Hollywood dances to a new Latin beat

Hip hop’s influence in Hollywood, which spawned a number of films from House Party in 1990 to the Eminem biopic 8 Mile, is being challenged by an upstart musical genre. Several US production companies are battling to be the first to make a film about the reggae/salsa hybrid known as reggaeton.

The staccato beats and grinding dance moves of reggaeton originated in Panama and Puerto Rico in the early Nineties but have been breaking into mainstream American culture over the past year. The Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee has scored the biggest breakthrough hit, with the infectious ‘Gasolina’

Richie Spice ready to add flavour

Reggae artiste Richie Spice arrived in Guyana on Thursday evening and will perform this evening at a Clean Heart Youth-promoted concert at the National Park. Spice is the main ingredient of the show which will also feature fellow Jamaicans Maka Diamond and dancer Ding Dong.

Hemisphere news digest: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Reggae singer Abdel Wright has been arrested and charged with illegal possession of a firearm, Jamaican police said Friday.

Londoners take reggae track to the top in Italy

Relocating from your native country to another country has its ups and its downs. As is the case with London-based duo Mattafix, they are still trying to adjust to the rigours of living in a fast-paced setting of London. Their experiences are documented in the single Big City Lights, which is spending its third week at number one on the national pop charts in Italy, ahead of songs from U2, Depeche Mode, Hilary Duff and the Pussy Cat Dolls.

Reborn in Reggae

Although she remains one of the most distinctive and soulful singers to emerge in the ’90s, in recent years Sinead O’Connor has been known as much for the controversies she’s caused (starting with her notorious Pope-bashing appearance on “Saturday Night Live” in 1992) and the confusion over her public pronouncements (among them her statements on religion and the news that she was retiring from singing) as for her music.

The Son Also Rises

The son of reggae legend Bob Marley and former Miss World Cindy Breakspeare, Damian Marley (aka Junior Gong) takes his nickname from his famous dad and also his mission: to uphold truth and rights and to forward consciousness “in this generation triumphantly,” as Bob would have said.

Nowadays, the roots reggae promoted by his dad and others has become associated with an older audience, so Marley has made it his concern to speak the truth to the youth, whether in Kingston or Kansas, with a style much more attuned to dancehall and hip-hop.

A Jewish Girl’s Reggae Odyssey

I imagine there are moments in every nice young Jewish girl’s life when she is miraculously taken out of her safe little Jewish sphere, and if only temporarily, let loose in the world, privy to the wilderness of the Diaspora and its ever-colorful, cultural quirks, made insatiably curious, inspired and hungry for “the rest of the world”…Ok, well maybe not every nice young Jewish girl.

I distinctly remember sitting on a hilltop in the Pacific Northwest surrounded by smiles and dread locks and sweat and sun, the bass from the sound system echoing in my solar plexus while small gentle breezes swept past me leaving aural trails of hemp and lavender.

Philadelphia based reggae label NAP Musiq releases the Passion rhythm project.

Reggae airwaves are currently under attack from a sweet and tantalizing rhythm called the Passion rhythm. Radio jocks from Jamaica, the US and in the Caribbean have already subscribed to this engaging beat, which is being touted as the next big thing in reggae music. NAP Musiq Productions, a Jamaica and US-based reggae outfit is responsible for the Passion project. Remember the hit We’re In Heaven by Da’Ville? Or how about the Wash Pan rhythm? Those project were released out of the Nap Musiq stables.

Reggaeton rules: Shake dat thing!

After hip-hop and reggae now it’s time for reggaeton. Wonder what it is? Did you fancy Shakira’s moves to the rhythms of ‘La Tortura’? If you did, raggaeton might just be something that you would enjoy. With origins from Panama, the style travelled to Puerto Rico and became a huge hit and then made in roads into America after catching up hugely on the Latin music scene.

Maxi feast

Widely-Regarded as the UK’s biggest reggae star, Maxi Priest, returns to Sydney next month for his 2 The Max tour.

He is perhaps best known for his hit That Girl, where he hooked up with Shaggy. But he’s worked with such greats as Soul II Soul, Beres Hammond, Roberta Flack, Lee Ritenour, Shabba Ranks and ex-Fugees star Wyclef Jean over the years.