CARIBBEAT: At 84, Pat Chin reigns over VP Records’ wealth of reggae, soca and calypso treasures

When you factor in a history that includes at least 60 years of music, the participating in the birth of reggae music, and the building of the world’s largest independent Caribbean music label, “My Reggae Music Journey,” VP Records co-founder Pat Chin’s new memoir, is quite a trip.

From Kingston, Jamaica, to Jamaica, Queens, 84-year-old Pat Chin’s story is many stories, played out over many years — “immigrant success stories, entrepreneurship and women’s empowerment.”

In the memoir, Patricia “Miss Pat” Chin shares invaluable personal and professional wisdom — her secrets to overcoming adversity. The book also includes “quotes and remembrances from luminaries, and a host of never before seen family photos and illustrations by the late Michael Thompson and Maria Papaefstathiou, the book’s designer.

And Chin’s strong commitment to music doesn’t stop with VP Records. A percentage of the proceeds from all book sales will go toward the new Vincent and Pat Chin Foundation — which supports music education in “in the Jamaican diaspora and the Caribbean” and “preserving the history of reggae and Caribbean music.”

“My Reggae Music Journey” begins with the founding of VP Records, known worldwide for reggae, soca and calypso. It began in downtown Kingston as Randy’s Record Mart in 1958 — founded by Pat Chin and her late husband, Vincent “Randy” Chin.

“Randy’s” soon became one of the first recording studios to document the vibrant local Jamaican music scene. Their historic Studio 17 became the place to be for performers and music producers, with the Chins “starting and nurturing” the careers of Marley and the Wailers, Augustus Pablo, Toots and the Maytals, and many other soon-to-be music greats.

In the late 1970s, Randy’s Record Mart was closed and Vincent and Pat Chin founded VP Records in Jamaica, Queens — the largest world’s largest reggae record company. The firm bears the initials of their first names. The company’s music family grew to feature some of reggae’s newest stars — such as Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Lady Saw and Sean Paul — and a superb stable of soca and calypso performers.

In addition to music, VP Records has a selection of clothing and accessories — from face masks to posters, caps, bags, scarves, jewelry, electronic gear and more.

Sadly, Vincent Chin died in 2003 at 65, but Pat Chin — a grandmother and great-grandmother in her mid-80s — still goes to work every day.

In 2008, the purchase of reggae-rich Greensleeves Records solidified VP’s place in the music marketplace.

The book — due for release March 17 — can be preordered now from vpreggae.com and everywhere book are sold. For information on the Vincent and Pat Chin Foundation, visit VandPFoundation.org.

‘Unbossed’ all month

She’s been gone for 16 years, yet Shirley Chisholm is becoming more and more relevant every day. “Unbossed & Unbowed,” the one-woman show starring Ingrid Griffith, dramatically displays why the late great politician will forever be recognized.

“Unbossed & Unbowed” is available through Black History Month — streaming on-demand through Feb. 28 on Stellar.

Onstage, Griffith tells the story of Chisholm, the Brooklyn-born daughter of Caribbean parents, who became the first African-American woman to win a seat in the U.S. Congress and the first to run for the presidency.

General admission is $15 with VIP tickets available for $25. VIP admission included on-demand streaming, access to a Zoom Q&A session with Griffith, and an “Unbossed & Unbowed” wristband.

For tickets and information, visit http://bit.ly/unbossedandunbowed

‘Marketing’ the region

We take it for granted — the captivating food, music, culture and heritage of the Caribbean. But, beyond sentiment, do we ponder what is it all worth?

And the question will be explored in the “Marketing Our Identity” session presented by the Caribbean Tourism Organization on Wednesday at 10 a.m.

The hourlong Facebook discussion will examine “effective ways to package, monetize and market Caribbean culture,” with a post-COVID-19 tourism strategy in mind, according to tourist organization communication specialist Johnson JohnRose.

You can watch the session live at facebook.com/CaribbeanTourismOrganization.

Scheduled participants include Jo-anne Tull, carnival studies lecturer at the University of the West Indies; Clara Reyes director of the National Institute of Arts in St. Maarten; Marielle Barrow Maignan, coordinator of the Cultural and Creative Industries Innovative Fund of the Caribbean Development Bank, and Avery Grubb, PR and marketing director of the Greater Iberia Chamber of Commerce of New Iberia, La.

Telling Haiti’s stories

“Haiti’s Rich Heritage: The Tradition of Storytelling,” including personal reflections and traditional folklore from Haitian storyteller Dalis Jean-Baptiste, takes place Saturday from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., presented by the New York State Occupational Therapy Association.

Event tickets are $15 and include recipes for a Haitian rum punch and a nonalcoholic pineapple nog. Register at nysota.org/event/storytelling.

The event with Jean-Baptiste — who is also a Brookdale University Hospital radiology technician — will benefit the Dr. Yves Roseus Memorial Lecture & Practicum Fund.

Roseus — a New York State Occupational Therapy Association board trustee and an occupational therapist at the Brooklyn hospital — died last April after working on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis.

Haitian occupational therapist practitioners and students will benefit from the Roseus memorial fund — participating in the association’s annual conference and a “two-week practicum in a clinical or educational setting.”

To donate to the fund, visit nysota.org/donations/donate.asp?id=20293.

N.Y. film fest

It’s back, but virtual! The 28th edition of the New York African Film Festival is women-focused and features films and shorts from North America, Africa, Europe and South America.

The event will appear in the Film at Lincoln Center’s Virtual Cinema through Feb. 14 and in the Maysles Documentary Center Virtual Cinema from Feb. 18 through March 4.

One of the featured films is “Our Lady of the Nile,” set in an elite Rwandan schools for girls. It is directed by Atiq Rahimi. Another is “Black Lady Goddess Chelsea Odufu,” a satirical Afrofuturistic work in which humans have discovered that God is a Black woman.

For tickets and information, visit africanfilmny.org.