International Reggae Day is July 1

International Reggae Day is July 1, when we’ll be in Harlesden, north-west London where we’ll be reasoning about music and environmental issues, plus a ‘One Love’ rendition around The Reggae.

There’s a very late entry to The Brent Reggae Album Covers Exhibition to be unveiled in the nearby Harlesden Library – we’ll reveal an album by a hot star from Harlesden, who may well be a surprise guest star on the night!

Before then, we return to Goldsmiths, University of London in south-east London for an Xtra #IRDUK session. It’s an action packed conference not to be missed. And unlike last year, there will be on-site African Caribbean catering from noon. Plus free patties for those who order their meal early.!!

Every attendee will have a Turtle Bay Restaurant cash voucher, plus an opportunity to win a meal for four. Thre will also be limited merchandise by the Musicians’ Union, PPL (Phonographic Performance Ltd) and GV Media available.

By the way, there are three fine articles by moi and Mykaell Riley in the the current The Weekly Gleaner. Solely because of the very late deadline, not enough ads came in to produce the Supplement we expected – British Black Music Month and International Reggae Day come around the same time each year, so be ready to support, folks!

Yes, it’s June, so that means it’s another British Black Music Month (BBMM). It’s an initiative by my organisation BBM/BMC (BritishBlackMusic.com/Black Music Congress), which started 18 years ago in 2006. Formed 22 years ago in 2002, BBM aimed to replicate online the advice and music industry guidance offered by the now defunct BMIA (Black Music Industry Association), of which I was a committee member. BMC initially provided a regular forum at City University, where I used to teach, for black music stakeholders to meet and debate pressing issues.

For the record, when I used to be a columnist on the US trade magazine Billboard, I noticed the Americans marked Black Music Month in June. But we found June was not enough, so we added July. Our Month was created to celebrate British domestic black music, provide a forum for networking, improve industry contacts, and either deliver or sign-post people to music industry courses.

As I keep saying, it’s called the music industry or music business, so we provide at least one master-class, which consists of a distillation of the essentials I used to teach in music industry courses, from grassroots to post-graduate level.

Additionally, we have since 2010 when we marked the 300th anniversary of the mother of modern copyright – the 1710 British Statute of Anne – delivered the Talking Copyright sessions. Organised in association with Dr Enrico Bonardio, a reader at the City Law School, we’ve tackled the way Jamaican reggae’s versioning uniquely engages with copyright.

In 2019, we explored, with a contribution from Jamaica Intellectual Property Office’s Dr Marcus Goffe, how intellectual property was supposed to “protect” reggae in light of it being added to UNESCO’s Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Before then, we organised the first official International Reggae Day (IRD) in London in 2017 at the University of Westminster. Following which we became the convener of IRD in the UK, and subsequently marked the Day at Institute Of Education in 2018 and Goldsmiths University, where we’ve been since 2019 with the support of the university’s Sound System Outernational and sterling work by Reggae Fraternity UK.

In 2018, as a symbolic nod to IRD’s Tree Planting Challenge, we planted The Reggae Tree in Harlesden, Brent, which is the capital of reggae in Britain. Recently, The Reggae Tree Working Group has been formed with Brent Council and community stakeholders led by The Reggae Tree Ambassador Diane Shrouder-Johnson, to help establish the sustainability of the tree and develop it as a community cultural asset.

And this year, on July 1, The Reggae Tree Accra will be planted. It was supposed to be led by Ghanaian reggae star and UN Environment Ambassador Rocky Dawuni at the KB Asante Memorial Park at Mnai Dzorn on the outskirts of the capital Accra. Sadly, Dawuni has further work commitments in the US, so he has pre-recorded a video for the event.

The Month’s journey has been patchy, from no support or ignoring us, to varying levels of industry support, from sponsoring or hosting events, to taking ads in the BM/IRD supplement.

It’s a testament to The Weekly Gleaner’s support that a special feature has come out, considering Goldsmiths University made the decision to host the IRD Xtra less than a month to the June 29 event date. In Brent, where IRD will be marked on July 1 with the launch of The Brent Reggae Album Covers Exhibition, which runs until October 31 in Harlesden Library, the Brent Libraries brochure of events, including the exhibition, came out in May.

This year’s IRD ‘Celebrating 30 Years Of Riddims & Resistance’ theme does not only mark 30 years, but also offers the opportunity to show how reggae has and continues to resist, challenge and highlight “Babylon” and various social and political issues, not least apartheid.

The IRD2024 theme speaks to Rastafari and reggae’s fight against apartheid; the unbreakable bond between Jamaica and South Africa – Jamaica was the first country to ban goods from apartheid South Africa in 1959; and the ending of apartheid.

Also IRD founder Andrea Davis of Jamaica Arts Holdings says that the inspiration for IRD was South Africa’s Mama Winnie Mandela.

Since moving to Goldsmiths, the likes of the Musicians’ Union, PRS Members Fund, Trojan Records and VP Records have been among some of the industry supporters. In addition to recognising the commitment of those who man the community stalls, special mention goes to Shining Stars Entertainment, who provide live music performers, even via Zoom during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This year, BBM/BMC and Port Royal will be supplying free patties for the early birds. Our new catering partner Cummin Up is an African Caribbean business with a 40 year-plus track record and takeaways next to Goldsmiths in New Cross, where 13 Africans perished in the New Cross Fire.

This tragic instance in British African history provides an example of what we’ll be highlighting at the IRD Xtra event – reggae resisted the silence of the British mainstream media and politicians, following the deaths, in the shape of Johnny Osbourne’s Aswad and IRD Awardee Mickey Campbell-produced recording of ’13 Dead Nothing Said’.

Except to say that, despite the recent commercial success of British black music with the likes of Stormzy, it’s hard work promoting and advocating for the domestic black music. It’s harder still with reggae, which is experiencing little commercial success or promotion by the major record labels.