Writer : Caribbean E-Magazine on Friday, July 5, 2013 | 12:06 PM

Friday, July 5, 2013

In celebrating 50 years of cultural excellence, the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) is inviting the public to name their favourite Top Twenty “All Time Best” Festival Songs by voting from the pool of 47 winners.

Voting for the competition begins on Monday, July1and closes Thursday, August 1, 2013.
Voting can be done by text message to 876-444-2407.

Each of the 47 songs have been assigned a text code and members of the public can look out in the press, or visit the JCDC website and facebook page to view the text codes assigned to each song. Weekly prizes will be given to the top voters each week, including appliances from Lucky Dollar Furniture and Megamart Grocery Coupons. The overall top voter will also win $150,000 and other prizes at the end of the voting period.

FESTIVAL SONG SHOWCASE

The top 20 songs chosen by public vote will be revealed on Friday, August 2 at the Festival Song Showcase at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre. This Festival Song Showcase will feature performances by some of the singers named in the top 20, as well as other contemporary artists will add their flavour to the festival celebrations.

A souvenir album comprising of the songs chosen by the public will thereafter become available as a collector’s item as the Festival Song Competition salutes the JCDC 50th Anniversary.
The Festival Song Competition which started in 1966 is the longest running song competition in Jamaica and has been the avenue to stardom for many new and upcoming artists. A number of singers and musicians can boast of the opportunities that were presented to them as a result of entering the JCDC Festival Song Competition.

Year Song Title Text Code

1966 Bam Bam 01
1967 Baba Boom Boom 02
1968 Intensified 03
1969 Sweet & Dandy 04
1970 Boom Shaka Laka 05
1971 Cherry Oh Baby 06
1972 Pomps & Pride 07
1973 Jump in the Line 08
1974 Play Di Music 09
1975 Hooray Festival 10
1976 Dance Dis Yah Festival 11
1977 Sweet Jamaica 12
1978 Land of my Birth 13
1979 Born Jamaica 14
1980 Come Sing with Me 15
1981 No Weh Nuh Betta Dan Yard 16
1982 Mek Wi Jam 17
1983 Jamaica, I’ll never leave you again 18
1984 Proud to be Jamaica 19
1985 Love Fever 20
1986 Dem A Fi Squirm 21
1987 Give Thanks & Praises 22
1988 Jamaica Land We Love 23
1989 Stop & Go 24
1990 Island Festival 25
1991 Come Rock 26
1992 Mek Wi Put Things Right 27
1993 Big It Up 28
1994 Dem A Pollute 29
1995 Join Di Line 30
1996 Mek Wi Go Spree 31
1997 Peace & Love 32
1998 Jamaica Whoa 33
1999 Born In Jamaica 34
2000 Fi Wi Island A Boom 35
2001 Left Up Jamaica 36
2002 Progress 37
2003 Jamaican Tour Guide 38
2004 Ole Time Jamaica 39
2005 Poverty 40
2006 Remember the Days 41
2007 Woman A Di Beauty 42
2008 Rise & Shine 43
2009 Take Back Jamaica 44
2010 My Jamaica 45
2011 Oh If We 46
2012 Real Born Jamaica 47

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Writer : Caribbean E-Magazine on Thursday, June 20, 2013 | 1:02 PM

Thursday, June 20, 2013

The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission’s (JCDC) Festival of Foods Eastern Regional final show will be held on Friday, June 21 at the Chinese Benevolent Association, 176 Old Hope Road, Kingston 10 starting at 10:00 a.m. The festival promises to whet the appetite of the patrons by showcasing the creative talents of Jamaicans in the culinary arts with over 750 entries in the various categories. This festival promotes the use of local foods in novel and attractive ways.

CELEBRITY COOK OFF

The event will also feature the highly anticipated celebrity cook-off which includes Ninja Man, Dahlia Harris, Adrian Atkinson and Specialist among others that will showcase their culinary skills.

LARGEST COCONUT DROPS

To commemorate JCDC’s 50th anniversary Chef Nicholas Douglas will be doing live demonstration in attempting to make the largest coconut drop that is 50 inch in diameter. Other activities includes live demonstrations, mystery basket, napkin folding, table setting, and sandwich making competitions as well as the JCDC World Reggae Dance Eliminations starting at 4:00 p.m. There will also be product sampling and giveaways from the sponsors throughout the day. There will also be Value Added Seminars with presentations from IGL, Nestle Jamaica and Consumer Affairs Commission.

The competition is open to children, schools, institutions and youth & community groups and accepts entries in the categories of main dishes, dessert, wedding cakes, batters & dough among many others. The competition places special emphasis on the use of locally grown agricultural products to create tantalizing and amazing indigenous dishes. Participants are also allowed to formulate creative dishes using the sponsor’s products.

Sponsors include Grace Cocksoup, Grace Coconut Milk, Nestle Betty Sweetened Condensed Milk and Gloria Evaporated Milk, Dairy Industries (Tastee Cheese) and Anchor Powdered Milk), Jamaican Teas-Caribbean Dreams Chocolate Tea, Jamaica Flour Mills and Benjamin’s Flavouring Products and Jerk Seasoning.