MERRITONE CELEBRATES 65 - Annual Reunion From October 11-19 in JAMAICA

Published:Monday | September 28, 2015Mel Cooke

In the latter stages of Merritone's 65th anniversary programme's official launch, held at Waterfalls, Liguanea, on Thursday evening, Monte Blake gave another set of figures about the world's oldest continuously operating sound system.

Winston Blake (left) and his brother Monte Blake, after
Winston was presented with an award for his role in
Jamaican popular music.

He said that the Thursday evening party has been going on for 43 years, the last 13 at Waterfalls and the first 28 at the former Turntable Club on Red Hills Road, with a Devon House stint accounting for the couple of additional years.

And the women, especially, who turned out for a very well-attended presentation of a schedule of events, which includes the Merritone Weekend at Sea Gardens Resort in Montego Bay, St James, seemed dressed as much to party afterwards as to listen to the speakers in the early going.

Monte Blake was the last of them, outlining a programme which began yesterday with a date at Rafters Rest in Portland. On Sunday, October 11, there will be a service of thanksgiving at the Webster Memorial United Church on Half-Way Tree Road, beginning at 9:45 a.m. On Wednesday, there is a Merritone Meet and Greet at The Deck, 14 Trafalgar Road, New Kingston; followed the next day by Merritone Turntable Thursday at its standard Waterfalls home.

The Merritone All-Inclusive Weekend is at the Sea Gardens Hotel, Montego Bay, St James, from Friday, October 16, to Monday, October 19, with Last Lick, dubbed 'A Salute to our Heroes', at The Deck on National Heroes Day. And, Monte said, "We have 65,000 reasons why you should come to the Last Lick."

There was a major role for someone who was not there, the late Lorna Jean, Monte Blake's partner who passed away. "I brought her. She is in the music room keeping my company," Blake said. Michael Hall hosted a programme involving some of those who have

kept company with Merritone for a long time. Guest speaker Clyde McKenzie described Merritone as a brand that offers an experience. "A brand is a promise of value. When it comes to a certain type of experience, Merritone has always been able to provide it," McKenzie said.

"We are celebrating 65 years of the establishment of a Jamaican institution," McKenzie said, reminding all that most businesses fade away within five years of start-up. He noted the sense of community around Merritone, naming some of those who are or have been fixtures at the sound systems parties. "You see a genuine affection for each other," McKenzie said.

Describing the Merritone experience as "timeless", McKenzie noted the role the Blake brothers - the second generation of the sound system's operators after their father Val - has played in providing that experience. "They have the gift of expressing how they feel about you," McKenzie said. more