Steven Jackson
jamaicaobserver.com
Wycliffe ‘Steely’ Johnson, of Steely and Clevie fame, is in critical condition at a New York hospital but the music fraternity has been praying for his recovery.
“We want to keep a positive mind,” Clevie Brownie, the other half of the dancehall pioneering duo, told the Sunday Observer. “The chance of his survival is slim.” Read more…
Update: Wycliffe ‘Steely’ Johnson, half of the influential production duo Steely and Clevie, has died.
jamaicaobserver.com
Following a 20-year hiatus from Japan, reggae’s ‘Singing Canary’ Barrington Levy will be the special guest at Mighty Crown’s stadium show scheduled for September 5 in that reggae-loving country. Reggae more…
Sadeke Brooks
jamaica-gleaner.com
Winston Hussey, the 2009 Festival Song winner, has been singing since 1979 but he is just getting the recognition he has been yearning for over the years.
“It is still a great feeling. Still a sense of joy. When I go in the streets, people still recognise me as the Festival Song winner,” Hussey told The Sunday Gleaner of his newest title.
He won the Festival Song crown on July 26 at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre with Take Back Jamaica, ahead of nine other acts. Read more…
Mel Cooke
jamaica-gleaner.com
Recording Love You Higher took Benjy Myaz a year. And actually getting around to releasing it took another year. Then another year passed before it was released on his debut album, Intimate Relationship.
Still, that three-year period, from recording in 1994 to including the Randy Crawford remake on the musician turned vocalist’s (but still very much the musician) first full-length album in 1997, falls short of the time Myaz was singing Love You Higher on the north coast circuit. Read more…
Sharon Gordon
jamaica-gleaner.com
Queen Ifrica has been in the spotlight a lot these days from promoting her debut VP Records release, Montego Bay, to voicing her forthright and unwavering stance against a lot of what is happening in the entertainment industry and popular culture in Jamaica and her assessment of how it affects the diaspora.
Queen Ifrica is a tiny woman, but her passion is gargantuan. Read more…
Brian Bonito
jamaica-gleaner.com
When Bob Marley and the Wailers released Babylon By Bus in 1978 – a live album recorded in Paris – the reggae superstar was depicting how he and the group travelled while on tour.
But in Jamaica, there were other vehicles that played an important role in the Reggae king’s sojourn. Read more…
Reggae Mix Online
The concert promoter, American based Live Nation, bowed to pressure from gay rights activists.
The groups campaigned through hundreds of emails to the promoter to ban Buju from their venues because of the reggae artist’s “anti-gay sentiments.”
Live Nation announced that the concerts by were canceled, and refunds would be available to ticket holders.
Another American based promotions company, AEG Live, followed suit and canceled its dates with the artist.
Buju was scheduled to perform at several Live Nation venues as well as other locations in the U.S.A beginning in October.
Dancehall artists are, facing a backlash that’s been looming for some time now
Rowan Irie
Reggae Mix Online
Commentary
Recently, Gay rights groups campaigned to cancel Buju Banton’s shows that were being promoted by the world’s largest producer and promoter of live entertainment, Live Nation ; they succeeded.
These shows could have been very lucrative for the artist and good for Dancehall.
There was a time in Jamaica when a Dancehall artist could perform and “lick out ‘gainst batty boys” while the audience revel in support of that message, and that was the end of that.
Now, with the world figuratively getting smaller partly due to the many modes of communication, artists who want to branch out are running in to a harsh reality.
Outside of very tiny Jamaica which, according to unsubstantiated reports, is the most homophobic place on earth, the world is changing. Social tolerance is slowly permeating that with which we may not agree.
In order to further their careers, which is the point of them seeking international exposure, these artists have a choice of remaining steadfast in their conviction and be relegated to mediocrity or learn to be tolerant and have doors opened.
You don’t have to accept a person’s lifestyle, but just know that you have to respect it. You can get away with that attitude in Jamaica.
I grew up in Jamaica with that same attitude. I’m now living in America and have to come to grips with the fact that my attitude must change, however difficult it may be.
At the very minimum these artists should approach this from a business point of view, and recognize that money is neither Gay nor Straight. Do the show, collect your money then move on.