Nominations for the first ever reggae awards are based on recordings first released anywhere in the world between December 1, 2006 and November 30, 2007 and covers various categories. The first staging of the Reggae Academy Awards will be February 24th 2008, at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Jamaica.
Most Popular Artiste
Tarrus Riley
Queen Ifrica
Jah Cure
Beenie Man
Buju Banton
Munga Honourable
Busy Signal
Most Popular Song
She’s Royal
Nah Go A Jail,
Sticky and Roots
Best Dancehall Album
Gully Sit’n
Intoxication
Foreva
Walk Out [...]
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As promised by Minister of Culture, Olivia “Babsy” Grange, at the recent launch of the Reggae Academy Awards, February will be declared Reggae Month. On the advice of Prime Minister Bruce Golding, the Governor General, Professor Kenneth Hall, will make the official proclamation.
This announcement was made by the prime minister yesterday at a press conference at the Office of the Pprime Minister called to officially brand the month. The prime minister also told the large contingent of music industry and media personnel that this year’s inauguration of February as Reggae Month, will be a prelude for a year-long celebration in 2009 to mark the 50th anniversary of the birthday of reggae music. It was also announced that a football match between the Reggae Boyz and Costa Rica, will form part of the month’s celebration.
Some of the activities slated for the first observation of February as Reggae Month, include the hosting of the Reggae Academy Awards, the Bob Marley Photographic Exhibition, Africa Unite/Smile Jamaica Youth Symposium, the annual Bob Marley Lecture, the African Film Festival, the Reggae Film Festival, the annual Irie FM Reggae Music Awards and the Bob Marley Creative Expression Day. [...]
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Reggae icon Ziggy Marley releases a full-length live concert DVD on 11th February 2008. The Love Is My Religion DVD was taped live at Los Angeles’ Avalon Theatre in December 2006. The most extensive worldwide tour of his career that wrapped in December 2007, the Avalon show and the entire LIMR World Tour was heralded as some of Marleys’ finest work ever.
Ziggy appears in rare form throughout the DVD’s 19 tracks and nearly two hours of live footage. With his voice and his band honed to precision after months on the road, from the United States and abroad, the live DVD captures the tours momentum in support of the Grammy Award-winning album. [...]
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Billboard Magazine, oft referred to as the music ‘Bible’, released its Top 10 reggae artistes of 2007. And, of course, there are a few surprises. But then again, should we really be surprised that a Hasidic Jew from Pennsylvania, USA, is the Billboard Reggae Artiste of the Year? (Apparently the decision is based on sales and downloads of the artistes’ music plus airplay in the US.)
In 2006, Matisyahu (the artiste) released an album, Youth, which was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Reggae Album category the same year. The fact that it didn’t win obviously had no negative effect on sales. Drawing on inspiration from reggae acts such as Luciano, Barrington Levy and Morgan Heritage, most of his songs are almost entirely in English with just a few words of Hebrew and Yiddish sprinkled in. [...]
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A large collection of 70s music, including original recordings by Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and others is missing from the archives of the former Jamaica Broadcasting Corp.
According to Billboard.com, thousands of vinyl records and compact discs have gone missing in the possible theft. Musicians and former employees of the Broadcasting Corporation are outraged.
“The latest development is a national disgrace,” said Gladstone Wilson, former program manager for JBC radio.
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More than 26 years after his death, Bob Marley continues to sell records, topping Billboard’s year-end Top Reggae Albums chart. The list-capping title, “Forever Bob Marley” (Madacy Special Products/Madacy), is a set of songs from the reggae great’s pre-Island Records days. Bob Marley & the Wailers also come in at No. 9 with “Africa Unite: The Singles Collection” (Island/Tuff Gong/UMe/IDJMG) and No. 10 with “Gold” (Tuff Gong/Island/Chronicles/UMe), both selections of such fan favorites as “Stir It Up” and “Get Up, Stand Up.”
Carrying on the family tradition, Marley’s sons Stephen and Damian claim the No. 2 and 3 rungs on the year-end reggae albums chart with “Mind Control” (Ghetto Youths/Tuff Gong/Universal Republic/UMRG) and “Welcome to Jam Rock” (Ghetto Youths/Tuff Gong/Universal Republic/UMRG), respectively. The brothers also rank at Nos. 3 and 4 on the Top Reggae Artists year-end chart.
For the second year in a row, New Yorker Matisyahu tops the Reggae Artists chart, continuing to garner new fans with his mix of hip-hop and reggae, as well as his lyrics about his Hasidic Jewish background. His three albums, “Youth” (Or/Epic/Sony Music), “No Place to Be” (One Haven/Or/Epic/Sony Music) and “Live at Stubb’s” (Or/Epic/Sony Music), are Nos. 5, 6 and 11, respectively, on the Top Reggae Albums chart. [...]
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The Government of Jamaica is to declare February Reggae Month, minister of information, culture, youth and sports, Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, told guests at the launch of the Reggae Academy Awards last Tuesday at the Hilton Kingston Hotel.
“I really want to say to you that the Government will be announcing, at the highest level, a declaration of February as Reggae Month,” Grange said. “And it will be announced and presented in a manner that will impact not only in Jamaica but across the world.”
The inaugural staging of the Reggae Academy Awards ceremony, slated for Sunday, February 24, 2008 at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston, is being widely hailed within the local entertainment fraternity as the equivalent of the Grammy Awards.
An initiative of the Recording Industry Association of Jamaica (RIAJam), the gala affair will be the grand finalé to a week-long series of music industry activities. These include a road tour, stopping at six locations around the island - St Thomas, Ocho Rios, Montego Bay, Savanna-la-Mar, Clarendon and Kingston - as well as a number of symposia on the music industry. [...]
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