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SOURCE: jamaica-gleaner.com
This year, Von Wayne Charles and Reanno Devon Gordon will be the recipients of the annual Reggae Icon Award presented by the Government of Jamaica during the Independence Day Grand Gala. This award “honours artistes who shape the global reach of reggae and dancehall music”.
In an interview with The Gleaner at Sunday’s Jamaica Gospel Star finals, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange confirmed the names.
“We will be honouring two of our popular Jamaican artistes … Busy Signal and Wayne Wonder… they will receive the award for being Reggae Icons,” Minister Grange told The Gleaner.
Wayne Wonder, whose career really took off internationally when he signed to Atlantic Records, achieved worldwide success with the song No Letting Go in 2003. The single reached No. 11 in the US and No. 3 in the UK. No Letting Go and the album No Holding Back were a major success on urban radio stations in the US, and this prompted the release of several compilation albums featuring older Wonder material, including Trojan Records’ Inna Bashment Style: The Roots Of An Urban Warrior (2005).
Gordon was nicknamed Busy Signal by his friends because he was constantly busy. Among his ever-growing catalogue of hit songs are Jamaica Love, Smoke Some High Grade, Happy Birthday, Tic Toc, Nah Go A Jail Again, and Unknown Number. His hit dancehall albums include Step Out and Loaded.
‘A really exciting Gala’
Pointing out that it will be “a really exciting Gala” and that she is looking forward to the celebrations, Grange shared some of the details.
“Of course, we will celebrate the 10th anniversary of Kingston being declared a UNESCO Creative City of Music. We will also be highlighting aspects of our African culture because our special guest will be a deputy minister from the continent, specifically South Africa. They will be here for our celebrations. There will be the usual fireworks … a thousand drones will be on display and uniformed groups will be doing the flag-raising at the same location as we did in 1962,” the culture minister said.
The festivities began last Friday with the all-nighter at Seville in St Ann, leading into Emancipation Day on Saturday. The finals of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission Miss Jamaica Festival Queen Competition took place on Saturday night, followed by the Gospel Star finals on Sunday at Independence Village in St Andrew, where many of the activities are being held.
“This year, we have introduced Soul Tuesday, which is a spin-off [from] Soul Sundays in Portmore where they have wall-to-wall people. Then we have games night on Wednesday. … Jamaicans love to play dominoes, and they love bingo. Then on Thursday, we have the Grand Gala, and we are sold out. All the seats in the stadium are gone,” she shared.
However, there is a watch party on Thursday where persons can go to the Independence Village and watch the Gala on a big screen.
Giving insight into what will unfold at the Grand Gala, Grange shared that the women of the Jamaica Defence Force will be celebrating 50 years since women enlisted, and there will also be a display by the Jamaica Constabulary Force, which will focus on road safety. Not wanting to give away too much, the minister said that “there will be a lot of motor bikes and manoeuvres, and I’m hoping that the police commissioner will be a part of that exciting presentation”.
Recent recipients of the Reggae Icon Award include Capleton and Leroy Sibbles in 2025; Third World in 2024; and Morgan Heritage, the Grammy-winning family group awarded for their role in the evolution of roots reggae. In 2019, Rita Marley and Sizzla Kalonji were celebrated during the Jamaica 57 Independence festivities.
