We Soca eZine WS002 | Page 13

M JAM - Martinique

On a warm summers day in 2016 amidst an atmosphere of

energy. The night when Caribbean Music Festival made their

debut in the city of Liverpool. Caribbean Music Festival (CMF)

is the evolution of Soca Music Festival. The Caribbean Music

Festival started 3 years ago with UK based artist

Garvin “Scrappy” Johnson; an event created to bring all

Caribbean music to one platform on forefront of the European

market. With the rich diversity of Europe there was no doubt

that the beauty of Caribbean shone bright amongst the mixed

melting pot of cultures present in this cosmopolitan part of the

world.

However, on that night we saw the beautiful Caribbean island

of Martinique represent in a way that made us instantly fall in

love. The word of the hour is M’Jam!!

M’Jam is a band from Martinique who made the festival get a gold star this year. The band made an impression that will surely last a lifetime. The authenticity of musical talent from three lead female vocalists brought the feel and diversity in music that the festival was created for. Never mind that some of the songs were not in english, the vocal quality and performances of the band as a unit definitely brought the house down.

M’Jam, which is a band from is a live musical group of young

people from Martinique, they come from different towns of the

island : Robert, Lamentin & Fort-de- France. M’JAM plays types

of music from the Caribbean islands (zouk, reggae, mazurka

bèlè…) international songs, french songs and more…in the

musical repertoire of the group, you can find some songs to

dance, and have fun during hours.

Supervised by the association « YOUTH IN THE TOWN »,

M’JAM is one part of our concept, to animate, integrate and

give the chance to participate in the mobility of youth by

dancing, singing or play music. All the musicians of the group

did a « civic service » through the association. They participated in the support of kids, teenagers and adults by cultural workshops. Actually, four of them are animators and make trainings in Europe in the field of « Socio cultural ».

Our aim is to finance their salaries and their social charges through « live performances ».