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Helping the growth of Jamaica
I could amplify this point further, by outlining how Jamaican popular music, which I helped in its growth years to reach international status in the 1960s, made dramatic leaps to achieve global recognition. Next year is the 50th anniversary of the emergence of Jamaican popular music. It presents another opportunity to show off our world achievements on the global culture stage.
It should not be in doubt that a Jamaica film industry could be in the making. I give many interviews on Jamaican culture, particularly, Jamaican popular music, to persons or groups from overseas, but I keep asking myself where are the Jamaican teams or individuals who should be doing these projects. Virtually every book on Bob Marley has been written by a foreigner. Some attempts have also been made by foreigners to cover the broader landscape of Jamaican culture which few Jamaicans have considered.
Who is collecting the memorabilia of the track team experiences which should one day be available for public viewing? So far I have not seen one photographer among those filming in Berlin who looks like a Jamaican. Is it because of a lack of understanding of the power of the message that is emerging there? Someday, well after these events, an enterprising group may set out to retrieve collectables of Jamaican sports and cultural achievement only to be stopped by copyright claims by foreigners.
We lost the copyright for Blue Mountain coffee because of this myopia. Jamaican jerk [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]sauces[/COLOR][/COLOR], produced by several foreign sources, are on the shelves in supermarkets abroad as prime products, but not produced in Jamaica.
Who will now take the bull by the horns to start the ball rolling on a project to do a first class film on the Jamaican athletic triumph?
I do not mean an amateur attempt. We will learn nothing from that. I mean the counterpart to 'Cool Runnings', which could be called 'Hot Runnings', but using as much Jamaican talent as possible and gaining much movie technology. To accomplish this I would try to interest the makers of Cool Runnings to determine their interest, subject to an arrangement to use more Jamaican content and transfer of technology. This could be the start of a professional film identity. I set up a film unit in JAMPRO in the 1980s for this reason but it is not now functioning at this level.
Jamaica needs a specialised body of persons with four eyes who can see around corners and who pull together our own threads of sports and cultural achievements and weave them into our own cultural fabrics. An enterprising private sector group with government input will need to be found for guiding and kick-starting projects which deal with the Jamaican brand. Branding cannot be done on a scatter-shot basis. It must be highly focused, and the focus should be to take the Jamaican brand "to the world". Edward Seaga, a former prime minister, is a Distinguished Fellow at the University of the West Indies.
I could amplify this point further, by outlining how Jamaican popular music, which I helped in its growth years to reach international status in the 1960s, made dramatic leaps to achieve global recognition. Next year is the 50th anniversary of the emergence of Jamaican popular music. It presents another opportunity to show off our world achievements on the global culture stage.
It should not be in doubt that a Jamaica film industry could be in the making. I give many interviews on Jamaican culture, particularly, Jamaican popular music, to persons or groups from overseas, but I keep asking myself where are the Jamaican teams or individuals who should be doing these projects. Virtually every book on Bob Marley has been written by a foreigner. Some attempts have also been made by foreigners to cover the broader landscape of Jamaican culture which few Jamaicans have considered.
Who is collecting the memorabilia of the track team experiences which should one day be available for public viewing? So far I have not seen one photographer among those filming in Berlin who looks like a Jamaican. Is it because of a lack of understanding of the power of the message that is emerging there? Someday, well after these events, an enterprising group may set out to retrieve collectables of Jamaican sports and cultural achievement only to be stopped by copyright claims by foreigners.
We lost the copyright for Blue Mountain coffee because of this myopia. Jamaican jerk [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]sauces[/COLOR][/COLOR], produced by several foreign sources, are on the shelves in supermarkets abroad as prime products, but not produced in Jamaica.
Who will now take the bull by the horns to start the ball rolling on a project to do a first class film on the Jamaican athletic triumph?
I do not mean an amateur attempt. We will learn nothing from that. I mean the counterpart to 'Cool Runnings', which could be called 'Hot Runnings', but using as much Jamaican talent as possible and gaining much movie technology. To accomplish this I would try to interest the makers of Cool Runnings to determine their interest, subject to an arrangement to use more Jamaican content and transfer of technology. This could be the start of a professional film identity. I set up a film unit in JAMPRO in the 1980s for this reason but it is not now functioning at this level.
Jamaica needs a specialised body of persons with four eyes who can see around corners and who pull together our own threads of sports and cultural achievements and weave them into our own cultural fabrics. An enterprising private sector group with government input will need to be found for guiding and kick-starting projects which deal with the Jamaican brand. Branding cannot be done on a scatter-shot basis. It must be highly focused, and the focus should be to take the Jamaican brand "to the world". Edward Seaga, a former prime minister, is a Distinguished Fellow at the University of the West Indies.
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