Jamelody chooses reggae over soca

Trinidad is known mostly for soca music, but this is not the route along which Jamelody wanted to make his musical trod. Instead, it is reggae.
Jamelody, whose real name is Michael Williams, is from Port of Spain, Trinidad. He said he was hardly exposed to carnival and soca music.

What’s Ianspotting? Good Question
Somewhere out there is a guy named Ian who probably doesn’t know he inspired the naming of the latest of Kingston’s sterling bands.

Ianspotting is the brainchild of Shaun Weima, who also played in the popular local bands Reno’s Hitmen and Mystic Caravan.

A Hasidic State of Mind

There’s a strong push within mainstream music to categorize recording artists and stick them in a box. Case in point — take a look at New York-based reggae chanter Matisyahu, and he seems easy enough to classify. With a big religious beard, Hasidic attire, and pale skin, the fact that he […]

Beenie’s biographer places book in class context

When radio personality Empress, host of Tuesday night’s launch of the book, Who Am? The Untold Story of Beenie Man, started the official proceedings, she emphasised that “it is a Jamaican story, written by a Jamaican and published by a Jamaican company”.
And when the book’s author, Milton Wray, addressed […]

Music royalties warning at UWI

Musician and lecturer Michael ‘Ibo’ Cooper noted on Tuesday at the University of the West Indies (UWI) that in Latin ‘reggae’ means ‘of the King’.
However, the royal matters that concerned some of the panellists at the International Reggae Day Symposium were those of the directly financial kind.