“In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight…” South African Solomon Linda in 1939.
This pulsating chorus of an infectious song awakened the sensibilities of an unsuspecting, global audience seven decades ago, when the song topped the charts in 16 countries. Credited with informing music lovers about Africa, it was first recorded in the language of the Zulu people of South Africa as “Wimoweh”.
The musical messages now resonate with the importance of a legacy now being reflected in the death of Janie Washington, a Harlem feminist whose voice sounded louder than most “cats in the radio realm.”
This reference from a shocked co-worker softened the sadness of the death of the longtime host who ultimately lost her battle with cancer, and also echoes similar sentiments from colleagues who knew her at Inner City Broadcasting Corporation during her prime. of radio stations WBLS-FM and WLIB-JAM.
Washington’s two daughters Kim and Jordan informed yours truly that on December 6th, “our mother took her last breath.”
The disarming news almost disarmed any prospect of understanding. They looked calm, collected and cute showing their mother’s ancestral transition.
Washington would have wanted it that way. She was proud, practical, private, a direct individual without fuss.
Although difficult to process, the tragic news of my 78-year-old friend was reinforced by a reasonable tone that was applied by the spring to decipher the details of the indictable proceeding.
They explained that their beloved matriarch is no longer in pain.
Washington’s domain was radio. From Detroit to New York, her dominance of the landscape translated into a strength for ICBC, Percy Sutton’s entities, and the only black programmers of urban music and information.
Radio listeners in the Caribbean may have first encountered the VP of promotions when she worked to create A Circle of Sisters, an annual Kwanzaa bazaar at the Jacob Javits Convention Center or at a pre-Labor Day concert after the Brooklyn Museum . Some may have experienced her tenacity when as general manager of WLIB-AM she selected a winning cadre of on-air personalities, helped establish Caribbean, music playlists and finalized a music director compatible with the listening audience. Her plethora of engagements included the Caribbean Music Awards at the Apollo Theatre, multi-island storm relief and a long list of remote broadcasts.
She was a KC lawyer, a soca frontman with hair reminiscent of James Brown, Soul Brother Number One and the self-described ‘hardest working man in show business’.
Trinidad & Tobago’s “hardest working man in soca music” often performed at the behest of Washington. She often assigned KC to represent the two radio stations in the annual African American Day Parade in Harlem.
Fondly remembered by generations of music lovers who admired her incomparable rendition of Colin Lucas’ Dollar Wine, the petite administrator often enjoyed dancing to music of any genre.
When then soca icon Blue Boy implored fans to “Get Something & Wave,” Washington provided plenty of WLIB-initiated towels to soak up the sweat and wave in the air.
Haiti’s Zouk was also on her radar. She fronted Phantom, a band fronted by King Kino. She was instrumental in booking gigs at SOB’s, the Limelight Club, and helped set up their platform to parade along Brooklyn’s East Park.
And with Fritz Martial, the station’s ombudsman, she was able to spread news of the revolutionary progress of the Creole Caribbean nation.
At the inauguration of President Bertrand Aristide, Washington made a broadcast from the nation; she also accompanied police brutality victim Abner Louima to Port-au-Prince when he returned home after being hospitalized for reporting a vicious assault by members of the NYPD.
Washington’s equal opportunity approach to music diversified the listener, and when Motown Records promoted a newly signed family group called The Boys, Washington led the promotion team scheduled for Dakar, Senegal.
The entourage also consisted of rhythm and blues singer Vesta Williams. And while the cultural tie highlighted a concert in the African capital, Washington secured a tour of the Gorre Island slave dungeon that illuminated the American-dominant set of atrocities inflicted by colonialism.
In Ghana, Washington promoted jazz at a similar slave camp festival in Cape Coast. She did the same in Aruba at their Aruba Jazz festival.
Add Brazil’s carnival to a list of destinations Washington frequented in order to bridge the gap that other radio stations failed.
Washington invested in audiences whose spoken languages included French, Creole, Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, and English.
“There is no one who helped advance the Jamaican carnival more than Janie Washington,” recalled Charles Simpson.
As the inaugural producer of the island’s calypso entertainment at the Oceana Hotel, in Kingston, he lamented Washington’s death but recalled her relentless efforts to unite the Caribbean diaspora and the immigrant community.
Jennifer Joseph from Trinidad & Tobago said “Janie got bacchanal in Barbados during Crop Over”.
She was the glue that kept audiences tuned in to WLIB radio.
Most often she was accompanied by her daughters, especially the younger Jordan, an early flyer.
“We won’t grieve for Janie, she wouldn’t want that,” said Joseph, “it’s time to go, we’ll say it with Mount Gay Rum, that’s what she liked.”
I catch you from the inside!
