Jah Bouks’ Angola Festival set for New Year’s Eve
Published:Saturday | December 13, 2025 | 12:06 AM
Reggae star Jah Bouks is proud of the evolution of his annual Angola Festival into what is anticipated to be a major event which will unfold on December 31 at the Angola Restaurant at Old Pera in St Thomas. The event will be headlined by Capleton, Jamal, and Jah Bouks himself.
“I started the event as a party with the intention of it becoming a festival and it has become a festival. Every year, I wanted to get bigger and better. I want it to be the biggest festival in Jamaica and I know it can happen inna real life,” he said.
The festival will also feature artistes such as Stalk Ashley, Shane O, Eddy G Bomba, Moyann, Nation Boss, Short Ghad, Quick Cook, Macka Diamond, Predator, Seventeen, Bushman, Bascom X and Money Pallet. Jah Bouks has been aggressive in his promotion of his ‘Angola’ branding inspired by the enduring popularity of his Call Angola hit more than a decade ago.
“I decided that anything I am going to do pertaining business would be called Angola because it is a massive hit. I can’t put aside that name, have to keep it going, I always had it in mind to do a festival so when my idrin Short Ghad came up and say this is the year for the festival, I knew that things would take a different turn ... Angola to the world,” Jah Bouks said.
In Call Angola, Jah Bouks is adamantly opposed to those who want to “ take Mama Africa from me again”. That is why he has staked his claim to his piece of the motherland by relocating to live in Ghana, where his mother had a house. His beloved mother, Patricia Panton, better known as Mama Zyon, passed away in Ghana in September. She was 65 years old.
“We cremated her in Ghana ‘cause she loved Africa, that’s where she wanted to be buried, she never wanted to leave Africa,” he said.
Mama Zyon played an active role in promoting Jah Bouks in the early days of his career and was instrumental in pushing Call Angola to audiences in Europe, Africa and Jamaica. She was an active member of the Jamaican diaspora in Ghana.
“She would have wanted to be here to see all of this ... to see what the Angola Festival has become. That is the reason I went to Ghana. She wanted to do the Angola Festival and I went there in August to plan it ... one in Ghana and other in the Christmas season in Jamaica but unfortunately it was not to be,” Jah Bouks said.
Jah Bouks was born in Winchester, St Thomas, before relocating to live with his mother in Portmore, St Catherine in 1980. He entered the Magnum Kings and Queens contest and he rode a wave of popularity that helped to propel Call Angola into an international hit song.
“Some one even heard Angola recently and check say is a young song. Da song deh ‘bout seven years old,” Jah Bouks said in an earlier interview with The Gleaner a few years ago.
It was done as a demo and got airplay on Portmore-based radio station SunCity FM. However, his mother said “she cyaan manage di demo vibes, so make we go in the studio and get a riddim make and voice it”. And in terms of choosing an African country to sing about, Jah Bouks said he did not consciously choose Angola.
“Is like Angola jus’ beat inna me,” he said. “When me a vibes that music that was the only thing me coulda think fe call upon, as a African country. Mi not even dig no history ‘bout Angola, before mi even say me a call Angola. Suppen jus’ say somewhere inna Africa name Angola an’ a it you haffi say. Africa is the place to be, it is one of the biggest continent in the world. If you promote reggae music in Africa, you will get the outcome you want and the support. Ah Africa the ting deh ,” Jah Bouks said.