Bacchanal moves closer to climax Over the next several weeks the organisers of Bacchanal Jamaica say they will be ‘kicking it up a notch’ as the climactic Carnival Road Parade 2K6 nears. There are only two more Mas Camp Fridays left and the acts that are lined up are as lively as last week’s performance [...]
Understanding Caribbean Music You hear it frequently these days: “What’s happening to Caribbean music? Where is calypso? Where did we get these strange songs with no melody and just boom, boom?†The short answer is that it’s not strange at all. Change is always the norm in popular music; thirty years ago, Lord Shorty, propelling [...]
‘Where the music gone?’ Some veteran musicians within the local music fraternity are concerned that the formidable and often ubiquitous sound of contemporary Jamaican music is, for the most part, less musical than its predecessors. They say the “music is missing”. Accomplished musician, Ken Lazarus says that, while he is averse to judging the modern [...]
Reggae Artist Slinky Sharp Passes In Car Accident Rising reggae artist and producer Slinky Sharp has died in a tragic car accident in North Carolina. While the details of the accident are not exactly clear, the report is that Slinky Sharp was a passenger in the car that crashed while on their way home from [...]
The ‘Joseph Coat’ Effect: February A Banner Month for Jamaican Musicians Needless to say, greatness in music, Jamaican or otherwise, is not simply a matter of birthdate. We have great entertainers born in every month, as is the case with other professions. But we may be forgiven (with apologies to all the others) for highlighting [...]
Music boss guilty of drug trafficking Reggaemusic executive Horatio Hamilton had been found guilty of conspiring to traffic in more than a ton of marijuana a week for seven years, US federal court officials said. Hamilton, president of L.O.Y. (Lords of Yard) Inc, a production company specialising in reggae which participated in reggae hit Chi [...]
Bhutooism: Our new ideology The new Jamaica that we were told about before and after Independence is dying. It is being gormandised by the shoots of ‘bhutooism’ that seek to destroy all that our ancestors toiled and sacrificed for. The new Jamaica was going to be an example to the world of how all classes [...]
Irie-FM ‘cleans up’ Reggae format radio station Irie-FM has announced that come January 1, it will not be playing any music that contains, bleeps and/or edits. In a release from the station Andrea Williams Green, programmes director of Irie-FM stated, “Irie-FM is committed to cleaning up the airwaves and this is one step in that [...]
In Jamaica, Gay Rights Now an Issue Worth Debating A call by Deputy Education Minister Donald Rhodd to discuss the possible repeal of Victorian-era laws criminalizing homosexuality has provoked predictable outrage among conservative Jamaicans. But gays here see the chance for debate as a glimmer of hope that they may one day be able to [...]
Jamaican music industry loses US$ millions through intellectual property piracy The Jamaican music industry, the world’s leading exporter of reggae music, is losing millions of dollars through intellectual property (IP) piracy and it is revenue that the country can ill afford to lose as it continues to develop its economy. So said one of the [...]