Sting will be back bigger and better this year as the ‘greatest one-night show on earth’ is evolving into a three-night festival which will now feature a stage show, a sound system festival and a beach party.
In an exclusive interview with THE WEEKEND STAR, the new ‘Sting Boss’ and promoter, Tahheer ‘Fat Man’ Laing, son of Sting founder, Isaiah, revealed his reasons for this innovative decision.
“Kingston is the mecca of dancehall and it doesn’t get enough recognition as it should, so Kingston should have a festival because you have [music] festivals all about the place [like] MoBay, Negril. So that’s our aim right now,” Laing said.
The Sting festival is set to kick-start on Thursday, December 26 with the stage show event, followed by the sound system showdown the following day. After a break on Saturday, Sting returns to cool down with the beach party, featuring a live calypso, dancehall and a “key Afrobeat” act on Sunday, December 29. Additionally, four major sound systems will be partaking in the festivities of night two which will include “the big bad sound out of St Ann”, two international sounds and “another local sound in which [renowned selector] Tony Matterhorn will be going up against all the other sounds; after which, the winner takes all – big prizes”. Laing added that an all-female sound clash segment will also be implemented this year.
In reigniting this part of dancehall, Laing said he realised the recent calls for sound clashes and wants to remind the younger generation where and how the root of the dancehall genre started.
“So if we’re gonna have three nights of show, sound clash has to be a part of it because even the Sting clashes born out of sound clash,” he said. This year’s Sting festival also promises to feature two major international acts along with a mix of local talent, including “three major new-generation artistes that everybody is clamouring for”. After initially being tight-lipped about the international artistes, after pressing, Laing said they have a “large social media following, one of which is a huge Afrobeat artiste”.
While still guided by his dad on the intricate details the show should still possess, Laing assured patrons he’ll make this event a unique and continuously memorable one under his management.
“Firstly, we are taking a new form and taking it on a bigger platform. It’s going to be like nothing you’ve ever seen before [because] we realised that dancehall needs a bit of socialising, the culture, the genre, everything. So, in building an upkeep in dancehall, I think a collaboration will make things a lot better for the industry. If you keep yourself in a box, there is no way you can exceed your previous form without socialising with different genres and different cultures. So we’re basically just opening up the doors a little bit and inviting in other genres/cultures,” he stated.
Another major change is to have fewer artistes than the event is accustomed to, which will provide a mix of “more quality entertainment than quantity”. While not ruling out clashes, Laing said he will be strategising a new approach on “taking these young artistes back to a ‘Sting school'” before finalising on any clash.
“I’d use social media to have like a weekly flashback of previous [Sting] clashes – di Papa San and Ninja Man dem, and mek dem see how clashes are to be carried out. It’s a part of our foundation so it’s hard to disband ourselves from it but at the same time we have to protect our brand,” he said.
With the aim of making the event, which he described as the “epitome of dancehall”, a staple event for brand Jamaica, Laing also plans on lowering the ticket costs, with the hope that artistes will also lower their charges so that everyone can enjoy this musical bliss that is to come.
Having returned to its original home at JamWorld in St Catherine last year, Laing told the THE WEEKEND STAR that “he’s almost sure” that Sting will be making its debut international staging in Africa next year.
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