Camillo Gonsalves making his own mark

In the field of law the father is a veteran. And following in his father’s footsteps, Camillo Gonsalves is pursuing a career in law.

There are more similarities. The father for a number of years wrote extensively in newspapers both locally and regionally. The son, who holds a first degree in journalism, has also worked for a number of years as a journalist.{{more}}

The 31-year-old Camillo Gonsalves’ gait and husky voice are mirror images of his father, who happens to be Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves.

The Jamaica Gleaner recently dedicated a feature to this young man, from which we offer some excerpts below:

Camillo, born to a Jamaican mother, attended the Priory and Wolmer’s Boys High Schools in Jamaica and the St. Vincent Grammar School, before migrating to the United States where he attended Temple University in Philadelphia, and the George Washington University Law School. Qualified to practice in the United States as an attorney, Camillo now attends the Norman Manley Law School at the Mona Campus, University of the West Indies, which will qualify him to practice in the Caribbean.

However, this independent young man is intent on creating a persona of his own. The Gleaner describes him thus: “Known outside of the courtroom as Milo, he uses precious spare time to run a website and magazine dedicated to dancehall music as the publisher of Reggaematic, a glossy dossier of the fast-paced happenings inside the world of dancehall music.”

Again The Gleaner writes that “as the name suggests, the magazine reels out rapid-fire features, music reviews, artiste profiles and dancehall history lessons, among other dancehall-related items. Its distribution has moved from mainly in the United States to sections of Europe and Asia.

“It is brutally honest. At times it unrepentantly blasts weak albums and lashes the stage shows which fall below par, yet it delivers with a sense of humour which only mature dancehall pundits can understand. A licensed attorney who hovers over dancehall like a possessed fan places Milo into a rare group.

“Moving out of the norm of those who ply his profession, Milo sees dancehall as more than mere entertainment. He considers it a serious art form with its own rules, behaviour code, identity and direction.

“I fell in love with dancehall from very early. When I was too young to go out I listened to the cassettes and studied the music,” he recalls. “I listened to the lyrics and took them to school to deejay them, so the love affair started even before I left Jamaica.”

“In the US the class barriers associated with dancehall music are stripped away, so the music becomes a Caribbean thing and not a class thing as in Jamaica.

“In the US, dancehall is novel. Beenie Man at a show in the US is an event and not a regular thing as in Jamaica, so people appreciate it much more,” Gonsalves said. Working in what is considered an elitist profession, Milo considers himself an understudy of dancehall music and claims that the genre is worthy of greater support, study and attention. He kicked off his website as a university student in the

early 1990s and watched it grow in support until the magazine was launched earlier this year.

Reggaematic operates in an environment saturated with dancehall/reggae websites and magazines, yet Milo expresses joy at the obvious competition.

“I am very happy that there is all this coverage right now. I never approached my magazine as something that is to dominate the field or to crush the competition,” he states.”

Camillo – another Caribbean product making his mark on the landscape.