The Jamaica Music Museum (JaMM) celebrates the tenth anniversary of its signature event, Grounation.

This year the panel discussion and lecture series will be staged under the theme ‘Upward and Onward: Alpha, Sister Ignatius, and Music’ and will also commemorate the 140th anniversary of Alpha Boys’ School as a lasting institution.

Each Sunday during February the series will be feature a visual exhibition, panel discussions, and live music via a virtual presentation due to the restrictions related to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Director of JaMM Herbie Miller is extremely grateful to be celebrating this anniversary.

“When we produced the first Grounation series the dream for it to be a programme of substance and longevity was at the forefront of our minds, so to see where we are today is no surprise, and we are grateful for all the support received from all benefactors and devoted ‘Jammers’ over the years.”

Grounation 2021 will highlight the rich musical legacy of the Alpha Boys’ School and the contributions of one of its most influential educators and mentors, Sister Mary Ignatius.

Over the years Grounation has presented a variety of themes, including African Aesthetics in Jamaican Popular Culture; The Drum in Africa and its Diasporas; Dancehall a Liberating Ethic and Ungle Malungu Man: Musings on Don Drummond; and for its 2020 celebrations Blackhead Chiney Man: The Chinese Contribution to Jamaica Popular Music.

Participants in the many lectures, panel discussions and concerts include artistes Big Youth, Jah 9, Carlos Malcolm, Derrick Morgan, and Mystic Revelation of Rastafari; Poet Laureates Lorna Goodison and Professor Mervyn Morris; authors Colin Channer and Kwame Dawes; and other personalities such as professors Clinton Hutton, Maureen Warner-Lewis, and Rupert Lewis; Ernie Smith; Toots Hibbert; L’Acado; Dionne Jackson-Miller; Elaine Wint; Kay Osbourne; Dennis Alcapone; and many more.

“We are working on preserving a production that the next generation of organisers can feel proud to continue. We will continue to explore the rich musical heritage of Jamaica with ethnicities and aesthetics are of African origins. We will also continue to encourage the embrace of our national identity. Grounation will continue to inspire useful thought and discourse linking culture and creativity to national, socio-political and economic development,” noted Miller.