In 1967, a group referred to as The Jamaicans, which comprised Tommy Cowan, Norris Weir, Owen Hylton and Martin Williams, won the Competition Song Level of competition, with a song titled Baba Boom Time. The gain secured for the group tours of the Caribbean, Canada and the United States and this put them on a trajectory to worldwide success.
Tommy Cowan, in an job interview with The Gleaner, recalled these halcyon times. “When we won with Baba Boom Time, we have been coming off two years of being victorious as winners of the Pop and Mento competitions and experienced a strike song titled Factors You Say You Enjoy ( You are Gonna Shed). We won from the likes of Desmond Dekker and the Aces who experienced entered a song referred to as Unity, and Al and the Vibrators with Go Up, who put 2nd and 3rd, respectively,” he advised The Gleaner. Created by Cowan and Weir, Baba Boom Time was manufactured by Duke Reid for the Treasure Isle label.
A enormous feather in The Jamaicans’ cap, as winners of the Competition Song contest, they promptly turned in demand. “We went on a significant tour with Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, The Blues Busters and Keith Lyn. Some of the destinations we performed have been Cayman, The Bahamas, Guyana, Trinidad, Barbados, Belize,” Cowan recounted. Recognising both the quick and extensive-phrase value and reward of the opposition, and also owing to their pleasure in country building, The Jamaicans again entered in the years subsequent their gain, but they have been beaten by the likes of Desmond Dekker, The Maytals and Hopeton Lewis. “These artistes all been given worldwide recognition from winning the contest,” Cowan pointed out, and even though The Jamaicans did not protected another gain, there is however some consolation. “Up to this day, we however receive royalties from Baba Boom Time,” he disclosed.
Cowan, the producer and organiser of Jamaica’s Enjoyable in the Son, is pleased that this year’s entrants, in contrast to prior years, is a nutritious mix of proven and new acts. Among the the ten finalists for the Jamaica Competition Song contest for 2020 are Buju Banton, Freddie McGregor, Toots and the Maytals, Papa Michigan, LUST, Nazzleman, Shuga, actress and tv presenter Sakina, and up-and-coming dancehall artistes Xtra Bigg and Radix OD. “To have engaged and inspired so many proven and present artistes at a single time is just amazing,” Cowan reported. “The early competitions noticed the likes of The Maytals, Derrick Morgan, Desmond Dekker and the Aces, Hopeton Lewis and Bob and the Wailers entered a single year but was unsuccessful.”
He established the document straight for these who have been stating that the opposition was proven to unearth new artistes. “The Competition Song competition’s primary intent was to locate that ‘song’ that would have interaction people today of all walks of lifetime to a oneness. The contest captivated entries from the most effective entertainers, but it also gave the option for a lesser known artiste to locate that song and generate an upset, all in the spirit of the opposition.” Cowan similar how Eric Donaldson’s Cherry Oh Infant, a song that he manufactured, backed by the Inner Circle Band, featuring the likes of Ian and Roger Lewis, Ibo Cooper, Tyrone Downie (of the Wailers) and other people developed that upset. An additional Competition Song manufactured by Cowan was Arrive Down by Toots and the Maytals.
For the earlier 3 years, Minister Grange has been top the initiative to revitalise the Jamaica Competition Song Level of competition. She reported the community will make the top determination on who will be the Jamaica Competition Song winner. “The point that we are in a time period of COVID-19 when we are limited in conditions of obtaining mass audiences and so on, we have made the decision to do the opposition almost – so the globe is our stage on this situation. And the winning song will be chosen by the community, and so I just want to say that everyone can participate,” she reported.
The Jamaica Cultural Enhancement Fee, organisers of the opposition, are currently finalising arrangements with telecommunications assistance providers on the mechanism that will empower the community to choose the winning song. “When that song is chosen about mid-July, there is ample time top up to the Independence celebration for the song to be known, we want to listen to that song on the lips of just about every man, girl and little one,” asserted Minister Grange.
The winning song will receive a grand prize of 3 million dollars, to be shared among the the producer, the writers, and the singer.