Patriotism strong at ‘Welcome To Jamrock’

When ‘The Gargamel’ Buju Banton gutturally crooned Our Father on the rhythm to Murderer at Cinema 2, New Kingston, on Saturday night, he was accompanied by his back-up singers plus thousands of ‘Gargalites’.

Stone Love, with Geefus and Iceberg at the controls, delivered songs as diverse as Baby Cham’s Ghetto Story and Bob Marley’s Natural Mystic during the band breaks.

Reid to rise in the east

It has been quite a while since Junior ‘One Blood’ Reid has performed on a major show in Jamaica. However, Reid says this is not intentional, as show promoters have been giving him a ‘fight’, as in treating him unfairly.

“A long time Junior Reid nuh work nuh real show inna Kingston, couple years well now, and most a di shows weh gwaan its sponsors are record labels an tru me have my independent ting, is like dem a try fi gi mi a fight an hold mi down. Dem a try fi keep mi off a di show dem fi keep down mi label, but a good ova evil. Di harder di battle, di sweeter di victory.” Reid said.

Publishers try to even score

Jamaica’s music has long suffered from the lack of music scores. And the deficiency is even more striking when the much larger number of books which chronicle the development of Jamaican music is taken into consideration.

A score is a copy of a musical composition in proper music notation so that it can be read, and hence played, by singers and musicians anywhere. This would have great significance for Jamaica, as although reggae and dancehall have made great strides worldwide they would become still more accessible, marketable and hence profitable.

Baddis rhythm still hot the second time around

It was eight years ago that producer Richard ‘Shams’ Browne, who was an in-house studio engineer at Main Street Records, scored big with the Baddis rhythm on his Hi-Profile label. The Baddis raced up the charts with multiple hits including Mr Vegas’ Jacket, Beenie Man’s Number One, Bag a Tings by General Degree, Freaky Type by Tanya Stephens, and Hardcore Lover by TOK featuring Lady Saw.

The reputed rebel of reggaeton

Even with rumors of a career decline, Tego Calderon is keeping up his bad-boy reputation.

Puerto Rico’s Tego Calderon appeared to be doing his best last week during a tour swing through Southern California to live up to his reputation as the rebellious rapper of reggaeton. He did so by snubbing the press — as if he didn’t care in the least about participating in publicity efforts or even in countering speculation that a three-year lapse since his latest album of new material signals a career in decline.

De La Soul brings the house down

M did it again: Two years ago she got up on stage at a De La Soul show in Switzerland; last week she was pulled out of the crowd once again (along with 25 other girls) at the show’s climax – the favorite songs: “Baby Phat” and “Shopping Bags”. De La Soul know how to respect the women, unlike Lee “Scratch” Perry and the gibberish he spewed four years ago regarding “the beautiful sex” at his first concert in Israel. But before we get to the end of the show that left me up on cloud nine – let’s go back two hours in time.

An Irish Singer Performs a Show of Classic Reggae

For a woman who tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II on live television, Sinead O’Connor is downright devout. Her faith now is Rastafarianism, the Jamaican creed that brought righteousness to reggae.

Ms. O’Connor’s latest album, “Throw Down Your Arms” (That’s Why There’s Chocolate and Vanilla), is a collection of songs by reggae patriarchs like Burning Spear, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, the Abyssinians and Lee Perry. Like a convert making a pilgrimage, she recorded the album in Kingston, Jamaica, with the eminent reggae producers Sly and Robbie: Sly Dunbar on drums and Robbie Shakespeare on bass.

Religion and reggae: A new star mixes it up

It is a puzzling mix for a reggae concert crowd: alongside teenagers in rainbow-striped sweaters, baggy jeans, dreadlocks and Birkenstocks are young women dressed in modest long skirts and head scarves, and men in the black suits and black velvet kippahs that signify followers of ultra-Orthodox Judaism.

Your ordinary concert this is not. But then, this is not your ordinary Bob Marley wannabe.

UB loving New Zealand

They have been arguably the biggest reggae band on the planet for the past 25 years – now they are coming to Rotorua. The Daily Post’s MIKE MATHER chatted to Astro from UB40 about longevity, performing and his impressions of New Zealand.

Does New Zealand have a UB40 capital?

Roots reggae holds on

The appetite for reggae music in its original form, both locally and internationally, may be dwindling, as the craze of dancehall, an offspring of reggae has been on the fast track for some time now and is breaking new barriers internationally.

The current generation of Jamaican young persons has seemingly replaced the genre that gave birth to dancehall with the relatively young upstart. And while reggae music still enjoys respect, it may have failed to attract young persons on a large scale.