ON October 19, Kingsley Goodison plans to go to King’s House for the annual National Honors and Awards ceremony. The artists and musicians being recognized by the Jamaican government hold a special place for him.
Goodison is founder of Tribute To The Greats, an annual event that honors Jamaica’s music stalwarts including Nyahbinghi drummer Ras Michael, who receives the Order of Distinction from the government on Monday.
Two months after he staged the 18th ‘Tribute’, Goodison is bemoaning its lack of sponsorship.
“It’s been very tough since the inception, God bless what we get but we push on ’cause Tribute To The Greats has done a lot to re-expose artists and people Jamaicans don’t know anything about,” he told the Observer.
Rico Rodriquez, the famed trombonist who died in London in September is among the many acts honored by Tribute To The Greats.
The 80-year-old Rodriquez was a respected figure throughout for his visionary recordings which include the seminal 1977 album, Man From Wareika.
He never received a national award in Jamaica.
Bass player Phil Chen, Australian engineer Graeme Goodall and singer Dandy Livingstone, are other ‘forgotten’ heroes Goodison recognized.
Tribute To The Greats does get some financial support from the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund, a government agency established in 2002 to assist such events.
But Goodison states that each year I is an “uphill task” to produce.
Goodison hopes to use some of the proceeds from this year’s show to assist with the education of a ward at the Alpha Boys School in Kingston, an institution that nurtured the careers of numerous Jamaican artistes and musicians.
“That’s important. We have to show that we are about giving back seriously to somewhere that helped put our music on the map,” he said.
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