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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A Reggae Film Festival featuring films that have reggae music as the subject, story line or content will be held in Kingston on February 15,16,17, 2008 to focus on film as an aspect of Jamaican music culture. This was announced today by Minister of Information, Culture, Youth & Sports with responsibility for Entertainment, Hon. Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, who said that her Ministry will be assisting the Reggae Film Festival to showcase some of the many documentaries, feature films and music videos being made that incorporate or highlight Jamaica’s unique reggae music.
The Film Festival will be a prelude to the Reggae Academy Awards being presented at that time by Recording Industry Association of Jamaica (RIAJam) as well as a sidebar of the Global Reggae 2008 conference hosted by the UWI Institute of Caribbean Studies.
The REGGAE FILM FESTIVAL is organized by film maker and film festival organizer Barbara Blake Hannah in collaboration with ReggaeFilms.co, a UK-based online community and marketplace for films, books and music highlighting Jamaica’s reggae culture. Minister Grange says the REGGAE FILM FESTIVAL will give Jamaicans the opportunity to view some of the best of the hundreds of films made about and because of the world famous music of Jamaica, that not only reflect the wide interest in Jamaican music, but also bring tourists on vacation and income to members of the entertainment fraternity, as well as the nation.
“Most of the films about Jamaica are made by reggae lovers in countries outside Jamaica and we here at home have never seen them. There are also some Jamaican films that equally have never had local TV or cinema exposure. The REGGAE FILM FESTIVAL will showcase the best of these. There is certainly enough material of interest continually being produced to make this an annual event,” said Minister Grange. [...]
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The Bob Marley/Rita Marley Foundation’s global initiative, Africa Unite concert, will be held in Jamaica for the first time on February 23, 2008 at James Bond Beach, St Mary. It will be a combination of two events with a host of national and international artistes at which the feature documentary, Africa Unite, will make its Caribbean debut as part of the celebrations marking the anniversary of the birth of late Reggae superstar Robert Nesta Marley. The film, starring Rita Marley, Danny Glover, Angelique Kidjo, Lauryn Hill and the Marley children, is produced and directed by Stephanie Black of Life and Debt, H-2 Worker’s fame. It will be launched in February 2008 at the Hilton Kingston Hotel.
People’s Telecom will host the launch of the documentary which highlights the vision for African unity to which Bob Marley was devoted throughout his musical career. “We feel extremely honoured now in 2007 to be asked by Mrs Rita Marley to host Africa Unite in 2008,” stated Michael Dawson, CEO and co-founder of the Jamaican-owned telecommunications company.
“This is a perfect synergy between the Marley Foundation and People’s Telecom, as the company, from the outset, was founded on the principles of stalwarts like Marcus Garvey and His Imperial Majesty (Haile Selassie I), and influenced by the words of Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer,” Dawson added in a press release. [...]
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Veteran Reggae artistes Burning Spear, Toots & the Maytals and Sly & Robbie are among five Jamaican acts nominated in the Best Reggae Album category for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards.
Burning Spear got the nod for his set The Burning Spear Experience; Toots & the Maytals for Light Your Light, while rhythm twins Sly & Robbie were nominated for Anniversary.
The other two nominees in the category are Stephen Marley for Mind Control, and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry for The End Of An American Dream.
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In 1973, a reggae group on the verge of breaking up released an album — its second that year — filled with militant anthems inspired by life in the Jamaican slums. It turned out to be Bob Marley’s big break. Burnin’ was the last album the reggae master released under the name “The Wailers,” and it featured the final performances of Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer with the group.
While the band was rhythmically tight, Marley dominates this album. Burnin’ covers a variety of topics and moods, from the militancy of “Get Up, Stand Up” and “I Shot the Sheriff” to the heartfelt rage and poverty-induced despair of “Burnin’ and Lootin’.” The final track, the traditional “Rastaman Chant,” sounds a more redemptive note.
The political stridency of Burnin’ was informed by the slums where Marley lived. Rita Marley, his widow, sees the connection. “We were grown and raised in the ghetto, so we knew nothing more than a ghetto life,” she says. [...]
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St. Ann’s ‘beautiful girls’ are on alert to receive a ‘male’ order, gift-wrapped Christmas Day souvenir in the form of four-time Grammy Award nominated artiste Sean Kingston. Kingston will make his maiden call on the cruise ship capital, Ocho Rios, at the Turtle River Park under the umbrella of Tropical Vibes Promotions and Hard Rock Cafe. His supporting cast includes Fantan Mojah, D’Angel and ‘Busy Signal’.
It will be the 17-year-old Miami-born but Jamaican-rooted artiste’s debut performance in Jamaica, and he promises to take centre stage with “a unique sound and lots of energy”. Although he has never performed in Jamaica, technology has made it possible for Sean Kingston to be seen nationwide.
More Sean Kingston Images
His crossover appeal sounds nothing like hard-core reggae, but there is no cause for concern as he says he writes “feel good music, this type of music appeals to everyone”. Of note is the fact that he has accomplished the rare task of creating a new genre where rap, reggae, pop, doo-wop and remarkable songwriting all combine into something totally refreshing.
Inner Feelings
Already cognisant that the Jamaican audience is one of the hardest to impress, Kingston says he has no intention of giving way to any inner feelings of trepidation. He confidently told The Sunday Gleaner “I give 110 per cent every time I perform, so I am positive the people will enjoy the show.” [...]
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