Feel Like Jumping: Jamaican Ambassador Shirley

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IF THE ISLAND OF JAMAICA was a person, it would be past middle age. But as an independent country, it's a mere babe.

Jamaica gained its freedom from Britain on Aug. 6, 1962, and like so many young countries, its still struggling to find its way economically. But there's certainly no denying the grand influence and popularity of Jamaican culture, which has spread around the globe primarily through music.

For the past three years, the Embassy of Jamaica in the United States has celebrated Jamrock's independence day with a big — and free — festival held in the gardens of the Organization of the American States at 17th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Spearheaded by outgoing Ambassador Gordon Shirley, the event has grown considerably with each iteration, and this year the full celebration lasts for three days, beginning on Friday, Aug. 3. (For the full list of events, click here.)

But it's the "Independence Sunday Market: An All-Day Jamaican Festival" that will attract the most folks. In addition to the fine food and arts, the musical lineup will provide plenty of reasons for folks who feel like jumping to drop legs. The stellar lineup includes DJ Jerry D, DJ Sprang International, local Ethiopian reggae group Zedicus, the ubiquitous Image Band, the classics-covering party band Bare Essentials, dancehall deejay General Degree, legendary Studio One songwriter and vocalist Bob Andy and international dancehall superstar Shaggy.

Express talked to Ambassador Shirley about the festival, his independence day memories and musical tastes, as well as his upcoming move back to Jamaica, the economic future of the country and the imminent political elections, which in the past have been fought in the streets as much as in the ballot boxes.

» EXPRESS: You must have been quite young, but do you remember the first independence day in 1962?
» SHIRLEY: What I remember when Jamaica became independent is the sense of pride in my parents. I was a youngster at school, and the sense of importance with the event was quite marked, and I can still recall that. I can recall the pageantry associated with that process. Those of us who were alive at that point in time, it's seared in our memories as something that's important, which is why after 45 years we continue to celebrate the way we do, both home and abroad.

» EXPRESS: What are independence day celebrations like in Jamaica?
» SHIRLEY: The independence celebration at home is a culmination of other activities that take place a few weeks, if not a few months, before that event takes place. There are all sorts of cultural competitions and cultural activities, and we would normally have a festival song competition. Many of Toots Hibbert's original songs were festival songs, which then became very popular as standalone music.

On independence day you'd have a festival that's much larger than the one we're having, which would do some of the same things. You'd have culinary competitions and you'd have a real taste of all sorts of Jamaican things prepared and presented in different ways. You'd have art exhibitions; the Institute of Jamaica, which is our museum of art, would have an exhibition and the works of our major artists would be on display. So you'd have an explosion of our cultural expressions around that time.

» EXPRESS: Music is obviously a huge part of Jamaican culture, and it must have been an exciting time to grow up as ska developed into rocksteady and then reggae.
» SHIRLEY: I am a very big music fan, and of Jamaican music. I remember very vividly, while going to high school, seeing Bob Marley and his band of followers. I saw them as stars at that time, but accessible; they could be approached and so on. We grew up with the music not only listening to it but seeing it around us, seeing the people around us as other everyday Jamaicans.

» EXPRESS: Who are some of your favorite artists?
» SHIRLEY: Obviously, Bob Marley is a big favorite. Gregory Isaacs, Toots Hibbert, Alton Ellis, Bob Andy, John Holt, Third World. And in a current day, Damian Marley, Stephen Marley, Sean Paul, Beenie Man. Of course, I'm a huge fan of Beresford Hammond, and we really would have liked to have had him this year, but he had a performance lined up in South America for the date that we had planned.

» EXPRESS: Your tenure as ambassador is up, and you're heading back to Jamaica in a couple of weeks to head the University of the West Indies. Is this festival also your goodbye party?
» SHIRLEY: I wouldn't put it that way. The community has grown to accept this as their event, so it stands alone in that capacity. I will be saying farewell to a number of friends and colleagues at that event, but I wouldn't want that to be the focus of it.

A university in the context of a country like Jamaica has to see itself in respect of its global responsibilities. You have to have an outreach to the international community, because Jamaica is a country that survives in that global context. Our major trading partner's here in the United States; many of the policies that impact on the country are here. We have a large community of diaspora members, so I think I will maintain a very strong relationship with the community that is here.

So it won't be "goodbye" in the sense that I was here and I'm gone; but goodbye in the sense that I'll be shifting the role in how I associate with you, from being your ambassador here in Washington to being the head of a university that has done Jamaica well, but one that will be expanded and will grow and will have an even greater role as our evolution as a country — and one that we'd like to have our diaspora intimately involved.

» EXPRESS: You've spent most of your career in the private sector and in universities and colleges. What was it like to take on a political position?
» SHIRLEY: Coming to Washington in this capacity was significant for a couple of reasons. Jamaica's evolution as a country has meant that the private sector has had to play an even more significant role in our development, as it should. Because the government has certain constraints given our debt capacity and so on. ...

So coming into this capacity, I saw an opportunity; I saw a chance to bring together the various pieces of my background. As a professor of management, I understood the business problems. But as someone who's been in the private sector, understanding what the challenges were and the opportunities associated with those. And also from the perspective of the bilateral relationship: the way the policies that are made in Jamaica are interpreted by the U.S. And policies that are made in the U.S., the way in which they impact on Jamaica. The capacity to understand how all those issues come together, in this job, was important.

» EXPRESS: Your successor likely won't be named until after the elections for prime minister on August 27. Do you have any predictions for the elections?
» SHIRLEY: All indications at this stage is that the elections are going to be closely fought — or close elections; let me be careful about using the word "fought," because we're hoping it's going to be a very peaceful election, and indications are that it will be.

I think there are some important [indicators]. Jamaica borrows from the international capital markets, and if the international financial markets had concerns about the outcome of the election — meaning that if one party won, policies would go in a particular direction, and if the other party wins, it will go in the opposite direction — then it would have been reflected in a higher risk premium being charged on our bonds that are issued internationally. The reality is that the tenure of our bonds and the interest rates, we've been able to borrow at longer periods at lower interest rates, and what that indicates is that the financial markets are fairly confident that, no matter the outcome of the elections, our economic policies are likely to be consistent to what's being pursued right now.

By a similar token, if Jamaicans were skittish or nervous about the outcome of the election, and what it might mean for their lives and livelihoods, then you'd typically see a rush on foreign exchange, which would drive the rate of foreign exchange up as the amount increases. But the foreign exchange rates have remained fairly constant. And I take those kinds of indicators to suggest that although the elections are close and likely to be quite competitive, persons inside and outside of the country anticipate that — while the outcomes are not insignificant — the general trajectory of the policies that will be implemented will likely remain where they are, which is a good thing.

» EXPRESS: As the film "Life and Debt" made clear, and as you mentioned, debt is one of the things that handcuffs Jamaica. Do you think there will ever be a drop-the-debt movement for the Caribbean like there was for Africa?
» SHIRLEY: I think the reality is this: Because the GDP per capita in the Caribbean countries has been increasing, and not decreasing; we've hit certain thresholds in which we are identified as middle income countries. So, rather than that forgiveness, you find that the international financial institutions are restricted in their capacity to provide concessionary financing or grants to the countries of the Caribbean: Jamaica, Barbados, Bahamas, Trinidad. So the likelihood of debt forgiveness is not great.

It would be great if the [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] countries would give us some more space, because that would accelerate the pace at which Jamaica could evolve. And if Jamaica evolves at that pace, then the U.S. and Canada, which are OECD countries, would benefit from having an even safer and even more secure third border in their neighborhood. But if you're asking explicitly whether I'm holding my breath waiting on that, the answer is no.

Ambassador Shirley photos courtesy Organization of the American States and the Embassy of Jamaica