CPR Salutes Reggae Month/African Heritage Month With A State Of Reggae Music Presentation, February 27, 2012

The Coalition to Preserve Reggae Music Inc. (CPR) com commemorates Reggae Month and African Heritage Month on Monday, February 27th with a reception at 3Ten Lounge, 310 Bowery (Houston and Bleecker) from 6:30pm to 10:30pm. The highlight of the reception, which will also mark the launch of the fourth season of the CPR Community Conversation Series, will be the State of Reggae Music keynote address to be delivered by veteran reggae artist Freddie McGregor.
 
“As Jamaica celebrates 50 years of Independence, we felt compelled to have this child prodigy and long time roots reggae icon who is also the former Chairman of the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association and now a cultural advocate as our keynote speaker,” said Sharon Gordon, chairperson of CPR. Freddie McGregor has recently been quoted quite often in the media especially in light of his decision to pull out of performing at the annual Jazz and Blues Festival in protest. He said he was disappointed with the organizers’ handling of the program in a year when the island celebrates 50 years of independence. “I don’t like the way the 50th celebration is put together,” he said, “it should be a concept program.” McGregor says that he was speaking not only for his behalf, but on behalf of many artists who share the same views but are unable to speak out for fear of retribution. It was McGregor who in December of 2011 pointed to the disparity between the funding that JaRIA received for staging Reggae Month and the funding organizers received for the three day Jazz and Blues Festival. “Our music is so valued and respected over the world, why is it being treated with such scant regard in this country?” He asked. “How can $1.2 million stage Reggae Month?” he queried. Jazz and Blues had received upward of $60 million towards offsetting its operational expenses. McGregor is quick to point out that since his outcry and the change in administration, the new government was able to “scrape up some additional funds for JaRIA” to help the staging of Reggae Month activities. McGregor is confident that it was his protest that caused this positive move on behalf of the new government.
 
Reggae Month was established in Jamaica in 2008 to encourage reflection on the contribution of this important industry to Jamaica and how it can be utilized and improved for the benefit of the people of Jamaica. CPR contends that Reggae is Jamaica’s gift to the world and each year the organization uses this opportunity to reflect on the state of reggae music. In 2011, keynote speaker Dermot Hussey noted that the “concept of celebrating Reggae Month was laudable and one which should be embraced internationally.” In tracing the history of Jamaican music, Hussey pointed out that, “Jamaica gave the world a new rhythm with melodic bass lines closest to a heartbeat.”  At a time when the industry is loosing so many stalwarts who were instrumental in the creation and development of the genre, CPR is pleased to have Freddie McGregor deliver the Keynote address for what is expected to be an exciting evening of music and history. During his keynote address at last year’s reception, Dermot Hussey stated that, “a study of the global penetration of Jamaica’s music into communities which have adopted it, could reveal that its internationalization was the country’s finest hour.” 
 
CPR strives to increase understanding of Reggae’s development, its significance to the social, economic and political development of Jamaica and its influence around the world. Its mission is to raise the bar in the creation, development, promotion and presentation of reggae; to elevate the profile of its purveyors and to research, codify, curate and disseminate information about the genre.
The CPR reception will set the tone for the fourth season of the CPR Community Conversation Series which begins in March in honor of Women’s History Month and will happen on the last Monday of each month through June.