The Covid-19 global pandemic has shaken things up, but it’s never too late to do the right thing. We come to remind you that March was “Women’s History Month”. Did you know that? Celebrated especially in the United States, it has however an international resonance. Ten reggae-dancehall queens have brought a musical touch to this great annual event.
Indeed, every year, it is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements and aspirations of women around the world. The event began in 1978 with a local celebration in Santa Rosa, California, USA, called “Women’s History Week”. The week of March 8 was chosen by the organizers to coincide with International Women’s Day. The movement has spread across the country. In February 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued the first presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 8, 1980, as “National Women’s History Week”, following pressure from a group of women and women historians led by the National Women’s History Project (now the National Women’s History Alliance). In 1987, the US Congress passed Public Law 100-9, designating March as “Women’s History Month”. The National Women’s History Alliance selects and publishes the annual theme. In March 2020, the theme was “Valiant Women Voters”. The theme paid tribute to “the brave women who fought to win suffrage rights for women, and for the women who continue to fight for the voting rights of others”.
VP Records, specializing in Jamaican reggae-dancehall but is based in New York, could not miss this opportunity to highlight women artists of these two Caribbean musical genres and their songs, “appropriate and timely and reflect the moods and strengths of women worldwide”, it said: Queen Ifrica (“To See”), Ikaya (“Worth His Weight / Rally Round”, a remake of the famous band Steel Pulse), Naomi Cowan (“Paradise Plum”), Marion Hall (“I Won’t Worry”), Jah9 (“Highly”), Aza Lineage (“In the Ghetto”), Etana (“I Rise”), Tanya Stephens (“These Streets”), Spice (“Like a Man”) and especially Marcia Griffiths (“Survival”). Nicknamed “The Queen of Reggae” and aged 70, Marcia Griffiths is a living legend. In addition to her solo career, she was a member of the I-Threes, the backing vocal group that accompanied Bob Marley and The Wailers. Just listen and enjoy!
