Durrant Pate/Contributor

Harmonies of Hope is set to bring together community leaders, artistes and supporters next week in a benefit concert in Toronto with one unified purpose of raising funds, awareness and morale for Jamaica after the devastating Hurricane Melissa that rocked the Caribbean island on October 28 this year

The one-night event is being put on by a group of Jamaican Canadians, led by Toronto Metropolitan University Chancellor Donette Chin-Loy Chang, featuring the music of the King of Reggae and hosted by Kardinal Offishall and Brandon Gonez to lift morale while providing aid through trusted charities on the island. It is being held at the Meridian Performing Art Centre.

Both organisers and supporters have emphasised the power of collective action, with Hall noting that even small donations can make a meaningful difference in Jamaica’s long-term recovery, while Jamaican-born businessman and philanthropist, Wes Hall, is highlighting he hurricane’s catastrophic impact, drawing on personal experience and calling on Canadians to contribute financially to help remote communities. Hall is the CEO of Kingsdale Advisors as well as a patron of Harmonies of Hope. 

Idea for the concert

Chin-Loy Chang says the idea for the relief effort emerged almost immediately after the hurricane made landfall, as reports of destruction grew increasingly urgent, remembering when Category 3 Hurricane Gilbert hit the island back in 1988, declaring that the crisis felt personal, telling NOW TORONTO, “It was no fun. It was horrible…there was no electricity for days and days and days.” Describing the destruction of the recent Category 5 storm as “horrific”, she stresses the importance of doing something tangible to help the community rebuild, as many are still struggling without clean drinking water, current and access to food.

“One of the things about living in the diaspora and having things happen in your homeland is that you feel helpless, right? So, I thought, ‘yes, we’ve got to do something,” Chin-Loy Chang remarks. A stellar lineup of artists like Jully Black, Sean Jones, Quisha Wint and many more have been assembled for the concert, which is at the centre of a major fundraising initiative that will distribute all proceeds among three established charities, namely Food for the Poor Jamaica, Helping Hands Jamaica, and the Sandals Foundation. 

Chang assures each organisation selected not only has a long-standing and trusted presence on the island but also has boots on the ground within the island’s hardest hit communities, equipped with resources to provide direct assistance. Despite the gravity of the situation, the spirit behind the event is one of hope. The concert, set to accommodate 1,000 attendees, has already drawn significant community support with Chin-Loy Chang saying she’s excited to be surrounded by people who deeply care about Jamaica. 

Uniting around a cause

“It’s bringing together people who want to help Jamaica,” she says. “Out of many, one people, and we’re uniting around a cause that has hurt so many of our friends and our families.” Hall insists that while he isn’t typically a concert-goer, he is “pretty pumped” for the night, especially as the artists will perform songs from Bob Marley’s catalogue. 

Music is a major cultural lifeline to Jamaica, and Hall says Marley’s music, rooted in unity, strength, and liberation was most fitting for the occasion. According to him, “when you think about ‘One Love,’ you think about Jamaica, right? And you think about Bob Marley in the process. And so to us, it just makes sense that our most famous citizen in Jamaica is to be featured…He’s been dead for a very long time, but everybody knows him because of what his music means… All his songs have this inspiration about, yes, you may be beaten down, but you’re not going to stay down, you’re going to get up, you’re going to rise, and you’re going to put a lot of love behind what you do.” 

Drawing on his own difficult upbringing in poverty in Saint Thomas, Hall explains that the scale of the devastation in Jamaica strengthened his determination to give back, stressing that while donations of goods are welcome, financial contributions are most urgently needed to transport supplies into remote areas that have become nearly inaccessible. Hall points to an estimated US$8 billion in damage to the country, which he says equals almost 41 per cent of Jamaica’s GDP, and insists the scale of recovery is staggering, but not impossible. 

“There’s an expression in Jamaica, ‘one-one cocoa full basket,” Hall said, a proverb which means small consistent steps will lead to even more fruitful results over time. “Even if it’s $5, $10, $20, we all have the ability to do something,” Hall laments, advising that a collective effort is what gives him hope for the island’s long road to recovery, positing, “we’re going to be fine over time, not right now, but over time.” He emphasises, “There are parts of Jamaica that are massively impacted by this thing. People do not have homes, no running water, no electricity, no food, no fresh water. So don’t only think about your own family. Just think about other communities that you could help to support.”