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 […]

Sweet Seventeen
When Packy Malley, promoter of the Mid-West Reggae Fest, says, “The bottom line is, it has to be profitable,” he’s only telling half the story. The other half is that while Malley is a businessman who also works in his family business, Malley’s Chocolates, he’s one of the area’s most avid reggae enthusiasts, and […]

White reggae hits Jamaica - Mail & Guardian Online: The smart news source

For a small place, Jamaica exerts a big influence. It covers an area of less than 11,000kms, with fewer than three million inhabitants. But ask anyone with even a passing interest in music to name its principal export and you’ll get the same […]

Adrian Clarke: No stranger to Jamaica

The newly crowned King of Calypso Monarch Adrian Clarke says he is no stranger to Jamaica, despite the fact that he has only visited the island once for a performance at the University Campus.

“But I have a lot of Jamaican friends - a lot of Jamaican friends!” he said. “One […]

Ava Leigh: the girl who fell for Lover’s Rock

From Eric Clapton to 10cc, pop is littered with white guys trying to “do” reggae, with very mixed results.

But now a 22-year-old woman from Chester is trying to change that. Ava Leigh has a powerful voice like retro-soul divas Duffy and Adele – but she sets it […]