THE NATIONAL SONGBOOK, YEAR BY YEAR
Jamaica Festival Song
Since 1966, one song a year for Independence season, in a Jamaican idiom, written for the whole country. The island's longest-running song contest, and an annual national songbook whose winners have long outlived the competition itself.
8 records · curated by the atlas editors
The competition itself: how it works, and why it matters beyond the year it is held.
recording · Well supported"Bam Bam" — The Maytals (Festival Song 1966)1966 — the first winner, and a record that outlived the contest by decades.
recording · Well supported"Sweet and Dandy" — The Maytals (Festival Song 1969)1969 — later carried to a wider audience through The Harder They Come.
recording · Probable"Boom Shaka Laka" — Hopeton Lewis (Festival Song 1970)1970 — Hopeton Lewis takes the title.
recording · Well supported"Cherry Oh Baby" — Eric Donaldson (Festival Song 1971)1971 — the most widely travelled Festival Song of all, and the first of Donaldson's record run.
recording · Probable"Pomps and Pride" — The Maytals (Festival Song 1972)1972 — a third title for The Maytals.
recording · Probable"Play di Music" — Tinga Stewart (Festival Song 1974)1974 — Tinga Stewart.
recording · Probable"I Am a Jamaican" — Buju Banton (Festival Song 2020)2020 — Buju Banton, the year after his return to performing.