Jamaica is probably more closely identified with music than any other country in the world, and its 50th anniversary of independence was celebrated with an appropriate emphasis on sound. For six days, from August 1st through the 6th, a temporary entertainment venue and cultural expo (dubbed Jamaica 50 Grand Jubilee Village) was set up on the grounds of the National Stadium in Kingston, hosting live music performances, plays, movie screenings, a fashion show, dance competition and raucous public viewings of Jamaican track stars Usain Bolt and Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce’s Olympic wins. The events all set the stage for a massive, music- and dance-filled independence gala inside the National Stadium attended by more than 35,000 Jamaicans attired head-to-toe in green, gold and black.

By Jesse Serwer