Taking reggae gospel to wintry Edmonton
SINGING D sees himself as a crusader for reggae music in chilly Edmonton, the major city of the province of Alberta in Canada.And in a city where rock and roll, heavy metal, blue grass and country and western genres cater to the taste of a pre-dominantly Caucasian citizenry, the Jamaican-born artiste is waging what could be viewed as a one-man war in spreading the reggae gospel.
Q&A: Diplo On The Joys Of Dancehall, Kanye West, Social Work, Owning A Label, And Twitter
Where do we even start with someone like Diplo? Wes Pentz is a DJ at his core, but he’s also a producer (having worked with Lil Jon, Kanye West, and most notoriously M.I.A.), the founder of left-field record label Mad Decent, and one half of dancehall production pair Major Lazer. Back in the mid-aughts, he and fellow Hollertronix cohort/Philly local Low Budget adopted an attitude of doing whatever the heck they wanted, just as long as it sounded interesting and made people dance. From their first mixtape Never Scared to their sweat-box dance parties in a small Ukranian club, the pair threw together ’80s hits, rap, Baltimore club, reggae, rock, and everything from snap to baile funk side by side.
Reggae Rising festival in jeopardy
The sun may be setting on the Reggae Rising music festival.
Eight months ago, when the Humboldt County Planning Commission denied the three-day festival a permit for August 2010 citing poor planning, event organizer Tom Dimmick pledged the annual party on the Eel River would return in 2011. Dimmick, however, has yet to contact the county to start the process of permitting the festival.
Corporate Jamaica’s embrace of dancehall artistes
Last week’s conviction of dancehall star Buju Banton on drug and gun charges, which could see him facing a minimum of 15 years in jail, tugged at the heartstrings of most of the country who had hoped that he would avoid a guilty verdict.
For some time now Corporate Jamaica has embarked on lucrative sponsorship deals with dancehall stars in order to sell their wares to the public which regards dancehall as the music of the people and the pre-eminent cultural art form, regardless of the fact that its purveyors espouse profanity, lewd sexual conduct and encourage criminal braggadocio.
Dragons’ Den has made me £30m fortune
Levi Roots came to this country unable to write his name and has served more than one jail sentence. Today he is a TV star who has been to No 10 and met Nelson Mandela – and all thanks to his grandmother’s secret recipe.
HE’S the reggae musician on a mission to put the music into food and the sunshine into cooking.
Stop the soca, chutney invaders
As judges in the Power Soca and Groovy Soca contests we are clear in our minds what we are looking for. Nothing that is calypso or remotely resembles that genre gets past us. I am not a chutney soca judge but I can guess that they too have clear guidelines. No calypso gets past the preliminary round of these two competitions.
The rules for a calypso competition state that a calypso must be no more than four verses and no fewer than three verses and a chorus.
Al Campbell is ‘Man from Studio One’
It’s been a while since singer Al Campbell graced the Jamaican stage, but he is very much active on the music circuit internationally. Japan, Italy, France, USA, Germany are among some of the countries where he has been plying his trade.
The last time Campbell performed in Jamaica was at Damali Beach at a show Jack Ruby staged before he died.
VIDEO: Kartel on his publicity stunts
Controversial deejay Vybz Kartel has admitted that many of his actions are engineered to draw attention to himself and by extension his musical career.
Speaking in reference to the bleaching of his skin, Kartel noted that “people are like sheep and I am the shepherd, they are easy to lead. So when me seh, cool dung mi face with the cake soap, it’s just more fame and more money for Vybz Kartel”.
Born in the soundsystems of Jamaica, dancehall made its way to the UK in crates. Shipped across the Atlantic, the discs came bursting out giving the Caribbean community a flavour of what was current in the mother country.
Taking seed, Britain now has a thriving – but largely un-credited – dancehall scene. Mixing Jamaican influences with some slick R&B flavours, Lady Chann has erupted out of the insular dancehall community with a series of addictive cuts.
Apache Indian to perform in Mumbai
Apache Indian feels that it’s time to reclaim his bhangramuffin fans in India.
When reggae artists in UK were speaking out against racism and how to throw a good party, Apache Indian brought the genre closer to home.
His hit Arranged Marriage engaged the Indian Diaspora first in the UK and then around the world.
