Those were busy days for Janine Jah9 Cunningham. The last box to be ticked on the Rototom festival “to-do-list” of the beautiful Jamaican singer and poet was the press conference -right after her amazing show on the Main Stage of Thursday night (21/08)- during which she described her impression of the Reggae gathering in the Spanish music town Benicàssim as “heart-warming”.
It all started out for Jah9 on Tuesday (19/08) when fellow Reggae artist Jamar „Chronixx“ McNaughton invited her onto the Main Stage during his vibrant show. Jah9 recalled that moment from that few nights ago with: „Wow! That was the first time that I have ever been on stage with Chronixx, I have been on stage before with Jesse [Royal], all the time, but Chronixx is just all over the world, […] but then [Chronixx] he looked at me and he is like ‘Come on!’ and I just went on and, you know, the vibration is always positive when there is unity […] and unity is what we need to exploit, and not each other!“.
And “unity” does not just remain a word that is used but something that is practised among these young people who awakened a whole movement. In style with it, I personally spot, Jah9 -incognito as Janine Cunningham- the following night in midst of the audience who came to see Wednesdays (20/08) early-morning show of the DubTonic Kru who on that night supported Micah Shemaiah and Infinite. [At this stage we need to big up DubTonic Kru who earlier that same night supported Junior Kelly, Jesse Royal on the Monday night and the night before Monday, Shugga.]
And there they were once more, DubTonic Kru supporting Jah9 in her show on Rototom’s Main Stage on the night of Thursday (21/08). Just before intoning “Preacher Man”, 
Jah9 reads from a booklet called “The Wise Mind of Emperor Haile Selassie I” that we’ve already seen accompanying her earlier that same day during the afternoons’ session “Rasta Music as Rasta livity” at the Reggae University (see picture on the right Jah9 and I-Nation).
In the subsequent press conference following her show on stage, Jah9 explains that “The Wise Mind of Emperor Haile Selassie I” is a compilation of excerpts of the speeches of His Imperial Majesty. And further explains that the words she quoted on stage were from a speech that “talks about the way we use words and our responsibility as persons to use words“. She elaborates: „It is a speech taken from a message about character“ and underlines „if your words don’t match up with your character, then […] you will not be able to speak for the voice of conscience“.
Word, Sound, Power was central to Rototom’s University session “Rasta Music as Rasta Livity” earlier that same day, in which Jah9 was a guest panel member in addition to Midnite’s lead singer Benjamin Vaughn, Reggae artist Mikey General and the Jamaican social activist I-Nation. And during which 
Vaughn Benjamin exemplified -in Vaughn Benjamin own words “for instance(d)”- the findings of his own studies, namely: “a hidden code in the English language [which] create a circle of polarity … both extremes of polarity” (see, eg. LIVE – EVIL). Our short review of that session is available here on Rototom’s website in English and here on Reggae.es in Spanish. Seeing a non-native-English-speaking crowd trying to get to grips with Benjamin Vaughn’s lesson of live-spelling the English term “live” and reversing the spelling making it “E-V-I-L-evil”, Jah9 smiled there and then, and added her own experience with Rastafari elders and said “when you ask them questions, they will answer in a similar way […]'”.
Whether in her capacity as guest panelist on the University session, as celebrity in press conference, as star of her own show, as invitee in other shows, as member of the crowd, Janine “Jah9” Cunningham certainly energised the festival with her presence.
And having not only performed songs of her debut album “New Name” but as well two of her songs of her sophomore album “Rebellion”, namely “My Own Designer” and the title track of the album “Rebellion” itself, already makes us wait to receive news from this princess!
Text and pictures: Ilona Kepic
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