Merritone: Music from Morant Bay to the World

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Introductionthe name merritone evokes feelings of nostalgia, joy, peace of mind and satisfaction. Why should a sound system evoke these feelings? Is it because over the years Merritone has lived up to the maxim If music be the food of love, play on?In a sense, this is true, because Merritone, since its inception, has been about love and caring in their truest and purest forms. As one who grew up with Merritone, especially in the early years, and experienced this love, I want to pay tribute to this truly Jamaican institution, within the context of two important dimensions: first, as an exemplar of family-owned businesses and their contribution to community and national development; second, for its constant practice of the power of networks and its close attention to people relationships.Merritone as a family-owned businessMorant Bay, St Thomas, and in particular Stanton Road, is the original home of Merritone. It had its genesis at a time when Morant Bay was a thriving town. town had its own electricity company, its own telephone company, and bananas, logwood and sugar were shipped from the town's wharf. But it was a town where social and economic lines were clearly drawn between rich and poor. Val Blake, an employee at the Public Works Department in Morant Bay, founded Merritone in this era. Val Blake's Sound System came into existence in 1950 - the year before Hurricane Charlie hit Jamaica, destroying St Thomas and especially Morant Bay. town's economy went into decline, but Val Blake's Sound System continued. aims of Val Blake for his sound system were now twofold: to provide a source of supplementary income for his family, and to make people in the community happy. I therefore pay tribute to him for his vision and ideals as the founder of Merritone. But alas, he made his transition all too soon, and the baton was passed to his son Trevor, who had to take on the mantle of both father and brother for Winston, Tyrone and Monty who were still in school, at Morant Bay Elementary and later Kingston College (KC).The sound system now became their main source of income, and so very quickly and almost instinctively they had to make sure that this family business was a success. Consequently, from the beginning they had to put into practice the critical elements that make a family business successful: teamwork, hard work, trust, honesty, reliability, perseverance, sound management and succession planning. They have maintained these features up to today: I note, for example, that The Young Lion Craig Ross is being adopted by the Blake family as part of the succession plan. I therefore pay tribute to Trevor, Winston, Tyrone and Monty for the critical roles they have played over the years to keep the vision and founding principles of their father, Val Blake, alive while at the same time making Merritone consistently relevant and a force to be reckoned with in Jamaica's musical landscape.The beginningsThis tribute would not be complete without some anecdotes. Talmon Aitcheson, who is a son of Morant Bay and who now lives in Florida, recalls that when Merritone started there were three major sound systems in the town: two from the east - Sir Egbert from lower Stanton Road and Val Blake's Sound System from upper Stanton Road - and one from the west - the Howell's Sound System from Duhaney Pen. There was a sound system competition at Springfield Cricket Club involving the three sound systems, what we later called a Klash. Talmon, Alton McQueen and one other person were the three judges. Val Blake's Sound System won the competition. When TaImon, who was the chief judge, was asked to sum up his reasons for the choice of the winner, he said their music was merry - and from then on the sound was called Merritone. That is his version and no one has disputed it - after all, he is in his mid-eighties. He also recalls that Merritone became an outstanding sound system that was invited to play at all important community functions. …