Isat Buchanan has big plans for Portland

Blessed with musical genes in his DNA, Isat Buchanan produced an album before becoming a lawyer. He once fancied himself becoming a big entertainer, following in the footsteps of his father, the legendary Manley ‘Big Youth’ Buchanan. But after consultation with a spiritual elder, he was told that he was not going to make it through music. He would go on to achieve distinction elsewhere.

Fast-forward to the night before the beginning of the annual conference of the People’s National Party (PNP) in 2024, when the party’s general secretary, Dr Dayton Campbell, asked him to consider political representation. After a short consultation, he said yes, after serving as the chairman of the party’s internal affairs commission.

Now the dreadlocked lawyer is to become a legislator in Gordon House and is promising to bring musical and legal distinction to the representation of the constituents of Portland Eastern, where he is to be sworn in as their member of parliament (MP) following his victory in Wednesday’s general election.

“I don’t think there was a doubt in my mind that I would have emerged victorious in the race that took place in Portland Eastern. So, I can tell you the people of Portland are excited, Buchanan told The Sunday Gleaner in an interview on Friday. “Certainly, the constituents and the members of the party, and new voters, they are very excited about the win.”

The man with music in his bloodline said that in his family of siblings, he was the Tito (Jackson), and his brother Zambo, the Michael of the Jackson Five. However, his father has always been supportive of what he has done.

FATHER’S GUIDANCE

“If you know anything about the Jackson Five, you know where I fall on the musical spectrum. But, yeah, my father is always supportive of what I do. You know, the government gave him a national honour, one of those OD (Order of Distinction) things. And, you know, he was appreciative of that. And he maintains that entertainers should kind of, like, not participate in politics. That is his view. Notwithstanding that, he did come on the political platform on my behalf, but in the capacity of my father, who happens to be an entertainer. So there is a space for it. But I always take guidance from my father… .” Buchanan told The Sunday Gleaner.

He, too, accepted that entertainers should not participate in politics.

However, political campaigning has been enhanced by the music of popular entertainers, and, in the 2025 campaign, several, including some high-profile entertainers, threw their support behind the parties.

“I did my album, Lover’s Rock, sometime in 2010, probably, and I was sure it was going to be the next big thing. And I met a Baba, and when I brought the album for him to bless it, he had five stones in his hand, and he drops the stones, and the stones went [everywhere],” he said, moving his hands in different directions. “We were dodging the stones, and I knew immediately what that meant. It was not for me,” Buchanan, the former television programme host, explained.

His Baba asked if he had a sibling, and when he replied in the affirmative, he was told that he would be a lawyer and would manage the affairs of his brother and father. Coming off years of incarceration for drug possession, to the ordinary man, it would not be easy to accept. But Isat Buchanan said he was not ordinary and was not daunted or defeated.

“That is the current position. I mean, coming off of a stint of incarceration, when somebody says to me, ‘You’re going to be a lawyer’, you know that you’re ready to call that person a fraud’. But he says, ‘That’s what’s in the stars for you’. Fast-forward, and I became an attorney. And, thereafter, I still put out music. My music has appeared in American Gangster. I do music with my father and my brother. I get my sound scan checked. I monetise music and understand that music, for me, is a pastime. This is a safe space, and so I don’t need the double platinum and I don’t need to compete with the rest of it,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.

Buchanan, who earned enduring recognition when his image was emblazoned around the world last year at the Privy Council defending entertainer Adidja ‘Vybz Kartel’ Palmer and securing his release after 13 years in prison, when he appeared before Jamaica’s final appellate court, said defending the dancehall giant was not a fluke, and the same distinction will be taken to every task on behalf of every constituent.

According to him, for the full development of Portland, education is paramount, and the nightlife must be restored.

NOISE ABATEMENT ACT

“The nightlife in Portland was lost. I want to say [that], in the entire Jamaica, the Noise Abatement Act was a [piece of] legislation that curtailed freedom of expression and culture. We don’t have entertainment zones, and we don’t get the experience of, say, a South Beach in Florida, and all of these areas – Brooklyn (NY), Las Vegas (Nevada) – where the city never sleeps. In Portland, what we want to do in five divisions is to resurrect entertainment,” Buchanan explained.

According to him, Jamaica is rich with talent in the entertainment space and in the geographical space, which is rich in tourism. The marriage of the two is a perfect match.

“Jamaica is full of talent in the dancehall entertainment space. Jamaica [thrives] off tourism and entertainment, and sport. Tack a little agriculture on it, and then you’re good. I know I’m committing to [ensuring] that, at the end of this, there’s a studio there to give Portlanders the space to develop their talent and expose it to the world. They must know that is not only farm work cards [that] can take them overseas. They can go on tour,” said Buchanan.

Explaining how young people with talent in music can hone their craft overseas, he said, they [would not all] have to be directed at the United States markets, as they could tour Europe if they cannot get a US visa. He said there were markets in the United Kingdom, and music can change their lives, and has in fact changed lives.

“Some of our best of Jamaica are the dancehall artistes. So we have to get the entertainment zones in place, not just in Portland, but in designated areas,” he said, voicing regret over the PNP’s loss. Buchanan said, from political experience, the government of the day will make it difficult for the opposition’s plans to materialise, but promised vigilance while ensuring the people would not be disenfranchised.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com