K Queens debut on Gregory Isaacs’ Brand New Me Europe tour “Gregory’s tour was good. If all the shows weren’t sold out totally, the crowd was still massive. Every show was the same thing, big crowds, great performances,” the dancehall twin sisters K-Queens told Observer last Thursday. The sisters, who were touring Europe for the [...]
I spy Caribbean’s top hideout Spy thriller writer Ian Fleming chose his fictional hero’s name after reading Birds Of The West Indies by James Bond. And both 007 and the author of the wildlife book would have felt at home in the Antiguan jungle. There, 25 young ladies competing for the Homecoming Queen contest. Harnessed [...]
Celebrating Reggae The Sounds and Pressure Committee must be commended for co-ordinating yesterday’s church service to kick off the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of reggae music. The fact that it was just a handful of persons who showed up for this occasion must be lamented, but it in no way reflected the hours of [...]
Revving up for reggae On a recent Saturday night, the dance floor crowd at Basta Bar and Grill in Weymouth was a cultural and generational mosaic. Blacks and whites were represented in roughly equal numbers. People of all ages, from 20-somethings who looked barely old enough to get in the door, to silver-headed revelers who [...]
Columbia Records’ love-hate relationship with reggae When the various annals of reggae are written it will not be complete unless major labels are accorded their rightful place for how they accommodated some of reggae’s finest artistes and their love-hate relationship with the genre. Of course, the human element must be taken into consideration and for [...]
The beats go on: the rise of reggae’s sinister side The opening of The Harder They Come at the Playhouse Theatre returns us with a bang to the moment reggae entered the world. There had been one-off ska hits from Jamaica before. But the 1972 Perry Henzell film this musical is based on, and the [...]
Stacious: Shoes, Sex and Secrets In a Splash exclusive, the dancehall fire-starter talks about breaking off an engagement and why she’ll be around for a long time to come – and breaks her silence on the pesky rumours about her relationship with some guy named Mavado Stacy Scarlett, better known to fans as Stacious, is [...]
Rags to rhythms to riches: Music a way out of poverty for many The story of dancehall and reggae is often one of rags to riches for artistes of impoverished origins, singing and deejaying to make a ‘trailer load of money’. It is no surprise that people turn to music as a means out of [...]
Roger Steffens and Peter Simon’s ‘Reggae Scrapbook’ “We’re more than a beach. We’re a country.” So a Jamaica Tourist Board ad campaign stated in the 1970s, as tourism became the bread and butter of the Caribbean and Bob Marley secured international fame. Promoting the radical notion that there was – gasp! – culture in resortland [...]
Jamaican Sets World Record in 100 Meters at 9.72 The Reebok Grand Prix meet took place at Randalls Island on Saturday night, but it was a home crowd for Jamaica’s newest sprint star at 100 meters, Usain Bolt. And the 6,490 fans were greeted with a stunning performance as Bolt set a world record in [...]