Wondering what's in store for Reggae & Dancehall in 2012? Reshma B does some predicting... IN THE NEWS It's 50 YEARS OF JAMAICAN INDEPENDENCE this year and there's sure to be lots going on, trust me. Casting on the remake of 1972 cult thriller 'The Harder They Come' (yes I know, it's hard for a remake to be better than the original, especially this original) happens this year – how exciting! Who the hell is going to replace JIMMY CLIFF ???? I reckon it should be KARTEL ! JUSTINE HENZELL (daughter of the late Perry Henzell who directed ''The Harder ...

secarosom : The First International Reggae Poster Contest 2012 Está aberto a designers gráficos e artistas ao redor do globo o “First International Reggae Poster Contest 2012”, concurso de posters sobre musica reggae, com objetivo de continuar a construir a consciência musical e celebrar as conquistas e impacto da musica Jamaica; Ska, Rocksteady, Roots Reggae, Dub, Dancehall e cultura Soundsystem. Os 100 melhores posters do concurso terá publicação em um catálogo/livro com edição de até 1.500 cópias, o fundo de vendas será revertido ao trabalho da histórica instituição Alpha Boys’ School, lar em Kingston que desde 1880 oferece educação ...

Whatever shred of caring SoundRoots maintained for the importance of the Grammy Awards is pretty much gone, due in part to the stripping of several key categories, and due more to the Academy's persistent message that music that sells well is better than, er..., everything else. SoundRoots' own list of the best music of 2011 will be posted here later this week. For now, in the interests of an informed public, I give you the nominees for the few reaming Grammy global categories. The winners will be announced at the official ceremony on Feb. 12. Best World Music Album ...

It's going to be hard throwing a swanky awards bash in this economic climate. The temptation to be showy and flash must be avoided at all costs, while still keeping a sense of dignity. How are the Grammy organisers going with that? Oh, yes. That ugly wrist choker is the official Grammy "timepiece" (implying there's no Grammy cuckoo clock this year) and comes in at just $1,395. As ever, here's the full list of nominations; leap over to get to the chattery bit 1. Record Of The Year Rolling In The Deep Adele Paul Epworth, producer ...

The Grammy nominees for best reggae album have been announced. The proud nominees are Monty Alexander’s Harlem-Kingston Express Live!, Israel Vibration’s Reggae Knights, Stephen Marley’s Revelation Pt 1: The Root of Life, Ziggy Marley’s Wild and Free and Shaggy’s Summer … Continue reading →

Earlier this year the fruitful relationship between label JahSolidRock and production crew Not Easy At All gave us the acclaimed Judgment Time by Chezidek. Now they’re at it once again. And this time they’ve laid their hands on veteran Apple Gabriel from legendary trio Israel Vibration, probably best known for their dread 78’ debut The Same [...]

Here's a collection of '60s surf rock by black artists, more recent reggae songs about surfing, a tongue-in-cheek '80 New Wave song (the Bus Boys) and some mashups pitting black singers against surf instrumentals. And one rap song. The Black Surfing Association has only a handful of members now - during the '60s sur f music craze, there were no doubt even fewer black surfers, especially in the days of se greg ated beaches. So why would black musicians make surf music? For money of course. As with the "Surfin With Bo Diddley" album I posted a few days ago ...

C'mon .....you don't think yesterday's little bit of poptastic stuff was a mere coincidence? For Part 33 of this series, I'm moving away from singles to the record that was voted #1 LP by the writers on the NME in 1979. The full list, for your info was:- 1. Fear of music - Talking heads 2. Metal box - Public Image ltd. 3. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division 4. Setting sons - The Jam 5. Entertainment - Gang of four 6. Armed Forces - Elvis Costello 7. Do it yourself - Ian Dury 8. London Calling - The Clash 9. Squeezing out the sparks ...

My fave music of summer has always been roots reggae. And as it´s gotten kinda hot here over the last couple of weeks - joder, que calor! - I find myself skanking the time away more and more often. Here´s a tenpack selection of boss sounds from the Island I´ve been enjoying lately. Abyssinians - Satta Massagana MP3 Wailing Souls - Bredda Gravalicious MP3 Ras Ibuna - Diverse Doctrine MP3 Augustus Pablo - Stop Them Jah MP3 Jacob Miller - Tenement Yard MP3 Burning Spear - Door Peeper MP3 Little Roy - Don´t Cross The Nation MP3 Israel Vibration - The Same Song MP3 Mighty Diamonds ...

Culture has always been my fave reggae vocal trio, despite tough competition from similar outfits as the Heptones, the Congos, the Mighty Diamonds, Israel Vibration and the Abessynians, to name but a few. Albert Walker, Kenneth Dayes and especially the charismatic ´Keeper Of Zion Gate´ Joseph Hill (´49-´06) had that certain je ne sais quoi which separates the true greats from the mere mortals. Their very rootsy early output ( Africa Stand Alone , their magnum opus Two Sevens Clash, Baldhead Bridge , Harder Than The Rest and Cumbolo ) is especially dear to my heart. Here´s one song each from these ...