LOCAL lovers are flying in a legendary Jamaican reggae artist to help Bermuda celebrate reggae music's 50th birthday at a pre-Cup Match extravaganza.

Palm Rock Entertainment will be throwing a birthday bash for reggae presided over by musician Beres Hammond and a number of other bands including Stone Love and Bermuda's own Jahstice and Harmony House Band. They will also be holding workshops to help people polish up their reggae culture and history skills.

"No one in reggae turns it out like Beres Hammond," said Donovan McKoy of Dub City Variety. "Audiences have been begging for more since 1972 when as a teenage schoolboy he took first prize at an amateur talent show with covers of Perfidia and Jerry Butler's Need To Be Loved." His latest release is A Day In The Life on VP Records. In the mid-1970s he sang leads for Zap Pow, Jamaica's top band, but was overshadowed by Bob Marley who was also singing for them. In 1985 he switched from soul to hard-core reggae and came out with the year's number one hit, What One Dance Can Do.

"Basically, reggae goes back to 1952," said Mr. McKoy. "From 1952 we had the first music in Jamaica. I wasn't born at that point but I was told by my grandfather, Evan Hamilton, that they used to play it on a gramophone to keep parties going."

He said in those days local radio stations refused to play the early reggae.

"From 1952 to 1958 a musician called Mr. Dad from Studio 1 actually started what today would be called a sound system with really big speakers," he said. "They were playing songs like Oh Carolina, and My Boy Lollipop. Those songs did well. It wasn't really reggae as we know it. It evolved into ska and then rocksteady. That actually came out in 1961."

He said Jamaican producer Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records, did a great deal to promote reggae music in England and internationally.

"He emerged with Mr. Dad from Studio 1," said Mr. McKoy. "He then started Island Records which started to do some work with some great artists. Some of the greats include Jimmy Cliff, Derrick Morgan, Justin Hines, Prince Buster, Bob Andy and The Wailers."

Mr. McKoy said reggae originated in Jonestown - more popularly known as "Trench Town" - in Jamaica.

"It comes from the ghetto," he said. "They just put the lyrics together. At that time they didn't know anything about publishing and copyrights. In 1962 when Jamaica became independent from Britain, Chris Blackwell really started to pay attention to the music. That was when they took it to the next level."

The birthday celebrations kick off at Clearwater Beach in St. David's on July 20. The gates open at 6 p.m. but the show will start at 8 p.m.

"We will start the party there with Stone Love," said Mr. McKoy. "They are one of the world's number one sound systems right now."

There will be a number of workshops given through the week, although the dates and times haven't been finalised. The workshop leaders will be a secret until the second week in July, but it is understood they will be "very special".

The main event will be on July 27 at Bernard Park in Pembroke where Beres Hammond will play alongside Jahstice and the Harmony House Band.

The gates will open at 6 p.m. and the show starts and 8 p.m.. Tickets are $55 and $65 at the gate. Tickets are available at Dub City Variety, 27th Century Boutique and other locations around the island. Tickets will be available on July 10. For more information call 292-6775.