The 5th Canadian Reggae Summit Review

Saturday, 30th June, 2007

One of the great moments in my ‘reggae’ life is the bringing together of the many participants in the Canadian reggae scene, under one roof, to encourage growth through communication and networking. Each Summit, in my opinion, has taken tiny, baby steps towards bringing the community tighter and encouraging liaisons locally, nationally and internationally.

The Canadian reggae flag is rising up the mast pretty quickly and many Canadians are really beginning to recognize their homegrown talent and many artists becoming really proud of their own Canadian contributions…

This year, we went back to the well for the keynote speaker Farley Flex, whose credentials include, one time manger for Maestro Fresh Wes who still holds the distinction of selling the most singles in Canadian hip hop history, an instrumental and extremely integral part in getting Milestone Radio’s Flow 93.5FM, Canada’s first ‘urban’ station launched and currently an influential judge on the nationally televised Canadian Idol. This is Canadian Reggae Music… Two of the three words are “Canadian” and “Music”… Farley has exceptional experience and insight in both…

From Summit number one till now, the message really has not changed much and Farley continued to hammer away at the need for initiative and independence. Getting into a bus, one band and three to four artists and tour the country, developing a fan base and selling units of music. The best way for us to sell music with ZERO mainstream radio airplay is at live concerts… “How many artists take the time to get their music to radio personalities nationally?”, was also of concern to Farley. He pointed out to Steve Neale of Galaxie Internet Radio, who made the trip in from Ottawa to be at the Summit. Galaxie is constantly seeking more and more Canadian Reggae and is a HUGE supporter of our cause, playing the music constantly. There were other radio personalities in the room, including those on the demo derby panel. One of his biggest points stressed was selling! Tracking these sales through bar codes and letting the world know the number of reggae related tunes that sell! Farley further tied the pieces together with a fairly insightful piece of advice when he stated, and I paraphrase, “If your business plan is weaker than your music, your music will go nowhere.” Many within the room as well as outside did not and probably do not have a written business plan or even possibly a definition of their goals and or dreams and a path to follow. “Everything is a dream until you write it down, then it becomes a plan” is a quote that comes to mind with this path Farley walked down. Consistent defining of the path and a willingness to be consistent, creative enough to know when to change the plan, but first having a committed path through a plan, defining long term and short term goals aids in a greater opportunity for success individually as well as for the overall genre.
We started a tad later than I wanted to (20 minutes) as we wanted more artists to show up and to benefit from this knowledge collectively. Farley graciously agreed and was so committed to this event; he stayed a full half an hour past the time answering more and more questions from an inquisitive audience of budding and veteran artists. A big thank you to him for showing how important he takes Canadian reggae and giving his time to prove it. Through personal conversation before and after the Summit, we both see a strong, bright future for Canadian reggae and wish to be on the ground floor for its resurgence in the Canadian psyche as well as, most importantly, the Canadian wallet. The next phase of the Summit was the “Demo Derby”. This portion of the evening puts radio personalities Lauren Speers aka DJ Chocolate of CKLN 88.1FM, David Dacks of Exclaim Magazine and CIUT 89.5 FM, Patrick Roots CIUT 89.5 FM and Carrie Mullings CHRY 105.5 FM on a panel to listen to and to ‘judge’ artist’s songs. Artists lined up around the DJ booth and received 2 minutes of ‘air’ time to the panel as well as their peers in the room… The objective for this “Demo Derby” is to introduce the artists to many of those who spin reggae music in Toronto and what they seek to have music played on their respective programs. A very popular part of the event where disagreements or instant respect was given in response to the tunes played, but in all it was a positive outcome, opening these lines of communication…
To kick off the “Showcase” portion of the night, CRW presented D.B. Hawkes with the Karl Mullings award for his contribution to Canadian Reggae. D.B. has selflessly aided and promoted Canadian reggae music on radio for over 20 years, mostly on CIUT 89.5 FM and one of his greatest contributions is his recording of live events over that time span. D.B. probably boasts the largest archives of live performances by Canadian as well as international artists than anyone on this planet and has aided us all by airing these performances for his various audiences. The award was presented to D.B. by two of “Mullo’s” daughter’s Carrie and Tanya who insisted on being there for the event. Secondly, CRW honored The Sattalites with the award of excellence for their 25 years or bringing GREAT reggae music to all audiences. Jojo, Fergus and the boys have carried the Canadian flag proudly for close to 3 decades and show no signs of slowing down. They capped it off by doing a 45 minute set that was well appreciated by artists and fans alike.
The Showcase continued with performances by Treson, Kidd Rasta, Jakki James, Donna Makeda, Chester Miller, Ra Lion & Jah Brilliance all backed by IBADAN. It was a night to celebrate the release of the CRW compilation “REAL ROOTS REGGAE – A CANADIAN STORY” the FIRST EVER Canadian reggae compilation. Special thank you to to Peter “Burna” Holung and the IBADAN crew for coordinating the musical direction, to Carrie Mullings of CHRY 105.5FM for adding much energy to hosting the nights events, to the Toronto Arts Council for the grant to effectively advertise the event and to the Gleaner Company for their exceptional support advertising the event.