The owners of MECA Nightclub in Marketplace, St Andrew, have partnered with Earl 'Fada Earl' Samuels, former manager of the Cactus and Asylum nightclubs, to launch an event series aimed at bridging the gap between the dancehall energies of past and present. MECA Meets Cactus will be held every Tuesday night and will feature music from the '90s to the present. The first staging was on July 30, and served as a memorial of sorts for Pinky, the sister of former dancehall queen Carlene, who passed away from cancer in 2023.
Michael Dawson, CEO and principal of MECA, described the collaboration as a bid to bring about much-needed "unity between veterans and today's generation of artistes". Cactus and Asylum were, in different eras, two of Kingston's most popular nightclubs. According to Dawson, the best way to foster the kind of synergy he envisions for today's live entertainment scene was to connect with Samuels.
"We want unity in dancehall. That is the overall motive. There has been some tension over the years between the current generation of artistes and the founding fathers of music.
In my opinion, dancehall gets enough fight from outside forces, so it doesn't make sense for us in the business to fight each other, because only the haters of dancehall win in that scenario," he said. "MECA has been doing extremely well on the nightlife scene. Over the past few years, not only have we hosted some of the biggest international celebrities, but we have also staged some of the biggest weekly events the Corporate Area has seen.
So, for this latest venture, we decided that a MECA meets Cactus kind of vibe would be perfect to carry on our legacy of quality entertainment. The event series will be for those who really love and care about this genre.".
