Nine finalists vie in JCDC Jamaica Festival Song Competition 2026

Nine singers are competing to provide the soundtrack for Jamaica’s Emancipation and Independence celebrations, with the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) releasing its Jamaica Festival Song Video Block for 2026.

The contest has supplied festival music since 1966 and is now in its 60th year. Organisers say it continues to draw audiences at home and across the Jamaican diaspora. This year’s package is framed around Independence 2026 and Jamaica 64 under the theme of resilience.

Latania Stamp is pitching My Jamaica Land of Festival, arguing her entry speaks to Jamaican culture and people and urging dial-in votes. Aba Jones is circulating Teeth a Fi Mi, billed as a humorous, culture-rooted story song. D Burns is fielding I Don’t Know About You, But I Love Jamaica, written with three friends and built around everyday Jamaican favourites such as roast breadfruit, jerk chicken and sound-system culture; Burns has called it a kind of second national anthem and urged listeners to “vote for your anthem.”

Solomon Walters, known as Brother C, is asking for support behind Jamaican Wari, which celebrates Jamaica as a Caribbean nation that stays strong through crisis. Beverly Henry’s Jamaica Pop moves from older Jamaica to the digital present, stressing resilience through storms and progress. Elton Erington is singing Proud of Jamaica, written by his friend Pelifier, who approached him knowing he had long wanted to enter the JCDC festival song contest; Erington said he knew at once he wanted to voice the track and see it win in 2026.

Tristar is promoting I Am Jamaican, written to capture Jamaican resilience, pride and the way Jamaicans stand out abroad. Music teacher Oando Levy is entering Jamaica School Bing, described as a bridge between old-school and new-generation sounds and an extension of classroom work shared with family before going public. A ninth finalist, Jazz, is campaigning with a unity-centred island anthem about Jamaicans coming together.

Across the block, contestants repeatedly call on the public to vote, casting their songs as expressions of national pride, festival spirit and everyday Jamaican life ahead of the Independence season.