Ninja Man, perennial concert favourite and co-performer of Shaggy’s monster hit, Church Heathen, has been added to the line-up for tonight’s Rock the World show at the One Love Jamaica Village, Knutsford Boulevard. The concert segment of the show, presented by Pulse, also features Shaggy, Beenie Man, Spragga Benz and Richie Spice.
How Lloyd “King Jammy” James changed dancehall and triggered the genre’s ’80s evolution
The 1980s was a turbulent decade in Jamaica. Government control had shifted from Michael Manley’s socialist-leaning People’s National Party to Edward Seaga’s free market–oriented Jamaican Labour Party. As Prime Minister Seaga tilted the country’s foreign policy to the right, American political and economic meddling in the region, combined with the nascent drug trade from Colombia to Miami via Jamaica, threw the island into flux.
Colin Simpson has never had a record deal, sparse crowds have heard him sing a few times and just about three persons knows he has lyrical skills, yet when he walked into Stabroek News on Monday and casually sat on a stool outside, people thought otherwise. “Is he a member of First Born?” someone asked and understandably so given that he bears a slight resemblance to one of the members of the local reggae group. But as another observer put it, he has a more conscious look and comes over as someone who is more than he appears to be.
I know the uproar that may attend the above utterance but having witnessed, for the ‘umpteenth’ time, the mediocrity that is the hallmark of our popular music scene, I feel compelled to offer my two cents. This does not purport to be a review of Wednesday night’s Rock The World show in New Kingston. That task fell to Debra Edwards. (See her review in this edition). Neither do I seek to blame the promoters (as is the first impulse in such scenarios) for what transpired on stage.
Ninja, Shaggy ignite Spring Break
The DongoRgon Ninja Man, Shaggy and Beenie Man were the artistes who ignited the eight staging of the Spring Break Show at Long Bay Beach Park in Negril on Saturday night. Close to 50 acts, including some not originally billed for the event, took the stage in the show which got under way shortly after 11 p.m. with local acts such as Accent Dougall and Mr. Groove from Hanover and continued until daybreak. But the major segment kick- started shortly after 2 a.m. with Fantan Mojah, who galloped on stage, jumping and chanting “welcome the fire child”.
Being ‘wined’ (literally) and dined in Trinidad and Tobago for 10 days is truly an experience that provides a feeling of complete and total satiety. Big observation about Trinidad – I have never seen so many people from one country consume so much unhealthy KFC. The heart disease rate must be rampant! In between observations like these and the outdoor beach parties, nightclub water parties, long leisurely lunches, great raucous dinners and antics in the ocean I caught up with the reggae legend that is Beenie Man who was taking part in the biggest soca event of the fortnight – Soca Monarch!
Dancehall star Buju Banton created the greatest moment of electricity at yesterday’s colourful opening ceremony of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 at the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium, bringing the large audience to its feet. Banton, who had previously joined Beres Hammond as part of a cavalcade of stars under the Sly & Robbie ‘Taxi Gang’ banner, soon returned with the guttural whispers that begin his number one hit Drivah, sending the audience into a frenzy.
It was truly a once in a lifetime kind of concert and a fitting start for the biggest show ever put on in the Caribbean, the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007. On a warm Jamaican evening in Trelawny, there were so many stars one could not possibly call allâ but a bit of name-dropping gives an idea of the scope of this massive show.
Some say you can’t judge a book by its cover. I think in some cases you can. Especially when you meet people like Jamaican singer Alaine, who is beautiful inside and out. When I arrived at the rehearsal studio in Corinth for my interview with Alaine, I met her signing autographs for the neighborhood kids. I stood aside and watched as one girl dissolved into tears as she embraced the Jamaican. When the girl had composed herself, it was Alaine’s turn to give the young lady the spotlight as she sang Alaine’s “This is no ordinary loveâ€.
When Shaggy’s hit song It Wasn’t Me was released in 2001, it catapulted a then amateur singer Rickardo Ducent into the mega star light. Years later Ducent a.k.a Rik Rok is back on his own steam with a new label and a new album. According to Rik Rok, contrary to the belief that he had retired from the business after his song Her Eyes, he has in fact been very busy working on his music.