by Howard Campbell
[KINGSTON, Jamaica] – Kingston, Jamaica was a frightening place to be in the late 1970’s. Gangs aligned to the country’s two major political parties fought daily in the capital’s inner-city projects.
That divisiveness inspired a mild-mannered schoolteacher and trade unionist to write Land of my Birth, which many regard as Jamaica’s unofficial national anthem.
Land of my Birth, written by Winston Wallace and sung by Eric Donaldson, won the 1978 Festival Song Competition. Played on Jamaican radio year-round, it has transcended that annual contest which takes place two weeks before Jamaica’s independence on August 6.
It was the second straight year Wallace and Donaldson teamed to win ‘Festival’ as it is known in Jamaica. The previous year they won with Sweet Jamaica.
In a 2014 interview with the Jamaica Observer newspaper, Wallace said he was initially apprehensive about how people would react to Land of my Birth.
“I thought people would show greater appreciation to Sweet Jamaica because it’s what we call a patois (Jamaican dialect) song but I was wrong,” he recalled.
Land of My Birth was recorded at Dynamic Sounds, then one of the leading studios in Jamaica. Donaldson was backed by the Fabulous Five Band which had also worked on Sweet Jamaica.
At the time of Festival in 1978, Jamaica was gripped in a civil war between supporters of the governing People’s National Party, which had a socialist agenda and the conservative Jamaica Labour Party.
Arranged by Fab Five drummer Grub Cooper, Land of My Birth was a popular winner. It was Donaldson’s third victory in the contest.
Wallace was awarded J$1,200 (less than US$10 today) by organizers for his winning song. He has long given up on the music business, but Donaldson went on to win the Festival Song Competition four more times.
