Tammy Coelho, braver with each performance Ever since she entered the Music Festival while at South East Port-of-Spain Secondary School, Tammy Coelho planned to forge a singing career and this is why she has entered the Synergy Soca Stars competition this year. The 20-year-old sang for seven years with the parang group, Voces Jovenes, until [...]

Macka honoured with full turnout Heat waves passed through cool, cool Mandeville on Saturday at Fayors Entertain-ment Centre; the occasion, Macka Diamond’s Birthnite Bash. Top entertainers turned out to honour one of the industry’s leading ladies on a night she will not likely forget. Anywhere the ladies are, Beenie Man will be there. Early in [...]

Groove train to freedom Get on the groove train at the Footscray Community Arts Centre when legendary Natty Wailer and his seven-piece blues and reggae band the Reggae Vibes perform. This Sunday, a free concert at the centre will have bodies swaying to Caribbean beats and African rhythms. The band will play a combination of [...]

Linton Kwesi Johnson Interview Lyricist Linton Kwesi Johnson was born in Jamaica but has become Britain’s most celebrated black poet. He immigrated to England as a child, part of the succeeding waves of West Indians who arrived in the UK in the last several decades. “My generation is the second generation,” he says. “I call [...]

Spectrum 2K7: a roller coaster ride For the massive crowd that turned out for Spectrum 2K7, held at the University of the West Indies (Mona) Students’ Union, last Friday evening, there were many high points, but the event was not without a few disappointing moments. The vibes really got on the way around 1 a.m [...]

Mixed bag as reggae intrudes on jazz On a night in which reggae invaded jazz’s space, the expected spark was missing as while a few acts were good, Friday night’s penultimate night of the 2007 Air Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival was lukewarm at best. While he managed to satisfy his less demanding fans, country [...]