Xodus keeps show on the road
Despite a two-year hiatus and post-pandemic jitters, Jamaicans continued their love affair with carnival by turning out in their numbers for the Xodus road march on Sunday, July 10.
Scott Dunn, managing director of Dream Entertainment —organisers of the Xodus road march — was not surprised at the turnout.
“While soca, and by extension carnival, didn’t start out in Jamaica, it is West Indian culture. It’s Caribbean culture. And in the manner in which dancehall is huge everywhere else in the Caribbean, it would [be] crazy that we wouldn’t accept soca here,” Dunn told the Jamaica Observer.
That belief in the interest of carnival led Dream Entertainment to weather the stormy two years with the plan to hold events immediately after the lifting of the health restrictions.
“We were just kinda holding tight, trying to manage our expenses. It was a tough time for the entertainment business, but particularly for the bigger players like ourselves because we have a lot of fixed costs. We had rent to pay at different facilities. We had staff that we maintained, so it was tight, tough, but it was important to us that we delivered on our promise to our revellers,” he said.
Dunn added that his bullishness on this genre of music and entertainment is partly bolstered by the appeal of the Dream Weekend brand overseas which has drawn a mostly international crowd to the Xodus road march. However, he revealed that with a Dream Weekend in store for Europe in September, international interest in carnival could increase further.
“Our biggest market for Dream Weekend Negril traditionally was New York, Toronto, South Florida and Atlanta. Over the last couple years, we’ve seen London and Birmingham grow and grow and grow. So it’s now the UK is our second biggest market. By next year I think it will be our biggest market,” he said.
Dunn is sure that the Jamaica Tourist Board will be happy with the newly focused efforts on the European markets and also admitting the seasonal nature of carnival in Jamaica.
“Soca isn’t big all year round, but when it comes to carnival time a lot of people love soca. And we love that they love soca too,” said Dunn.