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Insiders form board to fight Noise Abatement Act
September 25, 2019
It still happens at Reggae Sumfest and Rebel Salute, patrons being entertained until the sun comes up. This practice, however, originated with dancehall - a characteristic some industry insiders fear will dissipate as a result of the Noise Abatement Act.
As a result, organisations, including the Jamaica Sound System Federation and the Jamaica Association of Professional DJs, Promoters & Sound System Owners, will offer two of their own board members, each, to form a singular entertainment industry board. As the board takes shape, in defence of the preservation of dancehall culture, panellists of The Gleaner's Entertainment Forum offered their suggestions as to how to combat the act, and keep parties going until sunup.
"It's part of the culture to go to a dance and step out and the sun ah come out. It's a cultural thing. So we have to put it in a place where it's not affecting the yute dem weh ah study, or the people who wah get up ah morning and go to work. We have to support the culture, and be mindful of regular citizens. It can be done," Cordel 'Skatta' Burrell said.
a thing of the past
Dancehall artiste Cardiff 'General Degree' Butt suggested a throwback to when people used to hit the party at 8 p.m. "Deejay used to start deejay from 8, 9 o'clock. We need to go back to that ting where we go out early," he said. "If di dance nuh ram by 10 o'clock, you know it flop!" Trooper chimed in. But quickly corrected the jib with his reality. "We cyaa go back to that."
The sound system owner continued with a suggestion of his own - that a reasonable lock-off time in a built-up, non-residential area is 2 a.m. "If you have somewhere where you know houses are near, 12 a.m. The industry has a lot of other problems, but we want to fix that part now. When they passed the act, they gave the police too much power. The police have the last say about everything in the act. We ah lobby fi get that out of the police hands," Trooper said.
