JFlying fun with Audrey She is not the typical ‘dancehall queen’ but her popularity soared with the release of the 1997 internationally successful film, Dancehall Queen, in which she played a lead role. She later starred in another popular Jamaican film, Third World Cop. Audrey Reid’s acting career began to soar when she joined the [...]
Uptowners gaining credibility Attaining street credibility for the average artiste is a lyrical battle that many labour over. In the dancehall, one’s area code can make or break an artiste, as uptown artistes, especially, may find it difficult to make it initially in the streets.
Da’Ville: Voice Of Conviction Listening to your heart while welcoming change signals the genesis of one’s evolution. Through his career in music, singer Da’Ville has willingly opened his heart and soul to new blessings and ideas, which he admits, has contributed enormously to his personal and artistic growth.
Out and Raw In this age of cameras probing everywhere and recording what was once considered private and even taboo to venture too far into public, dancehall has brought sex out into the musical open. This does not mean, of course, that sex is a new topic, any number of dancehall artistes from General Echo [...]
New Compilation CD Features ‘The Best Of’ Lucky Dube’s Music Music fans who mourned the death of reggae icon Lucky Dube in October last year should be pleased to hear his record company has released a compilation of his greatest hits. The 17-track CD is titled Lucky Dube – The Best Of. It features all [...]
Billy Ocean Inducted Into International Reggae Music Hall Of Fame Trinidad & Tobago-born, UK raised singer, Billy Ocean, was Sunday night inducted into the International Reggae & World Music Awards Hall Of Fame. The singer, whose real name is Leslie Sebastian Charles, was honored for his lengthy years of service to the music industry at [...]
Japanese make it ‘Jam’-aica Taking a musical pilgrimage each year, many Japanese nationals travel to Jamaica, the motherland of reggae and dancehall. With an almost fanatical interest in the culture Japanese visitors eat, sleep and drink in everything Jamaican.
So many dances … all at the same time What started out as a few street dances in the early 1960s and 1970s has now burgeoned into a barrage of street sessions, where revellers launch out in the early morning, and party until sunrise. These street dances which have gained some form of copyright legitimacy, [...]
Good songs, up and down Mello Vibes Shabba’s X-Rated came in the middle of a set of songs by the ‘big dutty one’. Terror Fabulous’ Position was muffled, as the top end on the recording was low. The same went for Kriss Kross’ Jump. Dollar Wine was played too fast and Colin Lucas sounded like [...]
Giving rocksteady its due He may have played some of the ‘baddest’ bass lines in Jamaican popular music a but Jackie Jackson is far from a household name. In fact, most persons know him as the husband of singer Karen Smith. Get Ready To Rocksteady, a film on the beat that preceded reggae, gives musicians [...]