For Jamaica’s leaders, Rastafari has been an important aspect of the country’s global brand. Struggling with sky-high unemployment, vast inequality, and extreme poverty (crippling debt burdens from IMF agreements haven’t helped the situation), they have relied on Brand Jamaica—the government’s explicit marketing push, beginning in the 1960s—to attract tourist dollars and foreign investment to the island. The [...]

Alerth Rockford Bedasse was central to the mento era of Jamaican music. He was the lead vocalist and chief music arranger for perhaps the most popular mento aggregation: The Chins Calypso Quintet. Along with Count Lasher, Harold Richardson and The Ticklers and Lord Flea and His Calypsonians, they were the essence of the mento upsurge [...]

AMERICAN rapper John Blake is re-establishing his Jamaican roots with his latest single One Life. The track is a collab with reggae singer Ambelique. “It is a blend of hip hop and reggae music on world issues, self-empowerment, human challenges and faith,” he said. “The single is doing well. We have started to get some [...]

I was in Kingston attending a small conclave of local filmmakers sponsored by the Jamaica Film and Television Association. After viewing five short films, each of the filmmakers got to answer questions from the media. After listening to all the chatter, I interjected with this simple question, "Does anyone remember ‘The Harder they Come’?" This [...]