During the Jamaican Prime Minister’s visit to the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese military band played a rendition of Koffee’s mega-hit song ‘Toast’.
Prime Minister Hon. Andrew Holness expressed his gratitude after the performance at an event held in honor of the Jamaican trade mission delegation in Beijing.
“It gave me such joy to hear Toast by Koffee played for the Jamaican delegation by the Chinese military band in Beijing. This shows the powerful and far reaching impact of our music and culture,†he mentioned on his instagram post.
You have to hand it to Koffee for making such a deep song that has found its way to the hierarchy of Chinese politics. I don’t know if Koffee had imagined that her song would become so big, but I suspect she is smiling all the way to the bank.
Toast also found its way on former United States President, Barack Obama’s 2019 Summer Playlist, which is testament of the global impact of the track.
No one can doubt now that Koffee is the poster representative for Jamaican reggae. Koffee also had big success with other tracks on her debut album including, Blazin, Raggamuffin, Throne and album title track Rapture.
Onward and upwards for the young talent. The world awaits her second crack at a studio album. Hopefully we will not have to wait too long.
Jamaican nationals are now debating whether the gesture had negative motives, but on the surface there is nothing to it but a friendly gesture. Chinese people are known to thrive all over the world and its no coincidence that most of the world is financially indebted to the Chinese in some form. However, when it comes to concerns of the Chinese stealing or benefiting from the Jamaican culture, there really is no need to fret.
Thumbs up to you Koffee.