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When Merritone Disco’s Monte Blake receives his distinguished Doctor of Letters (DLitt) from The University of the West Indies, Mona campus later this year, he will be awarded “for his pioneering work in music” and considering his trailblazing activities, that comes as no surprise.
The UWI campus is not an unfamiliar place for Monte, one of the four famous ‘Blake brothers’, as they were called, who inherited Merritone Disco from their father, Val. “We were the first sound to play on campus (at The UWI), at Taylor Hall,” Blake told The Gleaner in a 2020 interview, at which time, Merritone was celebrating 70 years in the music business.
After having played on campus numerous times throughout the decades, Monte Blake will not be carefully selecting music when he attends The UWI’s graduation ceremony in November, instead he will be carefully selecting the right words to address his audience as he gives thanks for this honour. More than likely, somewhere in his speech, he will say, as he loves to when talking about Merritone: “Things of quality have no fear of time.”
The consummate soundman is pleased to be attaining new heights and still setting trends and for him, this honour is as much about Merritone – his father, his brothers Winston, Trevor, and Tyrone, and the sound system itself – as it is about him. Winston ‘Merritone’ Blake the youngest of the four brothers passed away in February 2016, while Tyrone pre-deceased him in April 2012.
“I was pleasantly surprised when I heard that I was to be awarded an honorary doctorate. The heights of great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight,” Blake told The Gleaner, quoting poet Henry Longfellow.
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He reminded, “Merritone memories are forever.”
The sound system, which boasts of being “the oldest continuously active sound system in the world”, has picked up quite a few accolades along the way, and Blake listed some of the major ones
“In 2008, there was the Merritone Symposium; in the year 2000, Bay Mount, Merritone’s birthplace in St Thomas, was officially renamed Blake Hill by the St Thomas Municipal Council in recognition of our 50th anniversary; and Turntable Club on Red Hills Road, Merritone’s home in Kingston for decades, was declared a heritage site in 2016. In Canada, the Jamaican Canadian Centre dedicated a room in Merritone’s honour, and there’s more to come … the Merritone mural on the Artwalk is a work in progress,” the veteran musicman shared.
Kingston Creative and Merritone Music Group recently commissioned the mural on Water Lane, downtown Kingston, to celebrate 74 years of the sound system.
While Blake is continuing his “slow but steady” recovery from the effects of a 2022 stroke, Merritone plays on.
“Our DJs Craig Ross and Mikey Thompson are popular staples on Kool97 radio. They do many gigs around Jamaica, representing the brand Merritone. These two DJs will provide the music at the 2024 Merritone reunion to be held along with Fab 5 at Sea Gardens hotel in Montego Bay October 25, 26, 27.”
The Merritone story had its genesis in St Thomas in 1950 when the Blake brothers convinced their father to start the parish’s first sound system. As the company’s bio states, “ seven decades later, Merritone Music still rocks steady. It is one of Jamaica’s longest-running family-owned businesses and the only continuous sound system left from the original sound system era, i.e. Merritone Music is the last sound standing”.
The ‘Merri’ story notes that Val Blake’s interest in “Latin music, dances such as cha cha cha, waltz, and slow love songs created the foundation of Merritone Music’s distinctively identifiable formula”. Val died in 1956, leaving his sons to continue the legacy.
Winston Blake earned himself the nickname ‘Merritone’ as he “was the star”. Following his passing in 2016, Monte Blake, also extremely popular, embraced the charge to “lead and inspire the Merritone selectors”. The team included Mickey Thompson, Craig Ross, Richie Clarke, Glen Campbell, Fernando Bogle and Jeremy Scott. Monte and his daughter, Monique Blake, are the directors.
Monte is among four person who will receive honorary doctorates at The University of the West Indies, Mona, graduation ceremonies from October 31 to November 2.
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