such as the International Reggae and World Music Awards founded by Jamaican Ephraim Martin in Chicago, Illinois, will probably never reach the heights of glitz, glamour and monetary value as a Grammy Award.

But nothing is wrong with having them.

Interestingly, some people in the music business credit Martin and current Minister of Culture Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange with influencing the Grammy organisers to include reggae category in the Grammy Awards.