No further extension to Noise Abatement Act ENTERTAINMENT FORUM
January 31 rollback in effect
DESPITE APPEALS from players within the music industry and positive reports of its effectiveness, the twohour extension granted for the hosting of entertainment events has come to an end. This was disclosed by participants at a recent Gleaner Entertainment Forum on Reggae Month.
“There will be no extension (of the Noise Abatement Act) for Reggae Month,” Lenford Salmon, senior adviser to the minister of culture, gender, entertainment and sport, informed, and this was echoed by Chairman of the Entertain Advisory Board (EAB), Howard McIntosh, who stated that the January 31 cutoff date is final.
Last December, the Noise Abatement (Temporary Amendment) Act had provided for an extension of the time for social/ entertainment events to 2 a.m. generally, and 4 a.m., within certain parameters. Promoters and sound system operators alike had hailed the December 10 to January
31 reprieve, which, they said, had allowed them to make some money during the busy festive season, and without the pressure from the police to stay within the margins of the preamended law. And, with February being the month to celebrate all things reggae, McIntosh had taken the lead in formally requesting similar consideration during Reggae Month.
“I don’t ignore it as an issue. I’m one of those who had called for it at the time; but guess what, it’s good and it’s bad,” McIntosh told the forum. “We are going to show during Reggae Month that we can enjoy ourselves at the required stipulated sound levels and within the time, and also make the event enjoyable.”
SOUND-MITIGATION STRATEGIES
He informed the entertainment forum participants – who also included Lenworth ‘Squeeze’ Samuels, president of the Jamaica Association of Professional DJ’s, Promoters & Sound System Owners (JAPPS); Ewan Simpson, president of the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JaRIA); Maxine Stowe, entertainment executive; June Isaacs, promoter, Red Rose For Gregory; and Jackie Knight-Campbell, PR, Reggae
Month – that soundmitigation strategies will be in place. The weekly Reggae Wednesdays activities, which will be staged at Emancipation Park in New Kingston, will be the showpiece event for abiding within the legal Noise Abatement Act framework.
“That’s why Reggae Wednesdays will start at 5 p.m. In our culture, we believe a lot of times, as demonstrated two weeks ago at Rebel Salute, that we can go to these events late. I reached at 2 a.m., but that was okay, because that space is more like an entertainment zone. But we can’t do that all the time, because there are some other realities that we have to deal with,” McIntosh sated.
Jumping into the debate, sound system operator Squeeze demonstrated that he is fully cognisant of the role of his cohort. “We as sound system operators have to be more sensitive and take responsibility. We operate in spaces that are shared with residential and commercial (stakeholders),” he said, before elaborating, using one community as an example.
“Every house in Havendale that used to be a one-family house is now an apartment complex, so the number of persons we are affecting has quadrupled. We as operators have to understand that it is very, very important for us to change how we deliver sound, especially in the Corporate Area. We need to change our platform to accommodate that kind of expression. And we can do this by using the technology that is available,” he expounded.
Acknowledging that the issue is topical, McIntosh revealed that there will be a symposium on February 11, which will seek to further educate industry players. “The night mayor from Amsterdam will be here and will make a presentation at the symposium. We want to emphasise that education is as much a part of Reggae month as the concerts and the other activities,” he said