Chat-bout.net - Festival Song 'Rise and Shine'

Festival Song 'Rise and Shine'

Rise and Shine, the 2008 Festival song has the 'massive' rocking. It reaches fever pitch when it is performed live by this year's winner, Roy Rayon.

Rise and Shine an up tempo celebratory song, spawned from the creative genius of four time contest winner Roy Rayon, calls on all Jamaicans, whatever their station in life, to live to the fullest, enjoy life and everything Jamaica has to offer, and to celebrate our Jamaicaness.

After weeks of road shows and rotation on

Rayon and his dancers

radio and television stations, during which the public became familiar with the songs, Rayon, walked away with all of the sectional prizes, including, Best Performer and Winning Writer, at the grand finals, held at the National Indoor Sports Centre. His winnings include one million dollars, $75,000 in gift certificates from Cooyah Fashions, the JCDC trophy, $300,000 and a Digicel cell phone.

Rayon, a former student of the Jamaica School of Drama at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, was a crowd favourite from day one. His performances were nothing short of commanding, captivating and electrifying. Every time he rolled out his string of hits including Love Fever (won in 1985), Give Thanks and Praises (won in 1987), Come Rock (won in 1992) and the crowd pleaser Another One Come, he had the crowd dancing, screaming and jiving … he could do no wrong. Roy Rayon, knows how to work a stage.

Receiving Tropy from Minister of Culture

According to Rayon, the winning formula is a combination of a simple melody, simple lyrics a song that is catchy and danceable. He describes the best festival song as one which connects with the pulse of the people, to galvanize their energy around the Independence celebrations. He says he always writes his songs to capture imagination of people of all ages, and socio-economic backgrounds.

In terms of the technicalities of writing the song, his formula is to write his songs so that any part of the song can feel like the high point of the song. He told Chat-Bout that “the verse, the bridge and the chorus, should be equally memorable.” Remarking on this year’s song, Rise and Shine, he pointed out that because the chorus is so catchy, many people think that the name of the song is ‘Massive A Come’.