Starting today, live music will take over the city as the annual staging of RJR’s Kingston Music Week gets underway.

For a third straight year, the island’s capital will open up to visitors and locals alike for one week of musical entertainment, showcasing the best of the best from the local industry. Goldy Rodrigues, project coordinator, Kingston Music Week 2016, told The Gleaner, that this year’s staging of the annual event, promises to take the entertainment value of the event to a whole new level.

The annual event has been growing each year, with over 20 events set to take place at different locations across the corporate area during the course of the week, an improvement on the 16 events held last year.

The event gets started tonight with three activities planned for the evening; the annual Kingston Music Week Seminar which takes place at the University of Technology’s auditorium, The Listening Party at Triple Century featuring up and coming artistes I-otosh, College Boiz, Blaqk Sheep, the Wixard and Diztroy, and an evening of musical excellence at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts.

Tomorrow, some of the biggest names in Jamaica’s musical history will come together for a worthy cause at the Third World and Friends Concert. Set to take place at the Hope Zoo, the event is slated to feature artists like Freddie McGregor, Chronixx, Tony Rebel, Big Youth and much more. The event is in aid of charity and all proceeds from the concert will go to Children’s First, as well as the Alligator Head Foundation.

Vintage Artists

The Jamaica Association of Vintage Artists and Affiliates (JAVAA), will also host an event tomorrow night at the Fab 5 Headquarters, 11 Springvale Avenue. That event will feature performances from Fab5, The Mighty Diamonds, Tinga Stewart, Bongo Herman, Elaine Peart, The Heptones, Bagga Case and Stranjah Cole among others.

Three events are on schedule for Saturday, but the main event set to soak up all the spotlight is the Smile Jamaica 40th Anniversary concert, set to take place at the Bob Marley Museum. The concert featuring Stephen Marley, Dre Island, Kelissa, Runkus, Feluke, Black Hero, Irie Sojah, Uprising Roots Band as well as several guest artists, is to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the attempted assassination of reggae legend Bob Marley.

Also on Saturday, Richie Spice, Spanner Banner, Agent Sasco and Christopher Martin, will headline the annual All Spice Food and Reggae Festival, at the Lime Golf Academy in New Kingston.

The celebrations throughout Kingston Music Week are not just to celebrate the country’s rich musical legacy, but to also celebrate Kingston being named as a creative city by UNESCO. With that said, the Ministry of Entertainment will stage the official launch of the Creative City Kingston at the Waterfront, downtown Kingston.

Rocker’s Concert, RE-TV Unplugged and Level Up, are a few of the other events scheduled for the week, which culminates on Wednesday, December 7 with the Conscious Reggae Party at Ashanti Vegetarian Restaurant, 12 Braemar Avenue, New Kingston.

The RJR Communications Group is inviting fans of live music spanning across Jamaica’s six genres of ska, mento, folk, rocksteady, reggae and dancehall, to come out and experience what they say is the authenticity of what has made Kingston, Jamaica, into the ‘creative city of music’ for the Caribbean.