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Reggae Month Newz & Views
Stan
Evan Smith
Macka Diamond @ Irie
Jamboree
DJ Macka Diamond
made her first tour of Trinidad and
Tobago with Machel Montano and his band. She added her
lyrical twists on a remix of soca princess Patrice Roberts
smash hit #1 single Wukkin Up which charted in
Trinidad, Barbados and Canada; Diamond then collaborated
w/ reggae legend Toots Hibbert of the Maytals on
the single No Badda Me.
Cherine Anderson
began 08 w/ Sly & Robbie reggae remix on Britney Spear's
Piece of Me. She also released a mixtape ‘Street Anthems’
featuring Stone Love, Wyclef, Spears and David Rodigan.
Dancehall film Bashment which was shot in
Brooklyn, New York, producers begun working The
Roaming Lion staring Louie Ranking and Mykal Fax,
who starred in Bashment. Sizzla is never far from
controversy may have put a dent in the future of his
international career after having being convicted on a
drug-related charge. Jovi Rockwell signed with Compound
Entertainment, the company which manages R&B singer Ne Yo.
Tami Chynn had hip hop artiste Akon produced some
tracks on her album.
February: Officially Reggae
Month.
Jamaica
Prime Minister Bruce
Golding designated
February as
Reggae
Month. The month
celebrations will coincide with commemorating the 63rd
birthday of reggae legend Bob Marley.
The official inaugural
ceremony was held at Kings
House officiated by the Governor General Sir Kenneth Hall.
Prime Minister Golding promised that next
year, the 50th anniversary of the birth of reggae will be a
grand year.
February was chosen, as Reggae Month partly because it coincides
with the birth of Bob Marley, the king of reggae and
Dennis Brown,
the
crown prince of reggae. In addition February is
Black History month and when the Grammy award for 'Best
Reggae s Album, taken this year by Stephen Marley for his
cd Mind Control, is given.
 Bob
Marley @ Essex House NYC Photo Anthony Mills
There were
a wide range of
activities in celebratation of February
as Reggae
Month. First observation of Reggae Month began
February 1 with a broadcast from the Bob Marley Museum by Irie
FM, the official radio station for the month-long celebration.
There was several music award shows including; Gleaner-sponsored
Youth View Awards hosted by American actress Essence
Atkins,
is designed to highlight
positive role models, Radio Jock Ritchie B’ Excellence
in Music and Entertainment Awards (EME)
(Feb 7th) based industry charts and public
response, the Live in-Studio
Irie FM Awards (Feb 13) and the
first Recording Industry Association of Jamaica Limited (RIA
Jam) music award, The Reggae Academy Awards, (Feb
24) a peer review process where the creative
excellence of top reggae artists is honored, not record sale, by
the music professionals of the Reggae Academy.
Bob Marley
won his first Grammy when
he was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.
Oscar winning director Martin Scorcese is set direct a
documentary on Bob Marley's life story. It is
schedule to be released on February 6, 2010 to coincide with
Marley's 65th birthday. Adidas brand is set to unleash a
global campaign that includes reggae music and the Marley. This
is Adidas’ first campaign promoting its originals lifestyle
range including
Marley Jacket
and the Pro Model Tuff
Gong Adidas Shoes,' but there is also the
'Pro Model Kingston'
(shoes) and the
Kingston Zip Jacket.
The Bob Marley/Rita Marley
Foundation took the global initiative, Smile
Jamaica-Africa Unite concert to Jamaica for the first
time. It was held at James Bond Beach in St. Mary on Feb 23
which featured John Legend, Bunny
Wailer, Black Uhuru,
Queen Ifrica, Tarrus Riley, Sizzla, Capleton, Spragga
Benz, Lutan Fyah, Richie Spice, Elephant Man, Javaughn,
the Marley boys and Rihanna. In California there were
other
tribute concerts to
Bob
Marley;
the
Annual Ragga Muffins
Festival,
held at the
in
Long Beach
Arena and the
Annual Tribute to the
Reggae Legends held in the
San Diego Sports
Arena.
 Ziggy
Marley - Other events included the Bob Marley
photographic exhibition and the Africa Unite-Smile Jamaica Youth
Symposium titled "Education for Liberation" at Liberty Hall the
home of the Marcus Garvey Museum. There were also lectures at
the Undercroft, UWI by several noted speakers like Dr Donna
Hope’ "The Full Has Never Been Told: Exploring Dancehall's Moral
Conscience", with by also the Book of Exodus: The Making and
Meaning of Bob Marley and the Wailers' Album of the Century by
Vivien Goldman was launched. Then there was Caribbean debut of
award winning filmmaker Stephanie Black’s, feature documentary
of the 2005 musical celebration of Reggae legend Bob Marley's
60th birthday in Ethiopia AFRICA UNITE.
The
film featured national and international artistes
Rita Marley, Danny Glover, Angelique Kidjo, Lauryn Hill, Bob
Andy and the Marley children. AFRICA UNITE
also premiered at
Marcus Garvey Holistic Center in Brooklyn
in NYC and Club
Zanzibar in Washington DC.
Lady Saw: Best
Female Dancehall Artiste of the Year
@ (YVA)
The inaugural Reggae Film
Festival, (Feb 20- 22) opened with three films at
Emancipation Park. There was documentary about one of
Jamaica's legendary trombonist; titled "The
Legacy of Rico Rodriquez," from director
Jep Jorba of Spain, the Ed Herzog
directed German feature film "Almost Heaven," which featured a
number of Jamaican actors, including Carl Bradshaw and Oliver
Samuels and Wayne ‘Native’ Jobson-produced
docu-bioflick “Stepping Razor” Red X on reggae
icon Peter Tosh. The Reggae Film Festival
is expected to be the foundation activity of the Jamaica Film
Academy that will archive films for research, screening and
education. The event focused on film as an aspect of Jamaican
music culture and screened approximately 30 films, documentaries
and music videos celebrating Jamaica's musical idiom. Boxer
Lennox Lewis, who starred in the UK thriller
Johnny Was, (shown at the festival), attended the festival.
The Global Reggae Conference,
(Feb 18- 24) organized by the Reggae Studies Unit of
University of the West Indies attracted researchers,
writers and speakers from Australia, Africa, North America,
Latin America, Europe, Japan, the Pacific and the United Kingdom
the local community. Also, there were nation wide activities
organized by RIA-Jam that included a road tour, in the
form of public information sessions packaged with entertainment
and featuring music industry celebrities and business
executives, to locations around the island – St. Thomas, Ocho
Rios, Montego Bay, Savanna-la-mar, Clarendon and Kingston.
The Youth View Awards:
Lady Saw copping Favorite Female Dancehall Artiste,
Vbyz Kartel won Male Dancehall Artist, Brick
and Lace, copped Favorite Duo, w/ hit tune ‘Young
Hot’ and Hype Female of the Year. Sean-Paul
snagged Favorite Local International Artiste. Male
Artiste of the Year went to Beenie Man,
while Tessanne Chyn
got Female Artiste of the Year
award.
Bar-Bee- Best New
Female
Artiste (EME)
Excellence in Music and
Entertainment Awards
(EME) winners: Beenie Man:
Deejay of the Year
and Song of the Year
(Dancehall), he shared the honours w/ Bar-Bee for
Best Collaboration of the Year for ‘Give It up To Me’
as she won Best New Artiste (Female). Singer
Tarrus Riley copped a double w/ Vocalist of the Year
and Song of the Year (She's Royal) while Lutan
Fyah took Cultural Artiste of the Year. Mavado
got Recording Artiste of the Year and Album of the
Year. Queen Ifrica: Female Deejay/Singjay.
Busy Signal: (Reggae/Dancehall) Songwriter/Lyricist of
the Year. Beres Hammond: Reggae Role Model of the
Year.
Buju Banton won Album
of the Year for or Too Bad.
Etana
Female Singer of
the Year@ (EME) (IFMMA)
IRIE
FM Music Awards: Junior
Reid: Come Back Artiste of the Year, Reggae Ambassador of
the Year and Best Collaboration of the Year, w/
Mims and Baby Cham. This Is Why I'm Hot
(Remix). Beenie Man:
Listeners' Choice Award, Best Dressed Male of the Year, The
Male Deejay for the Year, Tarrus Riley: Male
Singer for the Year, and Song of the Year (She's
Royal). Queen Ifrika: Female Deejay of the Year.
Etana: Female Singer of the Year. Munga
Honorable: New Artiste of the Year.
Mavado: Male
Singjay of the Year and Album of the Year for Gangster
for Life: The Symphony of David Brooks. Voice Mail:
Duo/Group/Band of the Year: Don Corleon:
Producer of the Year. Arif Cooper: Rhythm of the
Year, Guardian Angel.
 Queen
Ifrica: Female DJ/
Singjay of the Year @
EME & Irie FM Award.
Queen Ifrica
continued her 07 run into 08 w/ her second #1 hit Daddy Don't
Touch Me There (she reportedly was banned from doing the
song at Rebel Salute) on the New York Reggae chart,
Below the Waist was her first #1 last year.
February
also saw VP Records Ltd
purchasing major European reggae distributor Greensleeves
Records & Publishing from Zest Group plc for a reported £3.1
million.
Legendary Reggae producer
Joel 'Joe Gibbs' Gibson died of heart attack at University
Hospital of the West Indies from a heart attack at age 65. His
association with the late Crown Prince of Reggae,
Dennis Brown yielded a string of hit songs including Browns’
international hit
"Money In My Pocket" died in February.
Gibbs renowned for other international hit tunes like
‘Uptown Top Rankin’ by Althea and Donna, “Two
Sevens Clash” by Culture,
"Love of the Common People",
Nicky Thomas (#9 UK Singles Chart in 1970)
and J.C. Lodge's
"Someone Loves You Honey".
He was sued by country singer the songs writer Charley
Pride, unable to pay the
settlement Gibbs was forced out of the music business.
With his ‘African Dub’ 4-part series launched in 1972Gibbs he
helped revolutionized the “dub” sound into an international
phenomenon beyond Jamaica and England.
Minister of
Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Olivia 'Babsy' Grange
called Gibbs a visionary, responsible for a significant number
of reggae hit songs from the 1970's through to the 90's, worked
with just about every notable reggae artiste of that era,
including Dennis Brown, Black Uhuru, Big Youth, The Mighty
Diamonds, Gregory Isaacs, Barrington Levy and Beres
Hammond. .
Barbados Music Awards;
Bajan reggae singer David Kirton won Reggae Artiste of
the Year; his new single Green Camouflage won
Reggae Song of Year and Best Male Video.
 In
February
several reggae artists
including Busy Signal, Sean Paul, Macka Diamond, D'Angel,
Voicemail, Daville and Assassin visited schools in
Jamaica on the Education Is No Joke
school tour.
Sean Paul
addresses students at Wolmers High School
Reggae Queen Marcia Griffiths
began 2008 topping South Florida Reggae chart w/ her hit
single I Told You, this is her first #1 in five years.
Griffiths also had of being nominated along with two-time
Academy award winning actor Denzel Washington and eight
distinguished individuals for the illustrious African
Goodwill Award for their humanitarian efforts on the
continent of Africa or the Caribbean Diaspora.
Tanya Mullings@ Da’Ville
Music
Is My Life’ garnered three nomination for Canadian reggae song
bird Tanya Mullings; Top Reggae Singer Top, Reggae CD
/Album. she shared Top Reggae Producer w her
late father Karl Mullings. Mullings also
received the Respect Due Award from Luther
Browns Caribbean Crucible, the longest running Reggae Radio
Show in Canada on 105.5FM Feb. 5th, 2008. She was featured in
"Heart Beat" Music Is My Life on Bravo TV.
When predicted in my year in
review (Jamaicans.com) that Singer Tarrus Riley was sure
the favorite as male vocalist and breakout artist of 20007, I
couldn’t have imagined that at three different Music award show
in Jamaica for the month of February he would copped eight
Awards and be responsible for two more. A grand total of ten
awards attached to his name. At the Excellence in Music and
Entertainment Awards (EME) Tarrus Riley won
Vocalist of the Year and Song of the Year (She's
Royal) the IRIE FM Music Awards, he won Male
Singer for the Year, and Song of the Year (She's
Royal) and at the inaugural Reggae Music Academy
Awards, the biggest and possibly most important on Feb 24
Riley took a clean sweep of all of the four categories he was
nominated in; "She's Royal", for Best Reggae Song,
Best Solo Male Vocal Performance, Best Reggae Recording,
and Breakthrough Reggae Artist of the year. She’s Royal
has become so universal that Brazilian singer Soraia,
recorded a Portuguese version of
the song.
.jpg) Tarrus
Riley- Vocalist of the Year and Song of the Year
Reggae Music Academy Awards,
other winners were;
Stephen Marley, two for Best Reggae Album and Best Music
Producer, 'Busy Signal' for
Best Solo Male Dancehall
Vocalist, and,
Best Dancehall Song Songwriters' Award - Nah
Go A Jail Again, Ernie Ranglin received the
Reggae Legend Award, Chris Blackwell received the
Reggae Trailblazer Award, Bob Marley, the Reggae
Icon Award, Munga Honourable, best Breakthrough
Dancehall Artiste. Sean Paul and Da’ville
shared award for Best Reggae Vocal Performance (Duo, Group,
Collaboration for On My Mind, Etana, got the Best
Solo Female Reggae Vocal Performance, Roots, Best Female
Dancehall Vocal Performance went to Lady Saw for -
Chat To Me Back and the Best International
Reggae/Dancehall Artiste was - Collie Budz.
Busy Signal
toured Canadian cities Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, St
Catherines and Waterloo for the first time. His hit single
Nah Go a Jail topped (# 1) on the Canadian Reggae charts.
Jamaican Gospel music spread
its wings internationally as singer Omar
thought-provoking single, Help saw steady rotation on
RETV, Music Plus, MTV Tempo, BETJ and Sky TV in the
UK, while gospel
singer Jermet Campbell, aka JCee, made her way
into the top 20 of British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC) talent search The Next Big Thing beating
thousands of entries from 88 countries around the world.
HAPPENINGS....
Cristy Barber
returned to VP Records as vice-president of marketing and
promotions. She left her post as president of Tuff Gong/Ghetto
Youths International. .
Rootz Underground
released new album released on
the Riverstone Records label. They are set to tour the US where
they will be performing at the Ragga Muffins Festival,
and the Sierra Nevada Music Festival in California, also
at the Best of the Best in Miami.
 Jr
Reid Come Back Artiste of the Year @ IRIE FM Music
Awards
Mr. Vegas
crossover success dancehall
anthem 'Tek Weh Yuh Self', got a spicy remix featuring
Latin songstress Kat Deluna, who teamed with Elephant
Man in 2007 to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play
Chart, w/ single “Whine Up”, and Hip Hop's lyrical terror Lil
Kim. Fusing Hip Hop, Soca, and Dancehall, peppered with
Spanish flavor, the remixed single is titled 'Tek Weh Yu Self
Again.' Spring 08 saw Mr. Vegas
will be doing the Vegas
Campus
Rave College
tour across colleges in the United States from New York to
Atlanta.
Dancehall deejay Elephant Man
teamed R&B singer Chris Brown to record the single,
Girl Tonight. Brown
worked with Elephant Man on a remix and performed with him on
stage on the Smile Jamaica/Africa Unite Concert in Jamaica. His
Get Physical CD, a joint venture between VP Records
and Bad Boy Records, release date has been pushed back to
April 8.
Crown Prince of Reggae, Dennis
Emmanuel Brown
Though the Government or
organizers didn’t scheduled any specific event or issued any
press release honoring either Brown’s Birthday or his
contribution to reggae (glaring omission given his obvious
importance) the preservation of the legacy of the Crown
Prince of Reggae, Dennis Emmanuel Brown was also a theme of
Reggae month. Notable events took place both in Jamaica and
abroad to honor Brown’s memory and legacy. In New York City
The Dennis Brown Memorial Organization in NYC honored
Veteran Radio man Ken William, Sound guru Winston
‘Merritone’ Blake and Tony Ryan. The DBMO
also gave away an annual scholarship to a college student. In
Jamaica the Jamaica Association of Vintage Artistes and
Affiliates (JAVAA) honored
Dennis Brown with a
tribute concert in the Gardens
of the Pegasus Hotel. The
four-hour celebration
concert featured a number of performers including Dwight
Pinkney who performed
‘How Could I Live
(a song he wrote) on
guitar. Pinkney
described How Could I Live
as "a simple song,” but noted that when Dennis Brown
sang it, “he made it into a legendary classic." Veteran
Sugar Minot,
who turned in stellar and
unforgettable performance, Boris Garner, George Nooks and
Derrick Harriot. Others paid tribute in steel pan,
poetry and shared personal insight into his life.
The Twelve Tribes of Israel, the arm of the
Rastafari faith to which Brown and Marley belonged
hosted a tribute for Reggae Month to Brown and Marley
at Skill Craft.
 Dennis
Emmanuel Brown
Another project with
long term potential for immortalizing Browns legacy and
possibly getting him a national honor was announced by
radio personality Patrick Lafayette. It is a 24-hour Internet
radio station devoted exclusively for the music of Dennis
Brown.
According to a press release
from DBTribute.org a “Tribute to Dennis Brown”
DVD/CD honoring Dennis Brown’s 50th birthday
is in the works. The artists on the 24 track CD include Ed
Robinson, Sugar Minott, Everton Blender, Richie Stevens and
Natty King are from Jamaica, Brazil, Canada, Trinidad,
Nigeria, The U.K., and Los Angeles, San Francisco, Florida, New
York, and Oregon. The song covers from Roots and Culture to
Lovers’ Rock, R & B and Dance Tunes. The DBTribute.org release
future states that schools and education will be their charity
goals with “scholarships from our events, retail sales from our
website, etc. Proceeds from www.DBTribute.org Retail Store will
benefit our first recipient school in Jamaica, Central Branch
School in Kingston, Jamaica, where Dennis attended. The school
will receive soccer uniforms and supplies, computers, a copier,
printers, and musical instruments.” For further information
contact DBTribute.org &
MySpace.com/DB50thTribute
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