‘Saving Grace’ relocates dancehall

After years of hearing about the negatives associated with dancehall music, Orville Matherson yearned for the day when foreigners would get to see the brighter side of reggae’s outrageous offspring.

He’s putting reggae’s roots on film

As Generoso Fierro haggled over some rare records, he realized he might be in over his head when the seller pulled out a machete.

But the MIT radio DJ, who was visiting Kingston, Jamaica, in February to show a documentary at the island nation’s first-ever Reggae Film Festival, kept his cool. […]

Reggae’s Steel Pulse still beating strong

David Hinds, founder of the Grammy Award winning reggae band Steel Pulse, spoke recently with The Chronicle’s Shelah Moody about the origins of one of the band’s most popular songs, “Raid I Blues.’’
After 30 years, the band is still selling out concerts around the world and are scheduled to […]

Shaggy: Reggae source

The ever-popular singer of such hits as ‘Oh Carolina’ and ‘Mr Boombastic’ stalks towards the catering portacabin and smashes a video cassette against it. He grinds the tape and plastic casing into an unbroadcastable mess, then exits the area, fuming.

In Britain, Shaggy hasn’t been big news since 2001, and his biggest hit ‘It […]

Jamaica Calling

There are all sorts of reasons a musician might disappear into the pop-culture ether, seemingly without a trace: substance abuse, a religious epiphany, a loss of inspiration, the kind of shift in musical trends or listener tastes that makes an artist seem out-of-step overnight. If you’re Claudius Linton, reggae singer, you might decide to […]