Colin Smith is the founder and director of The Tallawah Mento Band, and past president of the Louise Bennett Coverley Heritage Council. He hails from St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, and has been a longtime resident of South Florida where he started the Tallawah Mento Band in 2003. Last year on Heroes’ Day, he was awarded the National Badge of Honor for Meritorious Service for the Preservation of Jamaican Folk Culture and Indigenous Music by the Jamaican Government. This is one of many other awards and recognitions that he and the Tallawah Mento Band have received throughout their 20 years of entertainment to our community.