International Dancehall Queen Contest to help boost tourism

Adrian Frater, News Editor

From left, Kingsley Cooper, chairman of the Entertainment Advisory Board in the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment, Brian ‘Big Head’ Martin, the promoter of the International Dancehall Queen Contest, and Robert Russell, chairman of Summerfest Productions, the promoters of Reggae Sumfest, in discussion during Tuesday night’s launch of Dancehall Queen 2014. – Adrian Frater

Western Bureau:

Kingsley Cooper, chairman of the Entertainment Advisory Board in the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment, says the International Dancehall Queen Contest, staged in Montego Bay annually, is tailor-made for the government’s new Jamrock Summer – 90 Days, 90 Ways initiative, which is designed to boost both tourism and entertainment.

Cooper, the guest speaker at Tuesday night’s launch of the 18th renewal of the Big Head Promotions event, to be held at Pier One on August 2, says grassroots events like ‘Dancehall Queen’ are integral to the preservation of Jamaica’s culture.

“90 days of summer is designed to showcase a range of entertainment activities over the 90 days of summer,” said Cooper. “It has the capacity to boost tourism and other business-related spin-offs associated with entertainment, so ‘Dancehall Queen’ would fit perfectly into the concept.”

Commending the organiser for keeping the contest alive over so many years, Cooper spoke to the global appeal of Jamaica’s music as girls travel from all over the world annually to vie for the title.

Promoter Brian Martin, who started the contest to help expose talented inner-city dancers and has since taken it to over 40 countries, said he is not convinced that dancehall and its various spin-off activities are getting enough respect locally.

This year’s event, which will be streamed all over the world via the Internet, will see the winner walking away with a whopping J$1 million in cash and prizes. The second- and third-place finishers, as well as the winners of sectional awards, will also be handsomely rewarded.

“So far, we have had confirmation from more than 40 countries, to include newcomers Slovakia and South Africa and, as usual, we will be expecting the usual strong representation from Japan, Poland, the United States, and across the Caribbean,” said Martin.

In last year’s contest, Keja ‘Tall Up’ Christie, a student of the G.C Foster School of Physical Education, copped the coveted title. Brandi Watts, of the United States, was second; while Lillian Wamini, of Canada/Uganda, was third.

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International Dancehall Queen Contest to help boost tourism

Queen Latesha hits out at Gage - Says freaky song degrading women

CURTIS CAMPBELL, STAR Writer

Queen Latesha

Dancer/dancehall artiste Queen Latesha has counteracted the pro-oral sex single, ‘Throat’, performed by recording artiste Gage.

According to Queen Latesha, Throat is derogatory to females and she wants her counteraction called, Yu Mouth, to make male artistes understand how it feels when females have to contend with filthy content targeting their sex life.

The dancer also condemns females who endorse the songs in the dancehall by performing various taboo acts to get attention, such as sucking on liquor bottles to show their skills at performing oral sex.

It might be a case of using an ‘eye for an eye” technique. However, Queen Latesha says she was simply giving males a taste of their own medicine when she crafted the explicit lyrics “Open up yu, open up yu, open up yu mouth, bwoy”.

The STAR spoke with the former dancehall queen and she said: “The male artistes are not elevating females and telling them to take their kids to school. All they are saying is oral sex and walk like a dog. This Throat song has females sucking off bottles in the dance and that is not a good look as a real veteran female dancer. I have been in the business over 10 years and I feel a way. When the world sees videos of females sucking on bottles and call it dancing, it will stop us from getting work.”

The dancer says Europe and Japan look to the Jamaican dancehall for entertainment. However, a hugh injustice is done to the Jamaican entertainment industry with the lewd music and highly ‘sexualised’ performances.

“I go to Europe and Japan to teach dancing at workshops and nobody will book you for walking like a dog or sucking on a bottle in the dancehall. I am fed up with these songs which are degrading females, and I don’t want my music to travel in a direction of slackness, but I just wanted to flip the script to show Gage how it feels and how it sounds when he speaks to females in that manner,” Queen Latesha said.

She even chastised selectors for endorsing songs which blatantly objectifies females. Songs like Touch You by Alkaline, which encourages females to stimulate his rectum with their tongue, and Throat Queen Latesha believes should have no place in dancehall.

“Dem hurry come up selector and artiste yah need to do better. As for the females, none of these artistes that tell you to perform these acts will want to wife you, they don’t want a woman who does the disgusting things they tell you to do. Artistes need to do songs to empower women, some of them only sing songs because they have the opportunity to and have no substance,” she said.

Gage, when contacted, told The STAR that no female has ever told him that they felt offended by Throat. He said even Bob Marley has songs that people dislike implying that it comes with the territory.

“Mi wish har luck wid it and big up to the selector wey a guh play it,” he said.

curtis.campbell@gleanerjm.com

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Queen Latesha hits out at Gage - Says freaky song degrading women

Local queen pleads for funding for badminton

Sport

BY RUDDY ALLEN Friday, January 03, 2014

Local badminton queen Geordine Henry says a lack of funding is preventing the sport from progressing at the international level.Speaking to the Jamaica Observer earlier this week, Henry said that the Jamaica Badminton Association (JBA) needs funding for players to get the necessary training and exposure to compete at the highest level.“The only thing that is not allowing players to compete at the highest level is the lack of experience and the quality training, which we can only get abroad,” she said.“We can only achieve that with the funding… the majority of us seniors just play for fun because it is money that makes the world go round and we can’t be playing full-time without funds… the JBA needs sponsorships,” she reiterated.The 25-year-old Henry also said that the newlyformed executive board, led by president Robert Richards, has put together a marketing team to provide some assistance in seeking sponsorship for the association.“So far, what I see Mr Richards doing is good; he has a marketing team and that is a start. He also came up with a strategy that the badminton fraternity would enter as many 5K marathons as possible in order for us to be seen and maybe sponsors can come on board,” she said.Henry further said that there are well-dedicated and hard-working players and with training and the requisite sponsorship they can make it to the Olympics.“We have some exceptional juniors coming up and also some well-seasoned seniors who are hard-working and dedicated to the sport, so with the necessary equipment and sponsorship, every Olympics a Jamaican or Jamaicans should be in it,” Henry said.HENRY… the only one thing that is not allowing the JBA to compete at the highest level is the lack of experience and the quality training

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Local queen pleads for funding for badminton

Queen Ifrica removed from Canadian concert

QUEEN Ifrica’s management has denied that the entertainer’s Canadian work permit has been withdrawn.

However, a statement from the management team made no mention of a Toronto concert where she was scheduled to perform.The Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) reported on Friday that the Jamaican entertainer had been pulled from the Rastafest concert following complaints from the Canada-based Jamaica Association of Gays and Lesbians Abroad (JAGLA), which alleged that the dancehall performer was “notorious” for her homophobic lyrics.Coordinator of the Rastafest concert, Masani Montague, confirmed that the singer would not be performing, which he said was “due to circumstances beyond our control”.JAGLA spokesman, Kerron Orlando, said that the “decision has sent a clear message that persons who make comments that jeopardise the well-being of members of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community in Jamaica will not be welcomed in Canada”.He said he hoped that other homophobic persons will remember that performers will be condemned and called on the Jamaican Government to immediately put in place measures to protect members of the LGBT community.On Thursday, the Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, which had given the festival Can$4,200, said it was “disappointed to hear that an artiste using homophobic language was being featured at this event.“While it is Rastafest, not the federal government who is responsible for programming decisions, we will ensure that future funding requests from them are very carefully reviewed,” the group said.Rastafest is sponsored in part by the Toronto Public Library and Service Canada.Earlier this month, the Jamaican Government expressed “regret” at the statements made by Queen Ifrica during the Grand Gala, the main event to mark the nation’s 51st Independence.In a statement, the Ministry of Youth and Culture said the event was used by the singer “as a platform to express her personal opinions and views on matters that may be considered controversial, rather than to perform in the agreed scripted and rehearsed manner consistent with the thematic production.“Furthermore, the comments by the artiste were inappropriate in the setting of a national, State-funded event with more than 20,000 persons, including children, who were in the National Stadium and thousands more watching on television and online”.During her performance, statements glorifying male straightness, heterosexual marriage and the legalisation of marijuana were among those made on stage.Yesterday, Queen Ifrica expressed shock and disappointment at what she called the “ensuing brouhaha” arising from certain aspects of her performance at the Grand Gala celebrations on August 6, 2013.— CMC and Observer reportsQueen Ifrica performing at a local event.

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Queen Ifrica removed from Canadian concert

Queen Ifrica’s work permit not withdrawn —mgmt team says

Latest News

Friday, August 23, 2013 | 7:45

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The management team of popular singer Queen Ifrica Friday evening refuted stories carried in the press that Canadian authorities have withdrawn the artistes’ work permit.In a release Queen Ifrica’s team said that the artiste was “appalled and disappointed with the way in which the propaganda machinery is leading the public to believe that she is against any person or group of persons and refutes the claim that her work permit has been withdrawn by the Canadian Government”.The release did not say if the singer would still be performing at the Rastafest show for which she was billed on Saturday, August 24 in Toronto. However, after protests by pro-gay activists in Canada that the dancehall performer was “notorious” for her homophobic lyrics the coordinator of “Rastafest”,Masani Montague was reported as saying that the singer would not be performing “due to circumstances beyond our control”.Meanwhile, Friday’s release said that Queen Ifrica “expresses that while she remains grounded in her morals which espouses heterosexuality, she wants to make it abundantly and emphatically clear, that she does not condone nor has ever supported or advocated violence against any group or community, whether implicitly or explicitly. This she asserts goes against the very grain of her Rastafarian conviction”.“The LGBT must decide whether the rights that they claim for themselves are not rights for everyone i.e. freedom of speech, freedom of choice and the right to live in peace,” the release added.Queen Ifrica was forced to defend her position after perceived anti-gay remarks made at the ‘Grand Gala’ celebrating Jamaica’s 51st independence on August 6.  Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserverFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserver

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Queen Ifrica’s work permit not withdrawn —mgmt team says

NEW QUEEN

Entertainment

Saturday, August 10, 2013

The 2013 Dragon stout Dancehall Queen Keja “Tall up ‘ Christie of St James (centre) is flanked by (from left) promoter of Dancehall Queen International Brian ‘ Bighead’ Martin , first runner- up Brandi Watt of New York, Tsunaki Fukumoto of Japan, second runner- up, and co-ordinator Sonny Ranking, minutes after she was crowned the new queen, beating 34 other contestants, at the Pier 1 entertainment complex in Montego Bay on Saturday night.(PHOTO: ALAN LEWIN)

HOUSE RULES

1. We welcome reader comments on the top stories of the day. Some comments may be republished on the website or in the newspaper – email addresses will not be published.

2. Please understand that comments are moderated and it is not always possible to publish all that have been submitted. We will, however, try to publish comments that are representative of all received.

3. We ask that comments are civil and free of libellous or hateful material. Also please stick to the topic under discussion.

4. Please do not write in block capitals since this makes your comment hard to read.

5. Please don’t use the comments to advertise. However, our advertising department can be more than accommodating if emailed:mailto:advertising@jamaicaobserver.com.

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NEW QUEEN

US sentence for "Queen of Pacific"

25 July 2013 Last updated at 21:27 ET Sandra Avila Beltran could walk free in days, her lawyer said A woman who allegedly once was at the top of the Mexican drugs trade has been sentenced by a US court to 70 months in prison for trafficking cocaine.

Sandra Avila Beltran, known as “Queen of the Pacific”, was initially accused of creating drugs smuggling routes up the Pacific coast into California.

But a deal with the prosecution ensured she faced a lesser charge.

Avila could walk free as soon as next week as she has already served more than five years in prison.

She was extradited to the United States in 2012, after spending nearly five years in a Mexican prison.

Mexican prosecutors accused her of having played a major part in the build up of the Sinaloa Cartel in the 1990s, one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organisations.

‘Free on the weekend’

But in his Thursday verdict, US federal judge Michael Moore sentenced her for aiding a drug-trafficker to evade justice, in connection to a former lover, the Colombian Juan Diego Espinosa, known as “The Tiger”, and one of the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel.

Avila Beltran smiled and hugged her lawyer when she heard the sentence in a Miami court.

“It is 70 months counting from 28 September 2007, when she was arrested in Mexico, therefore she could be set free on the next weekend,” defence lawyer Stephen Ralls told reporters.

The next step for Avila Beltran’s defence team is to ensure she is deported speedily to Mexico, when she is released from jail.

Another defence lawyer Howard Schumacher said his client was eager to be with her family in Mexico, where her mother was unwell.

Mexican police say Avila has close ties to infamous drug dealers, such as her uncle Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, known as The Godfather, who is serving a 40-year prison sentence in Mexico for drug-related crimes.

Avila has maintained her innocence, saying she made her fortune selling clothes and renting property.

In February 2011, the director of the prison where she was being held in Mexico was sacked after it emerged that a doctor had been allowed into her cell to give her botox injections.

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US sentence for "Queen of Pacific"