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Posted : July 23, 2003
ANTHONY B AT RUNN STUDIO. Last week "the original fireman" Anthony B and the whole Star Trail family spent some time in the RUNN Studio in Maastricht, The Netherlands, to lay down some riddims and record a few new tunes. Anthony B, producer Richard "Bello" Bell from Star Trail and RUNN Records have a close association since the summer of 1997 when the RUNN crew brought Anthony B to Europe for the very first time to perform at Reggae Geel 1997 and then The Essential Festival in London. In 1998 Anthony B did a show in Maastricht and he also did some recordings for one of his albums that followed up his excellent debut set "Real Revolutionary". |
 Anthony B |
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Posted : July 23, 2003
RODIGAN'S REGGAE RE-OPENS Wednesday 23rd July marks the 111th birthday of HIM Emperor Haile Selassi and as a double celebration, we're pleased to announce the return of 'Rodigan's Reggae'. Celebrating 25 years or reggae DJ-ing, David Rodigan has announced that, following a short respite, his weekly 'Rodigan's Reggae' events are due to recommence. There has been a change of venue since the last events and the new place of residency will be Mass, St. Matthew's Church, Brixton Hill (opposite Fridge). Doors are from 10pm to 2am (BST) and the admission fee is £5 before 11 and £7 thereafter. Alongside the man himself, Coppa Face, Saxon Sound, King Tubby's, Good Feeliz and Seani B will all be on rotation. You'll be able to catch Rodigan and the crew at Mass every Wednesday from now on. |
 David Rodigan |
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Posted : July 17, 2003
THE DUB REVOLUTIONARYS Sly & Robbie Meets Mad Professor featuring Dean Fraser.
April 2003. Ariwa Sounds Studios was occupied for three days with Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Sky Juice, Bubbler and other members of the Taxi Gang.
They were on a break from their 2003 world tour. over 30 songs were recorded, with material largely drawing from the Dub Me Crazy series. The first of this material is now ready for public consumption! "The Dub Revolutionarys" consists of 10 of these tracks and dub versions of the dubs, with some mean brass, courtesy of legendary saxophonist, Dean Fraser.
These tracks are recorded and mixed with the analogue seventies in mind. It shows that despite various changes in sound technology in the last 2 decades, these musicians are still masters of their craft! Tracklisting : CD bonus tracks : Out in September 2003 !! on vinyl. CD copies available from January 2004!!! |
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Posted : July 16, 2003
“CONCERT FOR JAMAICA” ON HOLD Kingston, Jamaica: — The Heineken Music Initiative/Def Jamaica concert, aptly named “Concert For Jamaica”, to commemorate the release of the Red Star Sounds Vol. 3: Def Jamaica album on August 23, at the James Bond Beach in Jamaica, has been rescheduled. Def Jam feels the need to place more focus on the album which was scheduled to be released in the same month of the concert. “The album concept was first and must always take priority. Response to the project has been positive and therefore demanding additional attention. It’s a novel concept, a reggae hip hop compilation album, and worthy of attention,” says Jerome Hamilton of Headline Entertainment. Red Star Sounds, Vol. 3: Def Jamaica is the ultimate dancehall meets hip hop project; it features compilations from Camron with Buju Banton, Capone and Norega with Lexxus, Scarface & Nokio with T.O.K., Method Man and Redman with Stephen and Damian Marley. The voice and music of reggae legend Bob Marley will also be incorporated in the album. Other acts to be featured on the CD are 112, Spragga Benz, DYCR, Tanto Metro and Devonte, Wayne Wonder, Buccaneer, Baby Cham, Shawna, Lady Saw, Joe Budden, Dead Prez, Black Ice and the Executioners with DJ Delano among other popular acts. Reggae artistes have always welcomed the opportunity to work with other genres in the music industry especially hip hop as the two sounds are completely compatible and as a result equal complement each other. The producers, which include Sly and Robbie, Tony and Dave Kelly, Stephen Marley and Duwali creator, Steven “Lenky” Marsden, have fused the rhythmic reggae and dancehall flavour into the everyday hip hop sound therefore creating an unusual but energetic vibe on the album. The Heineken music initiative, a non-profit organization, was founded in 2001 by Heineken USA with an aim to develop urban music and music nationwide. So far they have released two CD’s, Red Star: Soul Searching, Vol.1 which had the sounds of India Arie and Damian “Junior Gong” Marley which was released in 2001 and Red Star: B-Sides released in November 2002 featuring the likes of Foxy Brown, Nelly Furtado and many others. Heineken is in the process of planning a Celebrity weekend on Jamaica’s North Coast in August of this year and will release details to the public via its www.heinekenmusicinitiative.com website. |
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Posted : July 15, 2003
SEAN PAUL #1 IN CANADA Dancehall sensation Sean Paul has not only conquered the all important US market but Canada as well as the latest news out of Toronto is that he has the top-selling album in that country, according to data compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. It took the 30 year old Jamaican born DJ nearly five months to climb to #1 on the chart but his 9,990 plus album sales for the week was enough to toppled Beyonce's solo debut "Dangerously In Love," from the top spot. R&B sensation Ashanti, whose sophomore album "Chapter II" is currently the hottest selling album in the US, had to settle for the No. 5 position. Other acts in the top ten include Metallica's #3, Norah Jones's "#4, and 50 Cent #10. In the US, Sean continues to create mayhem with his hit single "Get Busy" which is #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. His album "Dutty Rock" is # 17 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Sean is not the only Jamaican act enjoying chart success in the US as Wayne Wonder's "No Letting Go continues to hold strong. After 28 weeks on the chart, the single is #23 on the Billboard 100 singles chart. Sean is booked to tour with hotshots 50 Cent and Jay-Z on the 'Roc The Mic Tour’, which kicks off on July 15th in Moline and runs through August 21st in Detroit, MI. Both Sean and Wayne Wonder are scheduled to perform in New York on August 24th at Irie Jamboree 2K3 concert at the Roy Wilkins Park in Queens. Sean’s performance at Irie Jamboree 2K3 is eagerly anticipated, as it will be his only appearance at a reggae event for the summer in New York. |
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Posted : July 9, 2003
NEWS FROM STONE TIGER ENTERTAINMENT.
Edi Fitzroy's "We A Lion" to be released shortly in the US & a new album in the works for late 2003/early 2004 release, "Love The People Want," from Henry K Productions. |
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Posted : July 8, 2003
FESTIVAL IMPRESSION: TWO 77 SPLASH, AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS About 30 minutes late the sold-out festival got-off the mark at the Heineken Music Hall with Lee 'Scratch' Perry backed by a very tight Robotiks band, with Mad Professor twisting the knobs. Diggin into the Heathen riddim, showing his punky red-fluorescent hair, performing "Happy Birthday", "Inspector Gadget", entertaining the audience by showing his Amsterdam-socks, "Introducing Myself", "Wish It Would Rain", "Come Down With Me", "Open Door" and some more songs. Lee 'Scratch' Perry was in fine form, and a great way to start the festival. Then I strolled to next-door's way too crowded Pepsi Stage, where Abijah just had left the stage to make way for LMS, who gave a great performance, nice vibes, very convincing rapping and singing, on songs like "Selassie On My Mind", "Straight From Da Roots", "Can't Go To Zion", "Rock Up The Station", "Stogee", "I Love Zion", as well as "Zion's Gate" before performing some of Capleton's "Jah Jah City" over the Liberation riddim before their own cut of it "Never". I was just in time back at the HMH to hear Junior Kelly finish a version of Bob Marley's "3 o'Clock Roadblock" before he burst into his big hit "Love So Nice". Because of the 2 (indoor)stages, and my intention to see Patrice's performance completely, I went back to the Pepsi Stage, to see this young sweet-voiced German singer who can DJ as well, with a great backing band with sax and trumpet, performing a very fine selection of his material, incorporating foundation dancehall riddims, an acoustic rendition of "No Woman No Cry" woven into his own material, "Speechless", doing some great bashment tunes as well, with the band never stopping, but just slowing down, and then picking up and even accelerating the pace again, 2 beautiful female dancers (but he would be upstaged later by Sean Paul, who brought in even better looking girls), doing (his even in the UK available as a ringtone) "Up In My Room" from his latest album "How Do You Call It", before leaving the stage on a great ska-outtro. I did not attend Israel Vibration in the Heineken Music Hall, I think I've seen them once to many, and they have been better as an original trio than they have been the past few years. Instead I hung out for a few minutes in the open air between both venues, before attending mystery guests Postmen's concert at the PS, for as long as I'd be able to, due to the fact that I certainly wasn't going to miss a single note of Sean Paul's upcoming concert in the Heineken Music Hall. Postmen, still on their first roadtrip in terms of including material from their 3 weeks ago released 3rd album "Era". After an instrumental by their backing band, they performed first song of that album, called "Hobby". The band (and the great female backing vocalist) seemed perfectly at ease with the new material, they performed later in their set "Warning", "Free World" and "Children's Song" as well as from their previous albums their biggest hit "Cocktail", "Crisis" in a rockier and faster version, and the last song I caught was (always a great song, always performed well) "U Wait". Although this wasn't the end of the show, I had to get to HMH for Sean Paul. And boy, what a reception Sean Paul and a very very tight playing backing band (Rupert on bass, Richie on keyboards, Rexie on guitars and Bird on drums) got. He burst into "Like Glue" and was teaching the audience the proper moves to dance Buju's Bogle and to Elephant Mans' Log On, performed his great voicing "Get With It Girl" of the hot "Egyptian" riddim, having 2 exceptionally beautiful female dancers making all the hot moves dressed as belly dancers, and also joining Sean Paul showing how to 'Row Your Boat' and do the 'Chaplin Dance', then performing some older songs like "Infiltrate", "Real Man", ""No Bligh", dropping a few lines in the meantime from Tanto Metro & Devonte's "Everyone Falls In Love Sometime" over the same riddim, before getting the temperature even higher with another selection of his hits like "Hot Gal Today", "Deport Them", "Punkie" also with some of it's Spanish lyrics, "Shake That Thing" and his take on "I'm Still In Love With You", as well as "Make It Clap", "Ever Blazing" on the Masterpiece riddim. The crowd exploded as the band played the first lines of the "Gimme The Light" and Sean Paul started riding the riddim. But the audience was treated to no more than about a minute, before Sean and band left the stage. The crowd was thus even more ecstatic when Sean Paul did an encore with great renditions of "Gimme The Light" and "Get Busy" to make a big big impression, with a very powerful, entertaining performance. Introduced as the King of Dancehall, a title certainly not yet belonging to him, he made clear he at least has all it takes to go for it. This was IMO the best performance of Two 77 Splash, and seeing the crowd and experiencing the vibes during Sean Paul's performance, this should have been the headliner, it was however Burning Spear who had the honor of being the last man on stage. Before his show I first had the difficult choice between getting some food at the overcrowded food-market (a point of attention for the organizing committee for next year's festival) or getting to the Pepsi Stage for Queen Ifrica & Tony Rebel. The good thing is, I had some great food, although looking back that just doesn't make up for missing the Rebel. Burning Spear always delivers a solid performance, backed up by a tight band, with three hornsmen providing great riffs. When you can, like Winston Rodney, sing self-penned hits from 20 to 30+ years ago like "Marcus Garvey", "Old Marcus Garvey", "Call On You", "Man In The Hills", "Door Peep", "Pick Up The Pieces" you can surely entertain an audience if your voice still has that hypnotizing ability as is the case here. Almost every song was delivered showcase style, and as soon as Burning Spear 'finished' his vocals, the band would provide the dubwise backing for his Conga-solos. Burning Spear came back for a well-deserved encore playing the title track of his new album "Freeman" and the great "Slavery Days" and "African Postman", before saying farewell, and sending everyone on their way home, whether or not they'd first enjoy a little more sounds from "Controverse All Stars" soundsystem. Written by Souljah. |
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Posted : July 2, 2003
AWARD WINNING RICHIE STEPHENS. Richie Stephens has recently received 3 nominations and 2 awards in the gospel song of the year category for the song "Father I Love You" from the ERC album released May 2002 entitled "The Man Upstairs", from the Martins Reggae Awards (New York), Caribbean Gospel Music Awards (New York) & Reggae Soca Awards (Miami). Richie's follow-up album "Covers For Lovers" released May 20th 2003 to rave reviews continues to burn up the airwaves accross Jamaica, New York,Toronto and South Florida and by the look of things, and initial sales, is destined for icon status. Richie Stephens, during his recent opening for a Erykah Badu concert in New York, was given an award by the City Council of New York, which recognised his contribution to reggae music, while noting his production of Bounty Killer's Grammy nominated "Mystery" album. |
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Posted : June 25, 2003
FORTHCOMING ALBUM FROM FRANCIS & FRANKLIN.
The names Francis and Franklin might be new to you but the two artists over the past three and a half decades together and individually have helped to shape the course of Reggae and also dented the Pop world on several occasion in various guises. Among reggae connoisseurs and long time reggae fans these singers are probably better known as Winston "Mr. Fix It" Francis and A.J. Franklin. Their forthcoming CD "Stand Firm", due for release in August 2003, has some profound messages and riddims that carry the most potent driving bass lines ever heard in a long while. "Stand Firm" riddim tracks written and produced by the dynamic Terry-Devine-King takes you right back to the foundation Live instruments, solid brass arrangements and most importantly
musicians who simply exude excellence. Track listing includes songs like "I Shoulda Listened - Mama Woi", "Zion Train Is Coming", "Jah Deliver Us", "Stand Firm", "Life Is A Hard Struggle", "No More Warriors", "Easy Now" and "Back To Ethiopia". |
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Posted : June 25, 2003
NEW RECORDINGS JAH MASON FOR "JAH WARRIOR" LABEL. Recently UK roots label Jah Warrior unleashed the excellent 7" singles "More Royal" and "Rainbow Circle Throne" by Jah Mason. At the moment the Bobo chanter is in London where he just finished voicing the tracks for his forthcoming album for Jah Warrior. Like all Jah Warrior work the tracks were recorded at Conscious Sounds in London, with full horns section etc. So far the album will contain 12 tracks, unless producer Steve "Jah Warrior" Mosco decides to put some bonus cuts on the CD. Expected release date is spring 2004, and there'll be more singles before then. The next single is coming soon, titled "No Joke". |
 Jah Mason |
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Posted : June 23, 2003
[CONCERT IMPRESSION(S)] DUBWISE & OTHERWISE, JUNE 20, GROTE MARKT / ANCIENNE BELGIQUE, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM The city government of Brussels presented for free: at the Grote Markt, (the large townsquare in Brussels): Blood & Fire Soundsystem with U Brown & Ranking Joe feat. Raggamonica Jarvis, with Dom and Steve Barrow selecting, and later in Ancienne Belgique: Pole, Burnt Friedman & The Nu Dub Players. At about 8:30 pm Dom started playing classics from the Blood & Fire catalog, and classics from the history of Jamaican music, educating the slowly growing audience - of 'hardcore reggae fans' and people just passing by, but stopping after being caught by the music, and the 'strange way' it was presented - by playing "Murder She Wrote" after Toots & the Maytals' original riddim lick. Classic riddims, classic songs, classic dubs. What more can you want? Live-melodica and mouth-organ treatment, Jarvis aka Raggamonica took care of that, and really enhanced the dubs played, but also played over the 'Bam Bam' riddim. The crowd had been growing all along, when U Brown took the stage for the first time. Performing some of his own old recordings, improvised lyrics (U Brown and Ranking Joe both showed their ability to ride any riddim and cough up lyrics), newer songs like the collaboration with his - not present - younger brother Prezident Brown "Roots & Culture Rally Back", he had a good performance before giving a welcome to Ranking Joe, who went full blazing right from the start. Some oldies, some selections from his upcoming Blood & Fire release, all delivered with pure energy. U Brown came back for a second set and really seemed to be inspired by Ranking Joe's set, his 2nd set was definitely more sparkling. Very convincing, and only to be rivaled by Ranking Joe's 2nd set, and their combination style final set, which was the standout IMNSHO. After they left Dom and Steve Barrow were still behind the turntables to play their final 2 records. First a song to leave the larger part of the audience flabbergasted to Dom's question: "Do You Know This Record?" It was Stevie Wonder's Bob Marley tribute "Master Blaster (Jammin')", and Dom closed at 0:30 am with a magnificent version of that particular song by Marley's sons. It was a short walk to Brussels' main concert stage Ancienne Belgique, where Pole was about to get on stage, it is a strange experience to see this German guy from Berlin, who looks pretty much like my perception of an old-fashioned German guy, perform his music. On stage all by himself with a laptop, 2 keyboards and a mixing desk, his electronic modern city dub, comes more lively and organic when played live than on his releases, where it remains more abstract. He certainly had the capacity crowd swinging, and really sounded great, this really was a tribute to King Tubby. One hour of JA-influenced sound scapes from Germany later, he left the stage, to make way for label-mates Burnt Friedman & The Nu Dub Players. They delivered a great set. Burnt Friedman starts each song by getting a new loop from his laptop, and for a short time adjusting it with his mixing desk, before former Can-drummer Jaki Liebezeit and their bassie dropped in. As soon as their very tight riddim tandem got rolling, Burnt Friedman would come in on keyboards. Wicked dub and dubbish sound scapes, all selections clocking on close to 10 minutes, they played a great set. They even seemed surprised after ending their performance, to see (better: hear) the audience wasn't ready to let the DJs Flow & Fhex take over again. They came back for a deserved encore. Great performance, showing white guys can play live dub music. Surely worth these performances a total of seven hours driving, I'll be there next summer if Brussels' mayor and others governing the city get mad enough to present this for free to their and other citizens again. Posted on rec.music.reggae by Souljah |
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Posted : June 6, 2003
A MEMORY TO SHARE FROM EDI FITZROY
Peter Tosh, as a Stepping Razor The first time that I became aware of the Wailers, it was in 1972 when I was living in Western Kingston, 38 Regent Street. I use to pass the record shop every morning on my way to school on Beaston Street. As a young man, I admired the way that Peter flexed. He was very militant, very focused, very outspoken – he stood firm for the cause that he believed in – through life and through death. The first time I met Peter face to face and reasoned man to man with him was in 1987 at the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) where he came to have a meeting with Free I, one of Jamaica’s top disc jockeys, who also was gunned down at Peter’s home in September 1987. Talking to Peter was like talking to Marcus Garvey, Julius Nyrere, and Jobo Kenyatta – his reasoning was so inspiring to me as a young artist. It showed me how to deal with the world at large. To me, Peter Tosh was like an encylopedia – he always had an answer for any question and listening to him, it was obvious that he was a man that was well-read. The reasoning that day was about going on a world tour that would include Africa, Europe, and the U.S. of A. That same meeting, it was decided that I would go to Peter Tosh’s home that Friday to collect my advance for the first leg of the tour which should be held at the National Arena with artists such as Nadine Sutherland, the I-Threes, Black Uhuru, Peter Tosh, myself, Word Sound & Power, and Free I as the MC. The Friday of that same week, I spoke with Free I and told him that I wouldn’t make it to Peter Tosh’s home because I had something to do in Waterhouse, Kingston 11, so I told Free I to check me on the Monday of the following week on his way to Mandeville. So everything was cool then. I went to Waterhouse that Friday and after I left Waterhouse, I checked Winston Williams, a radio announcer at the JBC, where Free I and I both worked. I was telling Winston that I was suppose to go on tour with Peter and his band and Free I as the MC. While reasoning, there were a lot of Peter songs playing on the radio and I said to Winston that it’s because of Peter going on tour why they are playing so much of his songs. About five minutes after that, a gentleman by the name of Mr. Walker, who lived on the same avenue as Winston, shouted to Winston and said that Peter Tosh is dead, Free I is struggling to live, Free I’s wife had also been shot, Santa the drummer was shot and Peter’s herbalist doctor (Bush Doktor) is also dead. At that moment, I was lost. I went into a taxi cab to University Hospital where I saw Peter lying dead and in the Intensive Care Unit, Free I was struggling for his life. There were thousands of people on the hospital grounds. There were calls from overseas to radio stations and to the hospital to find out what had really happened. That was that. Well, I would say that it was a great tragedy. We not only lost a man, but also a prophet, a revolutionary, and a man with a vision to take reggae music to a higher level. To me, and that’s my opinion only, Peter was the driving force and inspirational person among the Wailers. All of them carry a mission but to me, Peter was a stepping razor without any apology. Always the one to tell it just like it is – never to compromise. To me, Peter is not dead. Neither Bob. Because when you are dead, you are forgotten. But as long as your voice is still reaching the people and you are in the mind, the soul, the body, the spirit, and the subconscious, you are only sleeping, waiting to return to a level that has no boundary. So what I would say is that I miss Peter dearly but he is still here, scattered – his voice and his message. That we, as young artists, can carry on the mission that Bob, Peter, and many more great prophets as artists and leaders began – to carry on their works. |
 Peter Tosh |
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