How the world tuned into Jamaica

Sly and Robbie lean ostentatiously against the wall of a small studio in a dusty street. Nearby, in the middle of the road, reggae star Eek-a-Mouse smiles for the camera, wearing a trademark waistcoat-and-bow-tie get-up in red, green and gold. In Chancery Lane, a young Gregory Isaacs holds a plastic cup while someone fills it from a beer bottle. Chancery Lane, Kingston, that is. The photographs in Beth Lesser’s new coffee-table book, Dancehall: The Rise of Jamaican Dancehall Culture, depict a society so obsessed by music and so suffused with a can-do, DIY spirit that its disproportionate presence on the world stage seems inevitable.

Lesser first visited Kingston in 1981 as a wide-eyed 28-year-old Canadian reggae fan.

Mostly quiet times for Beres

He might be a reggae legend, but Beres Hammond enjoys the quiet life. Beres Hammond is a pretty low-keyed guy. In fact, up until this point, The Voice’s Davina Morris had been given the impression that the reggae veteran didn’t do interviews.

“No man,” laughed Hammond. ‘Ah lie dem a tell!’

Sean Paul At Lehman Center

Reggae fans are expected to storm the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, located at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West in the Bronx, in a bid to get tickets for Lehman’s engagement of Jamaican superstar, Grammy Award-winning Sean Paul, who is expected to appear complete with band and dancers to blow the venue off the map when the superstar delivers what is anticipated to be an explosive show on Saturday, November 8th at 8:00 p.m.

Made in Jamaica: A look at music born though turmoil

Made in Jamaica opens with the death of Kingston dancehall icon Bogle, as ministers, warlords and musicians attend his funeral, his body carried in an Escalade hearse.

“We are a great people and we will be great again,” says a eulogist. “Our music is what put Jamaica on the map. It will not come from killing each other.”

Jamaica’s bad gyal Ce’Cile showing no sign of slowing down

CE’CILE has been in the game for a very long time and with her string of ‘bad gyal’, thought-provoking and provocative tunes, she is certainly showing no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

Ce’Cile has cleverly crafted her career into what she wants it to be by pacing herself within the industry. In an exclusive interview, she told SKNVibes that one of her secrets to her longevity is by not releasing too many songs at one time, which she believes could be detrimental especially for a female artiste.