Hurricane Melissa won’t rain on Jamaica’s Christmas parade — Minister Grange
Published:Friday | November 28, 2025 | 12:06 AMYasmine Peru/Senior Gleaner Writer
Reggae music is “a music for all seasons”, and Hurricane Melissa “is not going to rain on our parade”. That’s the word from Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange when The Gleaner asked if the usual Christmas festivities will go ahead. As Gen Z would say, “clock that”. The upbeat Grange led Sunday’s successful I Love Jamaica hurricane relief telethon and virtual concert at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston on Sunday.
“Personally, we have a music for all seasons. And, today’s telethon is a perfect example of how our own music can inspire ... how it can motivate,” Grange said. “When I originally announced the telethon and concert, there were a couple of negative responses because of the thinking, ‘How can we be merry during these difficult times?’ But they did not think about how important our community is in helping us to go through the difficult times. And today’s performance of our artistes demonstrated that we have all genres of Jamaican music that can help us during times of difficulties.”
The telethon saw great performances from a number of artistes, including Christopher Martin, Sean Paul, Tanya Stephens, Nadine Sutherland, Tessanne Chin, Alaine, Pamputtae, Chevelle Franklyn, George Nooks, Tarrus Riley, Beenie Man, Ding Dong and Kevin Downswell.
“We are going to build back stronger. We are going to pick ourselves up. If we have to start all over, we’re going to start all over again. So, come Christmas, the events will happen, and in a way where we can contribute to the rebuilding process. We don’t have to have any doubts about our artistes and our promoters, and our Jamaican audience will come out in their numbers and support what is happening. We will go through the Christmas. We will do what we have to do,” Grange declared, adding that Melissa has “united us in a way, that we have never been united before”.
Executive Director of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) Lenford Salmon, agreed totally with Minister Grange about the need to keep the music playing, and shared his experience sitting in the UNESCO meeting to decide if reggae music should be inscribed.
“This same reggae music has been used by people across the world– disadvantaged people, downtrodden people– as their music to soothe them. The calm over the troubled waters. When reggae music was inscribed by UNESCO, the stories that came out of people from all across the world ... different nationalities, different ethnic groups all over the world ... spoke to how important reggae music was in their struggles over the last half a century,” a passionate Salmon told The Gleaner.
He added, “On this side of the world, we always thought it was only displaced people in Africa, but if you saw people from nationalities who were insistent that they were not leaving that UNESCO meeting until reggae music was inscribed because of what reggae music meant to them, you’d be amazed. I’m a different person today from having sat in that room, in a delegation led by the minister.”
On another note, Salmon questioned why some people think they have the authority to make decisions for others without asking for their feedback.
“Nobody has gone to the people who have been displaced to say, ‘How would you feel about musicians coming together to do a concert to raise funds to help you?’ They haven’t [gone] back to ask them how they feel about it. They felt they could make the decision that it was insensitive. For the guy in western Jamaica who has nothing to eat today, it’s not about sensitivity. It’s about how some people feel strongly and want to help [him] today... When I talk to people down there, they don’t talk about sensitivity, they tell me they want help now,” the JCDC executive director stated, issuing a warning about making “self-righteous decisions.”
Grange highlighted that the I Love Jamaica telethon gave every Jamaican the opportunity to donate using their Digicel phone credit via SMS text message. “It’s all about the widow’s mite,” the minister said.
The text lines remain open until November 30.