by Howard Campbell
[SOUTH FLORIDA] – A hilly region in St. Andrew parish, August Town has a significant place in modern Jamaican history. Alexander Bedward, a self-styled pastor, led an Afro-centric movement there in the 1920s; it’s where the Rastafarian movement gathered steam during the 1960s.
August Town is also where singer Novel-T grew up. The area has a strong musical heritage with members of Israel Vibration once calling it their home; Sizzla’s Judgement Yard camp is based there.
Novel-T, who has lived in South Florida for over 20 years, recalled her formative years in August Town during a recent interview with South Florida Caribbean News.
“I have pleasant memories of those years. A humble life with hardworking parents; and no luxuries, but well-cared for and happy,” she said. “I remember we walked everywhere, with little or no fear. I used to walk to Mrs. Walker’s Basic School; I could not have been more than three-four years-old. Also, walking to my primary school in Mona Heights, and later in my teen years, taking Sunday evening walks up to the Mona/University areas to hang out in the commons and stroll the gardens with my friends.”
‘University’ is University of the West Indies’ Mona campus which opened as the University College of the West Indies in 1948. It was a hop-and-skip from a vibrant Rasta commune during the 1960s and 1970s; the school’s Student Union has famously hosted live shows at the campus for over 50 years.
Novel-T remembers music being a big part of the community and at home.
“I could always hear music playing whether nearby or far; coming through the hills, it would seem sometimes. But in particular, my older brother had a music shed at the back of the yard and he was always collecting and playing music…lots of parties were kept at that particular yard. So, music was always around,” she disclosed.
August Town’s most infamous son is Alexander Bedward, a former Panama Canal worker, who headed the Jamaica Native Free Baptist Church there. On Christmas Eve, 1920, he drew thousands of persons to Kingston, claiming he would fly in a flaming chariot like Elijah from the Old Testament.
The following year, Bedward was arrested and sent to an asylum in Kingston where he died in 1930.
Novel-T has experienced no such incident in her recording career which started in 2012 with the release of her song Born to Love You, and an album of the same title.
She enjoyed the best year of her career in 2020 with two number one songs on the South Florida Foundation Network Chart — Love Won’t Let us Wait (with Peter G) and Keep on Moving.
