Reggae star Buju Banton optimistic despite drug charges

Reggae artist Buju Banton

(Article written by Jacqueline Charles from Miami Herald)

Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton agreed on 16 December 2009 to be transferred from Miami to Tampa, where he faces federal drug charges.

Banton, whose real name is Mark Anthony Myrie, is accused along with two others of trying to buy more than five kilograms of cocaine last week from an undercover law-enforcement officer in Sarasota. Banton was arrested Thursday at his home in Tamarac. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison, his lawyer said.

Wearing a beige jail jumpsuit and shackles, Banton, 36, sat expressionless in the front row of the Miami federal courtroom Wednesday morning, his trademark dreadlocks pulled back off his narrow face and rolled into a bundle.

Occasionally, he looked across the courtroom where, in the back row, his publicist and two members of the local Jamaican Consulate observed the proceedings.

The only time Banton spoke was when he uttered his real name and age, and confirmed to U.S. Magistrate Judge William Turnoff that he was indeed waiving his bail hearing in Miami to be transferred to Tampa.

“He’s a very spiritual person. He’s a very positive person,” his attorney, Herbert Erving Walker III, said about his mood. “He’s confident he’s going to be exonerated.”

Walker added that Banton, whose album Rasta Got Soul is nominated for the Grammy Reggae Album of the Year, is looking forward to “getting back to doing what he does, which is make music for the people of the world.”

Jimmy Cliff will be Inducted into Rock n Roll Hall of Fame
By Karl Pearson – Thursday, December 17, 2009 (Source : United Reggae)

So it appears the rumours were true and Jimmy Cliff will be joining Bob Marley in the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He will be inducted on 15 March along with Abba, Genesis, The Stooges, and The Hollies. It was thought that the official announcement wouldn’t come until early next month, but many news agencies are reporting that the final 5 have been decided.

This is a major achievement for Jimmy as he becomes only the second reggae artist to entre this prestigious academy. He faced stiff competion from the likes of KISS and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, but at last another reggae artist is acknowledged for the sterling work and service he has given to the world of music. His career started in the early 60’s with songs like “King of Kings”, “Dearest Beverley” and “Miss Jamaica”, but it was at the end of that decade and the beginning of the 70’s that Jimmy really came to prominence with releases such as “Many Rivers to Cross”, “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” and “Vietnam”, these songs became hits throughout most of the world, with Bob Dylan even saying that “Vietnam” was the best protest song he had ever heard. In 1972, Jimmy again caused a stir as he starred in the Perry Henzell classic reggae film, “The Harder They Come”and scored big with the subsequent album.
Many artists have covered Jimmy Cliff songs including Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, Joe Jackson, Cher, Joe Cocker, Willie Nelson, Joe Strummer, Jerry Garcia Band, Desmond Dekker, Madness, La Toya Jackson and New Order to name but a few.
So big congratulations to Jimmy Cliff and let’s hope that once again he may be able to bring some focus back on to some of today’s reggae heroes.

Contributed photos
LEFT: Anthony B thrills onstage at Rototom Sunsplash 2008.
RIGHT: Bunny Wailer performing at Rototom.

(Article from Jamaica Gleaner, published Sunday December 6, 2009)

Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

After 16 years, of being held in Osoppo, Italy, Rototom Sunsplash is being forced to relocate to a new venue in Spain next year.

Rototom is a large European reggae festival which has taken place in Rivellino Park at the foot of the Italian Alps every summer for the last 16 years and was modelled after the traditional Reggae Sunsplash that was held in Montego Bay, Jamaica in the 1980s and early ’90s. The event offers 10 days of reggae, ragga and dancehall from Jamaican and overseas acts.

According to information sent from Sabrina Trovant, Rototom Sunsplash’s art director, the 2009 edition of the event attracted 160,000 persons from 106 countries. While the July 1-10, 2010 festival had been scheduled to take place in Osoppo, the festival and its organisers have been accused of facilitating the use of drugs, marijuana specifically, and are being charged for breaking the country’s Article 79 of the Fini-Giovanardi Law. This effectively placed a stop order on the festival in Italy, forcing organisers to relocate.

The website http://www.statewatch.org explained that the Fini-Giovanardi Law was introduced in Italy in 2006 and contains extracts from a draft law drawn up by Gianfranco Fini, who is now the president of the chamber of deputies in Italy’s Lower House of Parliament. The law promised to revolutionise the treatment of drug offences, heralding the mass criminalisation of drug users.

Lessening of distinctions

Some of its contents included the lessening of distinctions between soft and hard drugs, and between dealing, trafficking and personal use, with extremely high sentences applicable to the latter.

Trovant explained the situation saying, “According to the charges, Rototom Sunsplash ‘facilitates’ the use of cannabis, merely for the fact that it is a reggae festival. Indeed, the accusations state that ‘Rastafarian ideology provides for a close link between reggae music and marijuana’ and consequently, since the festival was attended by ‘persons who, in the context of the musical event and relative cultural environment, devoted themselves to the use of drugs, in particular hashish and marijuana’.”

She continued: “A similar interpretation of the law could target anyone who organises even the simplest reggae gig in Italy. For this reason alone, they could be charged with ‘facilitating marijuana consumption’.” According to Trovant, this is the first instance in which the law has been applied to a music festival.

The Rototom Festival has reacted to the situation by hiring a team of lawyers and has also set up a series of initiatives to inform the public about the situation. They have set up an online campaign on the festival’s website; they have published messages from prominent figures such as politicians, priests, intellectuals, journalists and artistes, including Bunny Wailer, Linton Kwesi Johnson, radio jock David Rodigan, Easy Star All Stars, Zion Train, lecturer Carolyn Cooper from University of the West Indies and others. Last week, Italian singer Alborosie released a song titled Free Rototom in support of the festival. The Italian organisation Forum Droghe (Drugs Forum) is also promoting a petition on their website.

The organisers also had a demonstra-tion concert on November 13 under the theme ‘Don’t Put Bob Marley on Trial’, which featured various artistes. Trovant concluded, “After 16 years in Italy, we are forced to move the festival to Spain, where the general atmosphere and politics are more tolerant. Details of the new location will be soon announced, probably before the end of January. We will come back to Italy only in the event of a political change that will be probably only in 2013 with the new elections.”

Reggae album sales plummett

(article from the Jamaica Gleaner – Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer)

Sean Paul (left) and Jah Cure (right)

IT has not been a good year for Jamaican pop music. Sales tracker, SoundScan, reports that music buyers in the United States showed little interest in what Jamaican artistes had to offer in 2009.

SoundScan has released sales figures to the end of October. It said, collectively, reggae/dancehall music sold just 502,171 units for the first 10 months of the year.

Leading the way was Sean Paul’s Imperial Blaze album with sales of 70,917.  That is a massive drop from sales of The Trinity, his previous album, which sold over three million copies.  The Trinity spawned the hit singles Temperature and We Be Burnin’. It was a strong follow-up to 2002’s Dutty Rock which sold more than five million units.

SoundScan is an electronic network that collects sales data from over 17,000 record stores in the United States. Its data is widely used by publications, such as Billboard magazine.

Another disappointing album was Light, from Jewish dancehall rapper Matisyahu whose previous effort, Youth, was a platinum (over one million units) seller. It sold a mere 58,698 copies three months after it hit record stores.

B Is For Bob, a children’s album of remastered Bob Marley songs, fared well for that market with 35,760 copies. Ziggy Marley, the man behind that project, saw his Family Time set clocking 36,152 copies.

Brother Julian Marley’s Awake, which was recently released, has not done well. It has sold almost 9,000 copies.

VP Records’ annual Reggae Gold compilation, continued its consistent performance with 18,949 copies.

In contrast, some of the acts VP banked on this year, folded. Chief among them was singer Tarrus Riley and deejay Mavado whose Contagious and Mr Brooks: A Better Tomorrow had dismal returns at 4,736 and 14,000, respectively.

Queen Ifrica’s highly-touted Montego Bay, released in the summer by VP, has so far sold a mere 2,726 copies. One Moment In Time by Beres Hammond, another project from the Queens, New York label, barely passed the 11,000 mark.

Jah Cure’s Universal Cure also held great expectations, but flopped with sales of 5,319 copies.Rasta Got Soul by Buju Banton fared slightly better with sales of over 8,000.

‘Best of albums’ had ‘so-so’ performances. The Very Best of Sizzla (10,000) was the best of the Jamaican offerings; only 8,845 persons bought Shaggy’s Boombastic Collection while UB40’sGreatest Hits sold 26,323.

A big surprise was Tanya Stephens’ The Hits Collection with a paltry 864 copies sold.

Reggae Sumfest TV launched

As summer draws to a close and all the great parties and concerts are now shelved to the memory bank, there is one you can relive over and again.

The website, http://www.reggaesumfest.tv, was recently launched, giving patrons the opportunity “to view the number-one reggae show of summer 2009. This virtual experience will also allow you to join the Sumfest community where all Sumfest fans can upload all of their photos, videos, chat and blog all that is Reggae Sumfest and download excerpts of the show to their smartphones.”

The website, http://www.reggaesumfest.tv, will be featured via several online syndication partners in various cities throughout the world, to include VP Records.com, GotTEMPO.com and CaribLifeCentral.com.

Setting precedence

“Www.reggaesumfest.tv, a unique platform created by CbeanMedia.tv, will set precedence for the syndication of Caribbean content using new media platforms,” commented Sherra Pierre-March, CEO and founder of Cbeanmedia.tv.

“CbeanMedia.tv is committed to the expansion and extension of all Caribbean brands using sophisticated Internet streaming players, mobile applications and online community platforms.”

The website will feature some of the best performances from each night of the event and will feature the likes of Beenie Man, Tarrus Riley, D’Angel, Rhaatid, Flippa Mafia, I-Octane and Tito Jackson, who received a lifetime achievement award from the festival organisers on behalf of his brother, Michael.

Pay-per-view

CbeanMedia.tv said the pay-per-view feature would cost US$5.99, with mobile downloads starting at US$3.99. The organisers are also offering a prize of airline tickets and passes to Reggae Sumfest 2010. Persons uploading comedic content can also win tickets to next year’s show.

“Earn valuable points for each piece of content you upload and become part of the Sumfest VIP Club. We’re really creating a virtual Reggae Sumfest universe,” said Marcia McDonnough, the festival’s marketing manager.

Overdue initiative

“This initiative is certainly overdue,” commented Johnny Gourzong, the executive director of Summerfest Productions. “We believe this is the next natural step for Reggae Sumfest. While we would certainly wish that everyone could come to Jamaica to see the festival live, we know it’s not possible, so this will be a way of giving more people a taste of this event that we are so proud of.

“We hope also that it will encourage anyone who had been hesitating to come to Jamaica for Reggae Sumfest to start making their plans now for next year’s festival, so that they can experience the full effect of the ‘Greatest Reggae Show on Earth’.” (From Jamaica Gleaner, October 2009)

LEST WE FORGET PETER TOSH, FREE I, DOC BROWN

Last Friday, September 11, 2009, had immense global historical significance. This date is traditionally celebrated in Ethiopia as New Year’s Day according to its ancient Julian Calendar.

PETER TOSH: Left a rich musical legacy

Since 2001, it took on new meaning in the western world as for the past eight years the calamity that was 9/11, is being commemorated. Not to be left out is one of Jamaica’s greatest misfortunes and reggae’s most tragic losses, the brutal slaying of Peter Tosh, along with his associates broadcaster Free I, and Winston “Doc” Brown.

But whereas in the Americas, the day was solemnly observed, in Jamaica the day went by almost imperceptibly. One is fully aware that the greater focus is placed on Peter Tosh’s birthday, but given the extent of the gravity of the sordid incident on that fateful night of Friday September 11, 1987, a day of remembrance and deep reflection should be established.

Lest we forget, the dust was settled from the brutal attack by gun-hawks on Peter Tosh’s Plymouth Avenue residence at Barbican in Kingston, Doc Brown who was shot in the head died on the spot, Tosh shot twice in the head was pronounced dead later that night in the intensive care unit at the University Hospital and Free I who also took two bullets in the head died in hospital a few days later.

Tosh’s female companion, Marlene Brown, was grazed in the head, Free I’s wife (Joy Dixon) was shot in the mouth and leg, Tosh’s drummer Carlton Davis was shot in the stomach and in the hand. And one Michael Robinson was shot three times; one bullet hit him in the head, another went through his legs and another lodged in his back.

To undertsand the full measure of the loss to Jamaica and reggae music from this incident, one only has to revist Dr Omar Davis’ paper presented on Peter Tosh at the Bob Marley’s lecture a few years ago.

“In looking at Tosh’s domestic social commentary, one saw from his earliest days an outpouring of music highlighting the injustices, which he percieved then in the society. These songs include You Can’t Blame the Youth, 400 Years , Stop That Train and Sinner Man which later became Downprwessor Man.

“As his music evolved, we had Haffi Get a Beaten, Mark of the Beast, and his concern about the dominance of materialism in our society in Pound Get a Blow and The Day the Dollar Died.

“In preparing for this lecture, I must state that I have become even more aware of the consistency of his protest as well as his ability to frame that protest into popular form, even while remaining at the frontier of the changes in the music, from ska to rock steady to reggae,” Dr Davis noted.

The former Minister of Finance concluded, “There are many who would be suprised that the Minister of Finance maintains a deep interest in the development of our pop music. Such expressions of suprise would be derived from an inability to understand that each of us is the product of our experiences and and enviroment. I can relate very vividly to difficult periods in my life when the music produced by our artistes played a critical role in stabilizing me in times of tension, motivating me in times of depression and reinvigorating me in periods of stagnation. Peter Tosh is one such artiste and for the body of work which he left us, I feel obliged to give thanks.”

And no lesser person than the Reverend Canon Ernle Gordon said in his 2007 Peter Tosh’s Lecture, that if you listen to the Stepping Razor or the Mystic Man as Tosh often dubbed himself, there’s a link between philosophy, epistemology and theology. “What Peter Tosh has done for theology is to move it up a notch,” Rev Gordon said then.
(Basil Walters Observer staff reporter Sunday, September 13, 2009)

SEAN PAUL BLAZES THE BILLBOARD ALBUM CHARTS WITH IMPERIAL BLAZE

Sean Paul’s Imperial Blaze album for VP/Atlantic sold 28,465 copies in its opening week to register a number 12 debut on the Billboard 200 album chart. The sales impact though not as huge as his previous opening in 2005, was enough to land the set to the top of Billboard’s Reggae album chart. Over on Billboard’s R&B Hip Hop album chart, Imperial Blaze lit up the number three spot.

“CHARLY B”  FROM FRANCE WINNER OF REGGAE EUROPE’s 2009 COMPETITION FOR THE BEST SONG

Tuesday, August 3, 2009

For this first competition, we mainly had participants from Europe, but also from Africa and America (USA).

The winner of REGGAE EUROPE 2009 COMPETITION for the best song is CHARLY B FROM FRANCE (www.myspace.com/charlyb), WITH THE SONG “ My Sound “.

Charly B wins the prize of 5,000 euros; in addition, Reggae Europe will finance, in collaboration with Geejam Studios, the recording of a single at Geejam Studios in Port Antonio, Jamaica, and the recording of two videos. CONGRATULATIONS CHARLY B!

THANKS TO ALL THE PARTICIPANTS!

Post-humus award for Joe Higgs

Sunday July 26, 2009

Joe Higgs, the man credited with nurturing the career of the Wailers, will be one of the honorees at the Tribute To The Greats show scheduled for the Curphey Place in St Andrew on August 1.

Higgs, who died from cancer in the United States in December 1999 at age 59, was a mentor to the budding harmony group which formed in Trench Town during the early 1960s. The group had several hit songs including Simmer Down, Lonesome Feeling and It Hurts To Be Alone.

Three of its members, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, became reggae superstars a decade later.

Higgs was an established artiste when he met the Wailers. In 1958, he and Roy Wilson (as Higgs and Wilson) recorded the hit song, Manny Oh, for producer Edward Seaga.

Others to be honoured are performer/producer Winston Riley; Keith Lyn, former singer with Byron Lee and the Dragonaires; musician/artiste Charles ‘Charlie Organaire’ Cameron; tour promoter/booking agent Copeland Forbes; Winston ‘Wee Pow’ Powell of Stone Love Movement; journalist Basil Walters; promoter Victor Chen and band leader Harold Richardson.

Tributes To The Greats is the brainchild of Kingsley Goodison, who has followed the local music scene since the early 1960s. First held in 1998, the event has honoured several pioneers of reggae music including Seaga, Jamaica’s fifth prime minister; Theophilus Beckford; Marcia Griffiths; Toots Hibbert and Leroy Sibbles. (From the Jamaican Gleaner)

SWEDISH REGGAE FESTIVAL

CHALLENGES THE WORLD OF REGGAE

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

The Uppsala Reggae Festival challenges reggae festivals and media of the world to accept the ‘Life is Great’ challenge, a positivity project geared towards making people express the greatness in life.

Yared Tekeste, founder of Uppsala Reggae Festival in Sweden, thinks this world needs more reggae spirit: “There are so many wonderful things in the world, but we need to help each other understand and appreciate them. Therefore Uppsala Reggae Festival encourages all reggae media and festivals to challenge their audience to share the joy and optimism in a creative and generous manner.”

As an example Yared mentions the positivity project, Life is Great. Through a blog people are contributing with art, photos, poetry, video, music and share their ideas on Life is Great (www.lifeisgreat09.blogspot.com). The best material will then be published in magazines and exposed at Uppsala Reggae Festival 2009, which has Life is Great as a festival theme this year.

“The Life is Great concept, including the logo, may be used by all reggae lovers who accept the challenge,” says Tekeste.

Uppsala Reggae Festival

Uppsala Reggae Festival is northern Europe’s biggest reggae festival. Each year the festival brings some of the biggest stars of reggae to Uppsala just north of Stockholm and attracts around 20,000 visitors during three days. The festival is one of the most popular summer festivals in the otherwise dark and cold Scandinavia, where the sun goes down at noon during the winter and the short summer is celebrated as the highlight of the year.

This year, a unique mix of legends and young rising stars are presented and in addition to the music, there will also be Reggae Soccer, Reggae Cinema and Life is Great art exhibitions.

“Reggae is advancing in Scandinavia and that is not all due to the music, but also because of the culture and lifestyle. People are looking for new ways to meet, and now more than ever the world needs us to spread the positivity,” says Yared.

International artistes down to perform at Uppsala this year include Alpha Blondy, Busy Signal, Third World, Ky-Mani Marley, Don Carlos, Etana, Junior Kelly, Lutan Fyah, The Heptones, Collie Buddz & The New Kingston Band, David Rodigan, King Jammy’s Super Power, TOK, Rootz Underground, Ziggi & The Renaissance Band, Komposti Sound, Inna Yard All Stars feat Cedric ‘Congo’ Myton, Linval Thompson, Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith, Kiddus I, The Viceroys, Deraja and Matthew McNuff.

Swedish artistes performing this year are Svenska Akademien, Jaqee, Kultiration, Syster Sol, Governor Andy, Hoffmaestro Chraa, Nazarenes, Meditative Sound, Safari Sound, Junior Natural, Roots Circus and Rootvälta.
(from the Jamaican Observer)

REGGAE AND INTERNATIONAL LABELS HURTING

Reggae and international labels are struggling amidst the economic downturn which is silencing music.

Reggae labels complain of erratic international markets whilst the ‘Big Four’ record companies (Universal, Sony, Warner and EMI) posted lower sales by as much as 22 per cent, the only area of growth was online music.

VP and Greensleeves

“It is an extremely difficult year,” said Olivier Chastan, VP Records vice-president and head of Greensleeves Records.

Sales targets have been up 20 per cent one moment then down 40 the next, he said from his London office.

“Based on the current conditions I really don’t know if it changes so much from month to month.”

Last year Chastan stated that Greensleeves posted a quarterly profit.

Beyoncé among the artistes with best-selling albums during the quarter for Sony Music.

“If this was October I probably would have told you that we would be profitable, but the way things are moving now I honestly don’t know,” said Chastan who continues to publish music but has not signed any new artistes.

“We are putting out a new Tarrus Riley album, Mavado, and maybe a new Busy Signal album. So we are still active,” he said. “We are putting out new products and this costs more money than signing new artistes. There is the manufacturing, marketing and promotion, which is extremely costly. So we are selective obviously.”

VP acquired Greensleeves last January for some £3.1 million, it now controls the bulk of the reggae market.

Tads Records

“Sales are down since October or November,” said Tads principal Tad Dawkins who won an EME award for Ultimate Reggae Dancehall Experience ’08. “January to March is usually a slow period but the world economic downturn has put another spin on it. Because people do not have the extra income to buy music.”

Tads, which controls under five per cent of the market, expects the industry to rebound within two years. More than ever, he says record executives are looking for “big hits” to fillip sales.

“If She’s Royal came out today, that would stimulate the market. If we had two or three big hits, that would help right now,” he said.

Sony Music Entertainment (SME)

SME sales dropped 22 per cent in the quarter to US$1.1 billion, when its merger with BMG is desegregated (but its up 102 per cent when aggregated).

“Revenues were negatively impacted by the accelerated decline in the worldwide physical music market resulting from the worldwide economic slowdown, as well as unfavourable exchange rates. Best-selling albums during the quarter included AC/DC Beyoncé, Pink and Britney Spears,” said Sony in its latest report.

Last October, Sony completed its acquisition of Bertelsmann AG’s (“Bertelsmann”) 50 per cent stake in Sony BMG. It paid some US$600-million net cash for the buy-out, and hence is referred to as SME.

Warner Music Group

Warner’s December first-quarter results showed total sales dropping 11 per cent from the prior-years quarter to US$878 million.

“Though facing difficult economic conditions and tough prior-year comparisons, we executed on our strategy and remain confident in achieving our long-term goals,” said Edgar Bronfman Jr, Warner’s chairman and CEO in its financial report. Major sellers in the quarter included the Twilight soundtrack, Seal, Nickelback, Enya and Johnny Hallyday. Warner posted a US$23-million profit versus a US$16-million loss over the prior year’s quarter. That was good news as Warner has posted annual losses four times in five years (US$56 million loss in 2008). Its worst year was 2004 when it made a US$1.4- billion loss due to an impairment or asset write-off. But what is probably more telling is that its annual revenues remain flat over the five years at some US$3.5 billion. The only real growth area was online or digital music, which grew 39 per cent (US$639 million.) Its physical CD sales dipped 5 per cent to US$2 billion.

Universal Music Group

Universal sales declined 3.8 per cent to $3.1 million up to September for nine months even as its earning jumped 21.8 per cent to $408 million (before interest, taxation and amortisation were subtracted or EBITA). Vivendi Group, which owns Universal, does not disclose the company’s net position.

Though sales dipped its digital music sales jumped 30 per cent. Its top five selling artistes

sold half-a-million more units (physical and digital albums) this year than last at $16.3 million, top 5 were Duffy-$3.7 million; Amy Winehouse-$3.6 million; Mamma Mia!-$3.4 million; Lil Wayne-$3 million; and Jack Johnson-$2.6 million.

EMI

The group expects sales to dip due to the global economic downturn.

“The downturn will also affect advertising sales, at a time when licensing music for advertising is an increasingly important market for the industry. No music business will be immune to these changes,” said Lord Birt, EMI chairman in his half-year report. But EMI is also concerned about the loss of UK music retail space due
to the “demise of Woolworth’s and Zavvi”.

Just before world markets declined, EMI’s six-month revenues to September increased 10 per cent to £737 million. Its results were aided by its digital revenues, which were up nearly 50 per cent.

Group EBIDTA (EBITA plus depreciation) was up 202 percent at £130 million compared with £43 million in the previous six- month period. This is encouraging news for EMI which has not made a profit since 2006. It racked up £258- million loss in 2008.

“This half-yearly report gives grounds for qualified optimism about the progress EMi is making against the backdrop of a deteriorating world economy, EMI has improved both its revenues and its profitability. Music is being appreciated and consumed in a multiplicity of new ways,” Birt conceded that the company will post a loss for 2009.

Its annual revenues have also steadily fallen from £2.1 billion in 2003 to £1.4 billion last year. EMI which was bought out in 2007 by Maltby Group and have streamlined a number of functions to improve efficiency. For 2009 they will release songs Beyoncé, Kanye West, Hinder, The Priests, Jamie Cullum, Ben Harper, Jay-Z, Kasabian, J-Kwon, Ludacris, The Pretenders, Simply Red, Starsailor, Take That and The Prodigy.  – ((From the Jamaican Observer, By Stephen Jackson – 2/2009)

JARIA board of directors nominees selected

Queen Ifrica

Celebrated members of Jamaica’s music industry, including Tony Rebel, King Jammys, Assassin, Queen Ifrica and Freddie McGregor, have been nominated to be on the board of the newly formed Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JARIA). The organisation closed nominations for the election of its first board of directors on Tuesday, April 28 at midnight.

JARIA made its formal entry on the music scene with the stellar Jamaica Reggae Industry Association Honours Awards which closed Reggae Month 2009 at the Hilton Kingston hotel. The board will be composed of the seven elected positions, the chairpersons of the five sub-committees and representatives from affiliate organisations.(from Jamaican Gleaner, May 5, 2009)

T.O.K. shoots ‘Guardian Angel’

T.O.K.

Dancehall quartet T.O.K. began filming the music video for their acclaimed single,Guardian Angel, during the last leg of their United States tour. The release of the video will coincide with that of their third album Our World, which is scheduled for release in Japan on June 16. Since becoming the number one ringtone in Japan, Japanese fans have been clamouring for more of the hit single, leading them to make the decision to do the video. The song was recorded over a year ago.

The video was shot on location in Miami at the Circle House Recording Studio, with additional scenes from T.O.K.’s performance at South Beach’s Sobe Live. The video is being directed by Ras Kassa and Ras Tingle.

Our World will be released on August 25, through VP Records. (from Jamaican Gleaner, May 5, 2009)

Mr Vegas hosts Mother’s Day concert on May 9, 2009

Mr Vegas

Mr Vegas will be hosting a Mother’s Day concert at Club Jamaica Jamaica in Runaway Bay on May 9.

Mr Vegas is reportedly locked away in rehearsals fine-tuning his sound for the concert. He will be backed by his band, Thugz.

“They have been rehearsing at Mikie Bennett’s studio on Grafton Road and everyone is impressed with the set that Mr Vegas has put together,” manager Ray Alexander was quoted as saying.

It will be the artiste’s last performance in Jamaica before he embarks on a four-week tour of major European cities, beginning on July 17. He will break for a one-off performance on July 25 in Rochester, New York, and then return to Europe to complete the tour. Mr Vegas will not return to Jamaica until August 25. (From Jamaican Gleaner May 5, 2009)

Reggae Sumfest Festival 2009 feeling the economic crisis

With Jamaica and the rest of the world seemingly in the throes of a massive economic downturn, the organizers of Jamaica’s biggest reggae event – Reggae Sumfest – are reportedly seeking government assistance / sponsorship (via the Jamaica Tourist Board – JTB). In effect, they’re seeking sponsorship similar to the US$500,000 (J$44.5 million) that was gifted to the annual Jamaica Jazz Festival earlier this year.

If successful, it would make the JTB a major sponsor of the annual reggae event which has been severely affected by a lack of private sponsorship, especially with the withdrawal of Red Stripe beer last year. The JTB has however cautioned that it will likely be unable to offer as much as was offered to the Jazz Festival due to the economic downturn. Still though, it seems the discussions and negotiations are well underway and that Reggae Sumfest 2009 should be on as usual – July 19-25, 2009. (from local Jamaican xnews).

Assassin removed from Red Stripe Live stage