Stabroek News – The latest attempt to found a film industry

The Caribbean film and cinema industry is more than forty years old. In the beginning it was considered a proud achievement when a scene or two from a Hollywood movie was shot on location in one of the islands or in Guyana. It was a mark of arrival if one appeared in a crowd scene and the certain status of hero for any local actor who landed a bit part. Any claim of connection to or part ownership of Hollywood actors or contact with the international cinema was a source of national pride, before the enterprise to create original local films began to emerge.

Jamaica’s claim to fame was that Errol Flynn had a home in Port Antonio and Harry Belafonte had parentage connections and could be claimed by Jamaica.

Usher coming for Reggae Sumfest

Multi-talented American R&B singer, Usher, has been confirmed as one of the acts who will perform at this year’s staging of “the greatest reggae festival on earth” Reggae Sumfest.

At the long-awaited launch on Friday night at Sportsmax Zone in New Kingston, the promoters, Summerfest Productions, announced the artiste line-up via a slick video presentation and the event poster, which featured prominently on a screen.

Hasidic New York Reggae in The Park

There once was a time when Matisyahu seemed cool. The weed-smoking hippie turned Hasidic rapper blended worlds that seemed destined never to meet and created danceable music that was unique to the American mainstream.

That was in 2006. Now that he’s been exposed as little more than a gimmick — “Have you heard of the Jewish reggae star?” — Matisyahu is coming to Moscow, the city that loves nothing more than a good has-been.

De Lions of Jah bring reggae style to community plaza [North Florida]

To round out the month-long celebration of National Black Music Month, De Lions of Jah will perform at the Bo Diddley Community Plaza in Friday’s installment of the Let’s Go Downtown Free Fridays concert series. The plaza has already seen groups like Little Jake & The Soul Searchers, a rip-roaring ’60s-style R&B revue complete with a full horn section and organ player; 3rd Stone, a complex, rock-influenced Afro-beat ensemble; and Hartley and the Collective Format Band, a neo-soul and jazz group.

Vybz Kartel puts Clarks footprint on Jamaica

Back in the spring, the Jamaican dancehall artist Vybz Kartel released a single paying tribute to his favourite consumer goods. He was, he says, recognising a great Jamaican tradition. The song was a huge hit on the island, and stores across Jamaica reported selling out of the very thing Vybz Kartel was hymning. The big surprise, though – to English high-street shoppers at least – was the subject of the song: not Cristal champagne, or diamonds from De Beers, but a pair of shoes, made by a 185-year-old family-owned company based in the town of Street in Somerset. Vybz Kartel’s single was called Clarks, and its cover carried pictures of his favourite Clarks shoes – the Wallabees, Desert Boots and Desert Trek shoes of the Original “heritage” range – of which he claims to have more than 50 pairs.

Flexxing with Russian

“Russian, clean out yuh closet, deposit the clark’s dem we love it, ahoe…”

These are the words of dancehall artiste Vybz Kartel as he croons over the Clark’s Again beats created by young producer Tarik Johnston, who we have come to know as Russian.

From Rasta to Gospel, Mowatt has thrilled

The sounds of gospel icons will bless fathers countrywide when Judy Mowatt, belts out those sounds that men worldwide have come to fall in love with. The event, A Blessing for Fathers; the venue, the King’s House West Lawn; the cost, well worth it.

The gospel music Mowatt belts out today wasn’t always what she preached though.

Jamaica music lyrics — trigger of violence?

Blood flowing like waterfalls. Brains floating like feathers out of a torn pillow. Women submitting to the whims of neighborhood “dons.”

The images are typical of dancehall, a popular Jamaican music style that has sparked a furious debate over whether it merely reflects an increasingly violent society or somehow contributes to the mayhem.

Remembering good-old Reggae Sunsplash days

Remember those summers when packing just about everything in sight and heading to Montego Bay for Reggae Sunsplash was cool? Java Immanuel-I certainly does, and he revisits them in his book, Reggae Sunsplash 1978-1998, which will be released today at the Ashanti Restaurant in St Andrew.

Feel the Beat in the Heat

Cross summer desert heat with cool island beats and so is born …

Lots and lots of happy feet.

“I like seeing people grab their friend and run onto a dance floor — that doesn’t happen when you go to a rock show,” says Chris Parkhurst, keyboardist for Hawaiian-flavored, Las Vegas-based reggae group HaleAmanO, one of numerous acts booked for Saturday’s eight-hour, ninth annual Reggae in the Desert festival.

“You think of Las Vegas as this high-paced nightlife, but there are still people who don’t want to go out and hear 180 beats per minute, like at the clubs. There are people who want to enjoy their time and their friends and their drinks.”