SEVERAL high-profile acts are among this year’s finalists in the Jamaica Festival Song Competition, tentatively slated for July.

“We have some top names that have entered. Every one will be impressed and the industry has really come onboard,” Olivia “Babsy” Grange, culture, gender, entertainment, and sport minister told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

“This year we have changed the format. We are going virtual,” she continued.

The Jamaica Observer has learnt that Buju Banton; Toots & the Maytals; Freddie McGregor; dancehall quartet LUST; Papa Michigan, formerly of the duo Michigan and Smiley; and Shuga are among the line-up.

Papa Michigan confirmed he had thrown his hat in the ring with the single Festival Dance.

“A friend of mine called mi and ask mi fi do a song. So mi jus’ write it and submitted it… About 3 1/2 weeks later they [the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) contacted me to say they accepted my song… So I reworked it and resent it,” he told the Observer yesterday.

“I jus’ wanna contribute to my Jamaican heritage. Given my song-writing skills with songs like Diseases, I think I’m bring some originality to the Festival Competition,” he continued.

Papa Michigan (given name Anthony Fairclough) started his musical journey in 1978 as part of the now-defunct duo Michigan and Smiley. The group is known for songs, including Rub a Dub Style, Nice Up the Dance, and The Ghetto Man.

Papa Michigan described Festival Dance as a “reggae song reflecting the current realities”.

“It’s a catchy song looking at the beginning of festival and how, this year, it will be virtual due to the coronavirus,” he said.

Toots & the Maytals are no strangers to the Jamaica Festival Song Competition having won the inaugural staging in 1966 with Bam Bam. The group, with front man Toots Hibbert, would also secure victories in the 1968 ( Sweet And Dandy) and 1972 ( Pomps And Pride) staging of the contest.

For more than a half-century, the Jamaica Festival Song Competition — organised by the JCDC — has unearthed talent islandwide and has provided a platform for aspiring artistes and seasoned veterans to propel their talents on national and international stages.

The competiton will be officially launched on Television Jamaica (TVJ) this morning.