Controversial reggae singer’s Ybor appearance irks gay community Of all the places embattled Jamaican reggae artist Buju Banton could have landed, Mark Bias is surprised he will be playing Friday at the Cuban Club. The venue, after all, is in Ybor City, where the GaYBOR District Coalition has grown into a powerful political and economic [...]
Keeping the fire burning When Sean Kingston takes the stage at Healy Auditorium at Natick High School on Sunday, the feeling will be familiar. “I was in a rapping and singing contest at my school in Florida, and I came in first place,’’ he says with a hint of pride evident in his voice.
‘A woman we name!’ “A woman we name, so we born lucky!” – Lady Saw. Over the last three years, 141 Jamaicans have taken their lives, 128 men and 13 women. Jamaica’s suicide level is pretty low by world standards. There were 48 in 2008, meaning a national rate of about 1.66 per 100,000, far [...]
Tosh’s popularity waning? The relevance of reggae legend Peter Tosh may be waning, as deejays usurp his online popularity and position on the charts. Peter Tosh is arguably the most important reggae star after the late Bob Marley, but while Marley dominates the charts and has an incomparable online popularity, this eludes the late artiste. [...]
The legal side of the music business The following is an excerpt of the talk show, Inside the Muzik Biz, co-hosted by Thaddeus ‘Teddy’ Laidley every Wednesday at 3:30 to 4:00 pm. The programme is aired on Hot 102 FM during The Hot Mix, with Richie B . Inside the Muzik Biz aims to offer [...]
Album Review: ‘Reggae-In-Fusion’ Heavy On Hartford There’s more to reggae than the old-school sound of Bob Marley or the newer dancehall-fusion style of quasi-rappers like Sean Paul. In fact, reggae can be a template for pop, R&B, rap and even gospel. For proof, look no further than “Reggae-in-Fusion Album #1″ (Capsicum Records), a compilation of [...]
Is Shaggy Dancehall’s ambassador? Dancehall was developed as a novelty genre. While reggae artists Bob Marley and Pete Tosh wrote about ‘One Love’ or ‘Shitstem’ respectively and ska spawned an often militant punk offshoot, it was vocal about wine, women and money. Dancehall, in its 30-year history, has eschewed these trivialities for only two subjects, [...]
Reggaefying classic rock Don’t be surprised if you start hearing reggae versions of songs by top Israeli rockers on the radio in the future. Michael Goldwasser, the mastermind behind New York-based record label Easy Star and the Easy Star All Stars, his scintillating band that has successfully reggaefied classic rock albums like Dark Side of [...]
Ska, dub bands a hit in Japan You have no way of predicting what will or won’t happen in your lifetime. But really, I had no idea of experiencing one of two recent ‘firsts’ in the context that I did, even though it’s not quite surreal or even unbelievable that I did. The first of [...]
Jawaiian in Hawaiian Call it Jawaiian or “island music” or local-style reggae. Call it what you will, musicians here have been writing and recording music with Jamaican rhythms for more than a quarter-century. Henry Kapono rocked with “Stand in the Light” in 1981. Brother Noland hit with “Coconut Girl” in 1983. After that came the [...]