Now that the 2015 ‘Reggae Month’ celebrations held in Jamaica have officially ended, MJ Magazine took to the streets to find out what Jamaicans thought about this years’ staging. To our surprise we were flooded with reviews some of which were quite shocking.

We were told by several persons that this years’ presentation was not as entertaining as previous years. When we pressed for additional information insisting that they elaborate the general consensus seems to be that some of the shows were simply “weak”. These were shows meant to highlight the up and coming artists. Some persons felt that there were some good performances here and there but that the overall shows could have been better. We were even told by persons within the music industry that the emerging acts booked for Reggae Month seems too manufactured; one individual said that “the inner city artists were missing and if the inner city acts are missing then Reggae is missing.”

Others have asked why no Dancehall artists were on the line up, something we have also inquired about. Maria Jackson the CEO and owner of MJ Magazine was told by the organizers that booking Dancehall acts was simply too risky mainly because of their lyrical content (which is usually not appropriate for family events) but also because of their unpredictability.

Regretfully no one from MJ Magazine was able to attend the events this year so we cannot accept as true, neither can we dismiss the feedback that we have gotten from the public, but regardless if it is 100 % or 5% accurate it is clear that the organizers have some work to do for 2016.