‘Good Times: Yaad Meet Farin’ heads to New York
PREMIER oldies party, Good Times, is spreading its reach and heads to New York on Friday, April 30. The event is slated for Mingles Café in The Bronx, New York and is the first out-of-island experience for the party, but according to the organisers, not the last.
Good Times, staged four times annually in Kingston, boasts enviable numbers, and has grown considerably since its first edition in 1996. Many in the Diaspora have been known to fly to Jamaica and incorporate the event into their hectic vacation schedules, as the party spreads it wings to score record numbers in Kingston, May Pen, Montego Bay, and Ocho Rios.
The organisers say that music lovers in New York will be treated to pulsating rhythms from music worldwide from as far back as the ’70s and ’80s when Dancehall King Yellow Man and lyricist Super Cat reigned supreme. This collaboration between The Quorum from Jamaica and the Irie Jam Media family from New York promises a great party vibe.
The move is said to be a combination of the growing demand for the brand, plus part of the long-term plan. “New York is one of the biggest markets for Jamaican culture,” notes Jerome Hamilton of The Quorum. “And as the Jamaican music has grown worldwide and into these markets, the same applies to parties. We have also seen the sound systems leave and play in these markets, but a specific event has never done that so to speak. This is also part of our plans to develop the Good Times brand. We see the concentration and growth of the population in these areas as a plus for this drive.”
Hamilton adds that New York will not be the only area outside of Jamaica to benefit.
“In our three to five-year plan we have been looking at the Florida market, plus we also have other Caribbean markets in mind, the first of which is Grenada,” he explains.
Good Times, Yaad meet farin, will feature DJ Roy and Dubb Master Chris of Irie Jam Fm based in New York and DJ Kurt “the party animal” Riley from Jamaica.