Jammin’ in the homeland of reggae star Bob Marley It’s not that Bob Marley invented reggae, but more than 30 years ago he brought the mystic island beat of Jamaica to the world and we, being impressionable teens, bought the albums. We nodded along to the soul of the songs of repression and redemption as [...]
Low prices for high season in the islands Maybe you’ve always wanted to visit the Caribbean in high season, when its harbors are filled with plump yachts, its restaurants are humming with elegant diners and its resorts are aswarm with wealthy families finding refuge from winter’s chill. Trouble is, winter vacations in the Caribbean are [...]
Ziggy learns from ‘Family Time’ In the process of recording a subsequent Grammy-wining album, Ziggy Marley experienced a renaissance of sorts in his storied career which started in the mid-1980s as the leader of the sibling group, Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. Marley’s latest solo album, Family Time, earned him his fifth Grammy last [...]
Tobagonian makes soca debut Grenada’s reigning Soca Monarch and Road March King, Mr Killa (Hollice Mapp) is in the finals of next week’s Bmobile Blackberry International Soca Monarch competition. On Fantastic Friday at the Queen’s Park Oval, Mr Killa will perform “Swing It Away”, a song which took Grenada by storm last year. The soca [...]
Hip Hop’s Damon Dash makes the Judgement Yard sojourn It was early last week that Sizzla Kalonji received the call that hip hop mogul Damon Dash was in the island and needed to make that link. “Naturally, I opened up my house to him,” the Rastafarian artiste told Splash, in reference to his August Town-based [...]
Review: The Biggest Ragga Dancehall Anthems 2009 The best thing about the yearly Biggest Ragga Dancehall Anthems compilations– whose title provides you with all the backstory you need on this venerable series collecting 12 months of gems from Jamaica’s premier pop genre– is that they’re consistent enough to act as comforting listening but restlessly inventive [...]
Gateways to Geekery: Dub Though it isn’t precisely the first kind of music that involves what we now refer to as the remix, dub was arguably the first popular and influential art form to be predicated on creating entirely new music from already-existing recorded elements. Starting in the mid-’60s, Jamaican DJs began rocking dancehalls by [...]
Orlando Octave taking it higher In 2008, he gave women of a darker hue a reason to smile. Darkie, an infectious reggae tune, sang the praises of women blessed with richer skin tones. It was a major hit and catapulted Orlando Octave, aka D Original Rudeboy, into the local spotlight. In 2009, he followed up [...]
KARMA: Taking chutney soca high Affectionately called the prince of chutney, lead male vocalist of crossover band Karma, Ravi B is making waves for Carnival 2010 with his infectious song Drinka. Following hot on the heels of last year’s popular chutney Dularie Nanny which earned him second place in the National Chutney Soca Monarch, and [...]
Audrey Reid back to her roots “One more dictionary! Unu see how me haffi buy one more dictionary fi me son? I don’t know why him caan stop lose tings!” This is the greeting from Audrey Reid, dictionary in hand, as she hurriedly alights her SUV, in an attempt to make up for lost time. [...]