Jamaica Festival of Sounds set to ignite Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth, is set to experience an explosion of rhythm and energy this Sunday as 17 sound systems converge on the Transport Centre #2 for an evening of musical ecstasy.

Dubbed the "largest sound system festival in the world" by its visionary organiser, Billy 'Dunrich' Trail, the Jamaica Festival of Sounds promises to be a monumental celebration of the authentic Jamaican street dance vibe, bringing back the "big dance inna di lawn" atmosphere that once defined the pulse of dancehall culture.

Dunrich, who is the owner of Dunrich World Sound, has hosted the event annually for the past seven years.

"I'm the sole promoter who has been battling and struggling to keep this culture alive because St Elizabeth is the maker of sound systems, so it's only fair that this event should happen in the parish that's leading the charge," he added.

Dunrich stresses that the preservation of sound system culture is more than just an event - it's about sustaining an entire way of life.

"Over the years, the culture of physical sound system that we're used to as authentic dancehall has been declining. And one of the reasons for its decline is the Noise Abatement Act, and then we had COVID - which is the biggest decline we've seen. I held a session of this event during COVID under numerous restrictions, but for the culture, I had to let it happen because if I didn't, it would've been even worse for the culture," said Dunrich.

This year, the event promises a 50-foot stage and a re-emergence of greatness in Jamaican music. Dunrich promised that the festival will be a "re-emergence of greatness where we enjoy music in its authentic form - no water down [but] the original dancehall riddims/culture". He said that patrons at Jamaica Festival of Sounds will experience the magic of seeing speaker boxes elegantly stacked in the lawn instead of being entertained by men with laptops.

"While those guys are travelling with a laptop to play on a PA system, what I represent is authentic dancehall - put up di box dem, liquor inna hand and crate a [liquor] a yuh foot, Baygon a light up di place like torch, vuvuzela [honking] and I want it to stay dat way," he said.

"Unfortunately, Jamaica is moving away from that look so I need to put it back in their minds seh this is where it originates because when you go to places like Japan, you have to look good to see if you're not in Jamaica," he shared.

Dunrich opined that the continuation of the sound system culture is vital.

"Every artiste rich again when festival keep because everybody a guh waah yuh fi cut dubplates... [and] the technician and food man dem mek money. So it's very important for the culture and for its continuation because anything that's not replicating what the culture is, is definitely gonna be a shift in the modus operandi of the culture and we have to be careful of commercialising it and take the culture for granted because soon it will become somebody else's culture," he shared.

Dunrich said that the event also provides a platform for several local sounds that gained international recognition, some of which are now internationally based.

"[This festival] also creates a lot of economic activities and adds to tourism because a lot of people fly in for it with the sounds and people worldwide sit and await the post-production when it's uploaded on YouTube and for the next staging, some fly in for it," Dunrich added.