Staff WriterVP Records, its staff and artists participated in and sponsored several marquee events during Jamaica’s Reggae Month 2020 celebrations in Kingston.
“We are proud to be involved with Reggae Month activities and the broad recognition of the contributions of our music to global culture. We genuinely appreciate the recognition VP and Randy’s received this month for our role in this development,” said company co-founder Patricia Chin.
The company sponsored the acclaimed Jamaica Jamaica! Exhibition at the National Gallery at 12 Ocean Boulevard, which opened on February 2 and runs through June 28, 2020. Curated by exhibition founder Seb Carayol with Jamaica Music Museum Director Herbie Miller and National Gallery Chief Curator O’Neil Lawrence, the exhibit traced more than six decades of Jamaican music history through artifacts, photographs and newly created original work by Jamaican artists, including a portrait of Randy’s and VP Records founders Vincent and Patricia Chin, in a mural in the museum’s main atrium. Artists whose original work appears in the exhibition include Ebony Patterson, Matthew McCarthy, Leasho Johnson and muralist mural art “Bones” Williams, Errol Alphonso “Gideon” Reid, and Ras Lava. Photographers include Peter Dean Rickards, Beth Lesser, Arthur Gorson, Cookie Kinkead, and Peter Simon.
An opening reception on February 2nd, drew music industry luminaries including Bunny Wailer, Toots Hibbert, Big Youth, with remarks by the curators, and Minister of Culture Olivia Grange. The French Ambassador to Jamaica, Dennis Wibaux, also attended in support of the French curatorial team. VP Records was represented by company co-founder Patricia Chin; her son and CEO Christopher Chin; Regional Director, Caribbean Operations, Michelle Williams; and Director of Catalog Development, Carter Van Pelt.
The exhibit is mounted in Jamaica after its grand opening installation in Paris in 2017 and then in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
Patricia Chin and Christopher Chin later participated in the Jamaica Music Museum’s Reggae Month Groundation series of weekly discussion forums, this year themed “Blackhead Chineyman: The Chinese Jamaican Contribution to Jamaica Popular Music,” held at the Institute Of Jamaica. The Chins, also including Clive Chin, were featured panelists on the February 23rd edition.
Patricia Chin and Christopher Chin attended the unveiling of a set of plaques sponsored by the Sounds & Pressure Foundation, honoring music industry luminaries including Vincent and Patricia Chin, Winston Riley, Joe Gibbs, and Sonia Pottinger, on North Parade in Kingston, near the site of their original Randy’s store and the area most associated with the growth of the Jamaican music industry.
In addition, VP Records artist Jah9 lectured at the 23rd Bob Marley Lecture Series at the University of the West Indies Mona campus, February 13th, in advance of the release of her album Note To Self.
VPAL (VP Associated Label Group) was a supported the successful Jamaica Music Conference, held February 13-16.
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