On June 2, 2005, Harlem’s world famous Apollo Theater will come alive for “Jamaica Night at the Apollo,” a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB).  The concert, hosted by the Prime Minister of Jamaica, the Most Honourable P.J. Patterson, will feature some of Jamaica’s hottest performers, including reggae legend and 2004 Grammy Award Winner Toots and the Maytals, international recording reggae artist Freddie McGregor and cultural performance group Ashe. The audience will consist of international VIPs, including Caribbean and American government officials, travel agents, tour operators and special partners of the JTB, who will be in New York celebrating the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s “Caribbean Week in New York”.

“We are proud to have the opportunity to showcase the culture of Jamaica and thank the tourist industry for 50 years of partnership with the JTB,” stated Paul Pennicook, Director of Tourism.

“In this our anniversary year, there is no better place for Jamaica to shine than on the famed stage of the Apollo Theater.”

For more than 70 years, the Apollo has been the epicenter of cultural expression for the African Diaspora. Jamaica has been represented in many of the Apollo’s events, specifically, when in the mid 1960’s, a young Bob Marley appeared on the Apollo stage with the “Wailing Wailers.”

Additionally, the first time that calypso were featured in the same concert happened when Mighty Sparrow, Calypso Rose, Third World, Dennis Brown, and others performed at the Apollo in the 1960’s.
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