‘A woman we name!’

“A woman we name, so we born lucky!” – Lady Saw.

Over the last three years, 141 Jamaicans have taken their lives, 128 men and 13 women. Jamaica’s suicide level is pretty low by world standards. There were 48 in 2008, meaning a national rate of about 1.66 per 100,000, far below say Lithuania’s world leading 38.6, Trinidad’s 12.8 or the United States’ 11.1. Yet while men everywhere kill themselves more often than women, our 10-1 sexual disparity is virtually unprecedented.

Tosh’s popularity waning?

The relevance of reggae legend Peter Tosh may be waning, as deejays usurp his online popularity and position on the charts.
Peter Tosh is arguably the most important reggae star after the late Bob Marley, but while Marley dominates the charts and has an incomparable online popularity, this eludes the late artiste.

The late Peter Tosh, who would have celebrated his 65th birthday last Sunday – October 18, is arguably the most important reggae star after the late Bob Marley, but while Marley dominates the charts and has an incomparable online popularity, this eludes Tosh.

Dancehall stars Vybz Kartel and Mavado have since April this year usurped Tosh in terms of Internet searches – a measure of popularity.

The legal side of the music business

The following is an excerpt of the talk show, Inside the Muzik Biz, co-hosted by Thaddeus ‘Teddy’ Laidley every Wednesday at 3:30 to 4:00 pm. The programme is aired on Hot 102 FM during The Hot Mix, with Richie B . Inside the Muzik Biz aims to offer insights into the music business for aspiring artistes and industry personnel

It’s rather ironic to see how legally aware an artiste is capable of becoming when he or she has committed, or has been accused of committing, an offence, but the instant a legal issue arises in the music industry they develop a phobia.

Album Review: ‘Reggae-In-Fusion’ Heavy On Hartford

There’s more to reggae than the old-school sound of Bob Marley or the newer dancehall-fusion style of quasi-rappers like Sean Paul.

In fact, reggae can be a template for pop, R&B, rap and even gospel. For proof, look no further than “Reggae-in-Fusion Album #1″ (Capsicum Records), a compilation of styles on 13 songs by seven different singers, six of whom live in Hartford.

Is Shaggy Dancehall’s ambassador?

Dancehall was developed as a novelty genre. While reggae artists Bob Marley and Pete Tosh wrote about ‘One Love’ or ‘Shitstem’ respectively and ska spawned an often militant punk offshoot, it was vocal about wine, women and money.

Dancehall, in its 30-year history, has eschewed these trivialities for only two subjects, which (unfortunately) are homophobia and violence. Several times in the past decade, its artists have spoken about their anti-homosexual beliefs and written lyrics that plead with listeners to assault homosexuals.

Reggaefying classic rock

Don’t be surprised if you start hearing reggae versions of songs by top Israeli rockers on the radio in the future.

Michael Goldwasser, the mastermind behind New York-based record label Easy Star and the Easy Star All Stars, his scintillating band that has successfully reggaefied classic rock albums like Dark Side of The Moon and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, has moved to Kibbutz Ein Hashofet in the North and is planning on using his musical expertise to ‘stir up’ the local music scene.

Ska, dub bands a hit in Japan

You have no way of predicting what will or won’t happen in your lifetime. But really, I had no idea of experiencing one of two recent ‘firsts’ in the context that I did, even though it’s not quite surreal or even unbelievable that I did.

The first of the firsts was seeing Mighty Crown, the Japanese sound system play. Not so out of this world. Mighty Crown has made a name for itself, and it is widely known that the Japanese are into Jamaican music. The place was a packed auditorium in Japan’s southern Fukuoka City. With the selectors’ mastery of patois, though interspersed with Japanese, and the audience’s ‘forwards’ for any given tune, only consciousness separated this from a dance in Jamaica.

Jawaiian in Hawaiian

Call it Jawaiian or “island music” or local-style reggae. Call it what you will, musicians here have been writing and recording music with Jamaican rhythms for more than a quarter-century.

Henry Kapono rocked with “Stand in the Light” in 1981. Brother Noland hit with “Coconut Girl” in 1983. After that came the deluge!

What Hawaii hasn’t seen is a local band that plays music with Jamaican rhythms and lyrics in the indigenous language of Hawaii. Tongans, Samoans, Tahitians, Fijians, Maori and the peoples of Papua New Guinea have all been playing reggae-style music in their indigenous languages, while Hawaiian reggae has remained English-only.

Dancehall dreams: The roots of reggae

The small nation of Jamaica had its social issues, and, like the very best of art’s creations, the discontent gave rise to a musical movement in the 1970s: reggae, which led to the later emergence of dancehall.

A new documentary by director Jérôme Laperrousaz, Made in Jamaica, is being shown in the UK for the first time, to coincide with Black History Month. The film, which the director Wim Wenders has hailed as “a true masterpiece”, “the ultimate reference about reggae” and “a pure gem”, portrays the rich and vibrant music scene that emerged from the misery of colonialisation and slavery faced by the inhabitants of the Caribbean island, which went on to become a groundbreaking, global musical genre.

Buju Banton’s Rasta Got Soul tour triumphs

Mark Myrie, aka Buju Banton, is no ordinary entertainer; his songs say it all. Despite the ongoing campaign against him by members of the gay community, promoters are already calling his tour the biggest-selling reggae tour of the year.

The answer to all of this is the magic in his music. Through his music, the Gargamel as he states in the title of his 2003 album makes Friends For Life with his fans, as a result of which the negative publicity from the gay community back fired in Columbus, Ohio. It was there, that due to popular demand he performed on two highly successful shows last weekend.