Reggae/dancehall artistes will soon have to be a member of the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JARIA) to perform at shows in Europe.
This was revealed by chairman of JARIA, Michael ‘Ibo’ Cooper as he delivered the keynote address at the launch of Abijah’s single Where Is The Love and video.
According to Cooper, a partnership has been established between JARIA and the reggae fraternity of France. The music stakeholders in that country have invited JARIA to act as regulatory body for reggae artistes on future tours in France.
“They are agents for all of the European promoters and they are going to see to it, that no European promoter employs a Jamaican artiste without being a JARIA member,” Ibo Cooper said. “They say, they want us now to be like the quality controller for the artistes coming (to Europe) because them have a lot of trouble with the Jamaican artistes so dem want somebody to advise them as to which artiste to carry. And they have choosen our organisation.”
Adding,
“The French came here for Reggae Month and they saw what we were doing and invited and paid for our delegation to go there. The key to it is, that apart from our own Reggae Month, they are going to put on two days of their festival in sync with us during Reggae Month,” Cooper related. “For those who don’t know, our main signature event, is Reggae Month (celebration) every February. And for the last three years we have been putting it on with the help of the Edna Manley College at which I am a lecturer and we have our Wednesday nights event and believe me we have to be turning away people every year. Every artiste want to perform. We reach the stage now we might have to leave Edna Manley because the thing start to block the road.”
