Reggae Music News

Entertainment Ministry endorses No-Maddz for world music festival

No MaddzKingston, November 2, 2016 – The Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport is pleased to announce that popular eclectic reggae band No-Maddz will represent Kingston at the World Music Festival in Hamamatsu, Japan, between November 2 and 6.

No-Maddz’ trod to Asia to participate in the Festival is endorsed and facilitated by the Ministry.

“We are proud to be participating in this cultural exchange programme and delighted that No-Maddz was selected to perform at the Festival. Jamaica has a rich and pervasive musical culture, and it’s always great when our artistes are given an opportunity to represent brand Jamaica and to showcase their talent. We’re confident that No-Maddz will fly the Jamaican flag high and represent us well,” said the Honourable Olivia Grange, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport.

The World Music Festival will feature artistes from 12 UNESCO creative cities of music, including Kingston, sharing their unique genres globally while promoting cultural diversity and the limitless potential of music to nurture social cohesion and intercultural dialogue.

Lead musician of No-Maddz, Sheldon Shepherd is anticipating the Festival.

“We are happy and honoured to represent Jamaica as cultural ambassadors and to share the music that unites us. To be selected to participate at the World Music Festival 2016 is indeed another special occasion where we get to share the music of Jamaica to the rest of the world. We hope to represent our musical city, Kingston, well,” he said.

No-Maddz’s participation in the World Music Festival represents the third cultural exchange of Jamaican artistes this year by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport.

Earlier this year, Peter Ashbourne, Dwayne Stephenson and the Ashes Band and veteran artiste Freddie McGregor represented Kingston in Poland and Columbia respectively as part of the cultural exchange programme that is supported by UNESCO when the Jamaican capital became one of 18 creative cities of music.

The Creative Cities Programme was created in 2004 as an initiative to gather cities of diverse regions, income levels, capacities and populations to work together in the field of creative industries.  The designation recognises cities as parts of “creative hubs” that promote socio-economic and cultural development that connect culturally diverse communities to create healthy urban environments.

Commentary

Anything to enhance Brand Jamaica will always be promoted by us. We want to wish No-Maddz all the best at  the world music Festival.
We are sure you will be great ambassadors. All the success and do report your results when you return.
Hopeton O’Connor-Dennie is Senior International Correspondent & photojournalist for Vision Newspaper Canada.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *