Celebrating Women in reggae

A decade ago women in the local music industry were battling exploitation – facing demands for sex and so on in order to get their records produced or played.

Today that has changed – for the better.

Or at least so says Sandra Joy Alcott, president/founder of the Jamaica Association of Female Artistes (JAFA).

“I think that they [women artistes], have moved visibly towards progress,” Alcott told all woman while citing Lady Saw’s Grammy achievement for Underneath It All in combination with the group, No Doubt, as well as her (Lady Saw’s) collaboration with Ce’cile.

But she cautioned that there was still some way to go in overcoming the age-old practice of exploitation. One of her reasons for starting JAFA in 1997 was to explore issues peculiar to women in the entertainment industry that needed addressing.

The Rastafarian attorney-at-law told all woman that JAFA’s mission was to pursue greater opportunities for women in the entertainment industry, and generally to raise the standard of women in the industry.

“The horror stories concerning some Jamaican female artistes are numerous, nasty and oftentimes tragic,” Alcott, once declared during her presentation of a paper titled, No P_ _ P__ No Music Deal at a symposium put on to discuss women in music.

The founder of the poetry group called the P_ _ P_ _ Posse (The Power Uniting Men), went on to elaborate on her thesis.

“The title No P_ _ P_ _ No Music Deal is a graphic reference to the behaviour of some record producers towards our female artistes… The woman may be courted and may feel that she is in a genuine relationship, only to be cut loose and put to pasture when the man is tired of her and moves on to a next artiste,” she said. “It may be that a producer may begin to record an artiste, apparently in good faith, and somewhere along the line he begins to ‘put questions to her’ or to behave in a sexually harassing manner. If she does not give in to these advances, there will be no further recording.”

However, today she sees a noticeable improvement in the status of female artistes and feels that it is because they are more united and focused.

“More women artistes are working together; recently there was a show in Negril with an all-female line-up. The treatment of women has not reached where it ought to be; a lot of them still are not focused enough, but we are getting there.” Alcott said.

Women have over the years been playing a pivotal role in the development of Jamaican popular music, often without recognition.

If the name Doris Darlington doesn’t ring a bell, then that underscores the point. The story of “Ms D”, as she was affectionately known, represents a significant chapter in the history of Jamaican music.

She was the late mother of Clement Seymour Dodd, better known as Sir Coxsone, the legendary record producer, founder/owner of Studio One recording complex who went to join her a couple of weeks ago. Those in the know will tell you that his mother, Ms D, who can also be considered as the matriarch of the deejay idiom, was a dancer, talent scout, and producer.

The late Sister Mary Ignatius, who passed away last year at age 81, never played an instrument, but was greatly instrumental in the development of the musicians she mentored at the Alpha Boys’ School, the likes of Don Drummond, Tommy McCook, Joe Harriot et al, who were the architects of Jamaican music.

Let us now turn to Sonia Pottinger, who was one of the country’s leading record producers (male and female) for the first 25 years of Jamaican music, and who owned a number of labels. She started first with the label, SEP (Sonia E Pottinger), then Gayfeet after which it was Highnote and Gloria – for the pioneers in gospel music such as Claudette Clarke among others. Sonia Pottinger is a giant of a woman.

And of course, it was a young Millie Small who gave Jamaica its first international hit, My Boy Lollipop.

This is just a synopsis of the sterling contribution of the women in Jamaican music which over the years has largely gone unrecognised. The good news in recent years, however, is that Dr Carolyn Cooper, and Sandra Alcott have thrown their intellectual weight and organisational skills behind promoting and recognising women entertainers. They have started respectively, the Reggae Studies Unit at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), and JAFA.

Since 2002, the Reggae Studies Unit and JAFA have combined to celebrate “Women In Reggae” – an annual symposium coinciding with International Women’s Day as well as Month.

Like the past two such occasions, the last forum on “Women In Reggae” in March was entertaining and informative, with some of the more gifted and experienced female artistes sharing their stories, vision, aspirations and music with the approving audience. The low attendance was the only exception to previous years.

There were astounding performances from both veterans and upcoming female acts. Seasoned campaigners like Pam Hall and Shirley McLean touched base with younger counterparts such as Italee, trio LMJ and Natalie Fresh.

The discourses were full of value in history-making material. Italee for example, recalled the days when like most of her peers, male and female she used to go for the “bling” (the hype), and the process of the transformation in which she has found comfort.

“For years like many artistes, male and female, I was also a cheap go, a cheap take, jump pon stage and sey all di man dem weh know sey dem a no B-Man put up unnu hand. Dem hand would go up and a would sey, yeah, I made it, a rock dem, a mash it up, wow dem love mi. Oh no, I don’t think so. Maybe they did, but I didn’t love me,” said Italee, who once used the moniker, Rude.

“So, I changed my mind about that, and I went through a lot of hell to come from out of that zone… Then caught between the line of needed to do this and wanting to do that, needed to be this, wanting to be that, I was not sure of anything, so I went into depression before deciding I want to be Italee”, she said.