reggaeendz.com

PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD – Soca music fans and music lovers worldwide who want to experience the very best in Caribbean music will revel in the latest album release from the genre’s most celebrated artiste, Machel Montano, titled ALBUM 34. The prodigiously gifted Trinidadian, whose debut vinyl album Too Young To Soca arrived in record shops in 1985, has once again created a magical brew of sweet soca rhythms on this, his 34th career release. ALBUM 34 is now available throughout Trinidad & Tobago, with worldwide distribution scheduled for later this month.  

 NEW MUSIC

Fans have come to expect from Montano a rich array of hit songs every year, jam-packed with explosive, driving rhythms that he produces for Trinidad & Tobago’s Carnival celebrations. Surely this new batch of 15 tracks comprising ALBUM 34 will not disappoint his vast legion of followers – in T&T and throughout the Caribbean Diaspora – and its many gems are bound to attract many new listeners as well.

One of the new songs presently heating up the airwaves and blasting at every Carnival fete in Trinidad is “No Behavior,” a fast-paced, volatile soca track with Montano’s trademark style that every soca fan instantly recognises. The artiste urges everyone to “get behind the big truck…start jumpin’ up, start waving up!”  Next up is a groovy soca number, a song infused with a romantic vibe and a gentle rhythm called “Slow Wine.”  

Also on tap are Montano’s newest hit singles “Bumper to Fender,” “Thiefin’ ” and “Awrite” (Ramajay). Each of these tunes has found great favour with partygoers of every race and age at Carnival 2010.  The Trinidadian has once again captured that quintessential Caribbean vibe – a scintillating mix of rhythms full of warmth, love, and good humour.

 FAMOUS COLLABORATIONS

Machel Montano has been a driving force behind Caribbean musical integration for more than a decade, with a multitude of important collaborations to his credit, including features with Pitbull, Lil Jon, Shaggy, Wyclef Jean, Beanie Man, Busy Signal, Vybz Kartel, Alison Hinds, Ricky T, Tallpree, just to name a few.  Montano’s vision of Caribbean unity forged though music and culture is beautifully underscored in the delivery of ALBUM 34, as this exciting mix of new music includes collaborations with leading singers, musicians, and producers from Barbados, Grenada, Antigua, St. Vincent, Jamaica, B.V.I., Cuba, and USA.

On ALBUM 34, Montano has joined forces with Pitbull for an electrifying remix of “Awrite” (Ramjay).  The remix not only celebrates the fusion of reggaton and soca rhythms but also the resilience of the Haitan people following the catastrophic earthquake that affected Haiti on January 12.  

Jamaican dancehall superstar Busy Signal is also in the mix on 34, making a mesmerising spin with Machel on “Wooeeii Gyal Wooeeii,” an African-influenced riddim that’s punctuated by magnificent drumbeats. Both productions are fascinating examples of Montano’s experimental approach to music-making in the studio, which no doubt is why his work is the most original and most eagerly-anticipated music in this genre.

Other savory collaborations on ALBUM 34 include “Hot Like” featuring dancehall star Serani, “Fetting On” with Skinny Fabulous, and “Really Hot” with Wildfire, an upcoming Trinidadian-American artiste.  Also, get a good listen to Machel on “Not Going Home,” an uplifting, inspirational song about the power of Carnival to bring people together and to celebrate joyously their common humanity.

 CARIBBEANFUSION
In addition to the various artistes mentioned above, Montano has ensured the success of his newest endeavour by collaborating with many of the Caribbean’s leading producers, including his close friend and award-winning songwriter, Kernal Roberts, Dwain “Dwaingerous” Antrobus, Shawn “Roots” Mitchell, Jason “Nutron” Carter, Kasey Phillips, among many others.   On the album liner notes, the artiste also sends out thanks to the HD Family, a close-knit cadre of performers and musicians who have been by his side over the past four years at carnivals and concert stages around the world. 

 RECORD ALBUMS

Montano fans will also marvel at the CD cover art for ALBUM 34, which consists of cover images of all the artiste’s previous 33 albums.   This truly prodigious recorded output, a wonderful achievement in itself, clearly makes Montano the most productive and enduring artiste in the history of soca music.Young fans of soca and other music lovers will be well-advised to delve into Montano’s extensive catalogue, not only to discover a great deal of exciting music but will to also get an appreciation of the evolution of the genre over the past three decades.

 CARNIVAL 2010 AND BEYOND

After the ALBUM 34 release, there is already that next mountain to climb for Montano. He has decided to take a short break from live performances at this year’s Trinidad Carnival in order to execute many new projects that are engaging his attention.   These projects include a Bollywood film production, as well as new music, which he will be releasing throughout the year.

 MACHEL & BEYONCE

Machel is also eagerly looking forward to seeing all of his fans again next week. On Thursday, February 18th at the Queens Park Savannah, Port of Spain, Montano appeared as the opening act for Beyoncé.  It was the first ever appearance in the Caribbean for the world’s ‘Queen of Pop,’ 16-time Grammy award-winning artiste, and it was night of great music and amazing performances by both Machel and Beyoncé. 

 AWARDS & NOMINATIONS

Montano is no stranger to award ceremonies as his work has been receiving worldwide acclaim for decades. Already this year, he continues his streak of success by racking up five nominations in the 2010 International Reggae & World Music Awards set for May 2 in New York.  Montano previously walked away with the top IRAWMA award back in

2008 when he won the ‘Bob Marley Entertainer of the Year,” and is a front-runner for it again this year.

 Contributed

Feb.2010

Reggae Endz.com©2008

Ernie Smith is known for his original hits “Life is Just for Living”; “Tears on My Pillow” the Johnny Nash million-seller; “Duppy Gunman” and more.

In the 1972 World Popular Song Festival sponsored by The Yamaha Foundation in Tokyo, Ernie won the Grand Prize with his original composition “Life Is Just For Living”, competing against songwriters like Neil Sedaka, and Michael Legrand.  This made Ernie the first Jamaican musician to win an international music award and he later went on to become the first musician to be honoured by the Jamaican Government with the Badge of Honour for meritorious service in the field of Popular Music.

Ernie has written well over 200 songs, several of which have been recorded by other artists, including Johnny Nash, Rita Marley, Chakka Demus and Pliers, Sanchez, Twiggi, Ken Lazarus, John Jones, Judy Boucher, Goldie Hawn, Eddie Lovett, Yellowman, and Grace Thrillers.
Ernie has played many of the world’s stages to date, including repeat performances at Madison Square Garden, and multiple venues in Europe, Canada, North, Central and South America, the Far East, the Caribbean, and of course his homeland Jamaica.

Ernie returned to Jamaica in 1989, after a period of 13 years’ in Canada and Florida. This exile resulted from strong reaction to his song “As we fight one another for the Power and the Glory, The Kingdom goes to waste”.    His 1997 anthology “After 30 Years: Life is Just For Living”, has won great acclaim and is still in demand today.  Ernie’s other works since his return include an early indictment of the negative direction in which the ‘new’ Dancehall was heading – “Dancehall: Ernie Cleans It Up” (1995).  His “Rebel Music“, written in 1974 and recorded for inclusion in his 1997 compilation, is nothing short of prophetic.

Ernie’s latest album “COUNTRY MILE” (2009) includes collaborations with popular IRIE FM, Ron Muschette and fellow veteran performer Pluto Shervington.  Ernie has plans far beyond 2010.  Of paramount importance is the promotion of “COUNTRY MILE” especially his favourite track “That’s the Kind of People we Are”, rejuvenating his 1974 gospel album, “I‘ll Sing for Jesus” and performing on the Continent of Africa for the first time.

With Ernie Smith, time has no boundaries, and today, he is as vibrant and fresh as ever and ready to move on through any challenge his musical journey may encounter.

ABOUT THE ALBUM

COUNTRY MILE is fresh! Incisive! Hypnotic!  The fans favourite tracks are: That’s the Kind of People We Are (with his friend for decades – Pluto Shervington) You are a Lion (featuring popular Radio DJ, Ron Muschette from IRIE FM) Country Mile, the Title song and Somebody Here (a conversation with his son).

 Contributed

Reggaeendz.com©2008

  Singer Kym, formerly known as Gaza Kim, has released a new song which talks about her assault experience called The Truth.

 In January of this year, the teenage singer, real name Kim Hamilton, was assaulted in the community known as ‘Big Yard’, off Mannings Hill Road.

 According to a story previously published in THE STAR, a source close to the ‘Gaza’ crew disclosed that Kym was at Big Yard when she and a group of men got into a verbal altercation. THE STAR source claimed that Vybz Kartel arrived on the scene and the men were instructed to beat her. A statement from Kartel however, denied his involvement in the incident.

 Name change

 After the incident the singer changed her name from Gaza Kim to Kym and has since officially left the Portmore Empire. She is no longer being managed by Vybz Kartel’s record label Adidjaheim Records.

 In an interview with radio host Nikki Z, which can be heard on www.youtube.com, Kym explained the situation saying, “I was told that I inform on Vybz Kartel … I was told to come to the studio 9 o’clock sharp on the day that the incident happened … I was there and I just started to get beaten and I don’t know why.” In the interview, Kym confirmed that she knows the identity of the attackers.

 wha’ really gwaan

 In The Truth Kym talks directly about the assault. In the intro she says, “my yute me know and you know wha really gwaan.” In the song she sings, “from di day mi born mi fadda neva lay a hand/so how yuh reach so far yuh mek yuh foot go touch mi pants/ a how yuh bright so?”

 Kym then explains what happened singing, “siddown a listen mi caw mi nah miss out no part/ everybody know how it start/ first ting 2 o clock inna di mawning/ mi get some text and some calling fi come ova 9 o clock inna di mawning/ but mi neva know a danger calling/ so nuh ask if mi neva get ready, get dress/went over dere and go buck up inna di mess.”

 She continues in verse two, “yuh assume sey mi do sumting, is best if yuh come confront mi/ but don’t put yuh hand pon me /caz a neva you birth me/my yute mek it know sey yuh diss/yuh clownies dem beat me up/mi face full up of fist/yuh deh deh pon di scene so whappen afta dis?/unnu believe sey mi weak but mi a di strongest.”

 Courtesy of http://www.jamaica-star.com

  According to recent reports in the foreign press, Jamaica’s biggest superstar, Bob Marley, is poised to become the world’s richest dead celebrity by 2012. It has been reported that the king of reggae who would have turned 65 yesterday (Saturday, February 6) had he had not succumbed to cancer 29 years ago, is about to challenge Elvis Presley and the king of pop Michael Jackson for the title of the richest dead celebrity.

 The report by Erik Heinrich in the Toronto Fortune stated that the Toronto-based private-equity firm Hilco Consumer Capital has struck a management deal with the Marley estate, which is expected to generate world-wide annual sales in excess of $1 billion by 2012. That seems like a huge amount, but by some estimates the Marley name, sound, and image already generate as much as $600 million in pirated merchandise.

 ”Marley is a strong global brand. He enjoys a high level of awareness, and people feel positive about his music,” Mickey Goodman, a professional marketer and professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business was quoted as saying.

 The report went on to state that the major licensing agreements for the Marley brand are about to be launched in two key areas: consumer electronics and health cares. Also in the works, according to Hilco, are deals for a Marley-branded calming beverage, a video game similar to Guitar Hero featuring Marley’s songs, and a chain of restaurants celebrating the music superstar.

 And since we are celebrating Reggae and Black History at the same time, it is important to note that last year, streets in the West African Country, Nigeria, were renamed after Bob Marley, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X and Nigeria’s music legends Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

 Names of some 80 streets in Nigeria’s administrative capital were slated to be rebranded, some of them stripping off names of former military governors.

 Marley for Education

 A little known fact is that the Bob Marley legacy goes beyond music and accolades that have heaped on Jamaica’s best known artiste. It stretches into the philantrophy and charitable cause. For example, as the 2009-2010 school year kicked into full gear here in Jamaica, the Bob Marley Foundation continues to support the educational needs of inner city and rural youths.

 Marley for Education, the educational project funded by the Bob Marley Foundation has spent over JM$1,000,000 for the 2009 back-to-school season.

 The money paid out included grants for selected graduates of Bob’s alma mater, Stepney Primary and Junior High School, in St Ann, who are now attending various high schools in the parish. In addition, full and partial scholarships have been awarded to other students from inner-city communities in Kingston.

 The Foundation also provided Matthew 25:40, a home for children with HIV, with educational supplies. The children who live at Mathew 25:40 attend various traditional and non-traditional schools in the Corporate Area and are in need of assistance to ensure their attendance at school.

 The Bob Marley Foundation’s main mandate is to keep the name, image and legacy of Robert Nesta Marley alive and to continue the caring, loving and giving spirit of this great Jamaican Reggae music legend.

 Courtesy of www.Jamaicaobserver.com

The year 2010 arrived with a most ominous presence. With the death toll expect to surpass the tens of thousands and an infrastructure already weaken by myriads of other ailments, the recent earthquake in Haiti has done nothing to help the situation; but rather, it is another event that is sure to test the resolves of a people that has been wrestling with challenges, both of natural and human cause over its four hundred-plus years history, as the first independent black republic in the western hemisphere.

 As I watch the endless news reels, of devastation, the out-pouring of global support and the tortured, sometime disfigured faces of the survivors, I also saw the defiant, “I will get through it” Haitian strength, the smiles on the face of the its youngest and most innocent of citizen- In them it is the light of hope, not despair that shone brightest. Whether, it is a product of the shock from the tragedy that has taken the live of their classmates, their neighbors or their family members, or them simply being oblivious to the magnitude of the event, I am not sure. But, what I am undoubtedly sure about is what I saw –the hope and the energy of Haiti’s youth that will allow her to rise like the proverbial phoenix from the devastation of 2010’s first major disaster.

 It was against this back drop that I watched Saturday night’s (January 23) musical telethon to aid Haiti on CNN; it was an inspirational out-pouring of good will from musicians across genres. It was powerful stuff, as I watched a montage of the devastation being replayed throughout the performances of artist the likes of Seal, John Legend and a host of others. But, as I had alluded to earlier on, there were also bright, “thank God I am alive” faces. I recalled, one man, in particular being pulled from the rubbles, even though he had been and was still trapped beneath tons of concrete- for days, I did not see despair, instead I saw grateful  relief. In a city of three million lives, with countless of them hanging in the balance, it was an occurrence that repeated over and over.

 So when one hears report that noted individuals such as conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh and Televangelist Pat Robertson have chosen to use this human tragedy to push their extreme views, I reflected on the interview that I had recently with Village Roots, reggae recording artist Isiah Mentor who was in the WRSU studio to promote his new album, Rasta Government. In explaining the philosophy behind “Rasta Government,” Mentor extrapolates that “after thousands of years of the same kind of thinking, living and leadership…” It was time for something different- “Time for a Rasta Government!” Mentor stated further that it is “Time for universal sister and brotherhood… its time for us to start “thinking out of the box.”

 What is amazing and surprisingly, equally reassuring about the tragedy in Haiti, is the almost universal compassion being expressed, even by those who are professed conservatives and evangelists, many even expressing outrage over the views of their leaderships.

 I listened to Wyclef Jean’s, one of Haiti’s endearing sons, appeal…his call to his brethrens in and out of the arts and I saw them responded in their numbers, none offering the disparaging commentary of America’s “so call moral and social leaders.” So, it is of little surprise that our youths are steadily flocking to de-jays rappers, singers and actors as their role models, even to their detriment; because, the institutions that were constructed to provide leadership are sorely lacking, offering little alternative. As they are, themselves, morally “bankrupt.”

  I recalled, recently reading a screen saver that was on my niece’s computer, which expressed a simple, yet profound thought; it read, “I love music, because music won’t judge me!” If this way of thinking is reflective of our youth and I think it is. Then, we really do need a “Rasta Government;” as, the status quo is apparently inadequate to lead us into a better future. Thus, what is considered rebellious behavior is actually a cry for compassionate leadership from the beacons of our tomorrow, our youth.

  Suffice to say, as Wyclef appealed on behalf of Haiti’s earthquake victims, so do I appeal to all artists/performers, irregardless of genre or nationalities, (on behalf of our universal future and the prospect for a more compassionate world) in the same way that you have come together during this heart wrenching tragedy, take it to the next level, I beseech you all-come to the aid of our children and secure their future by censoring your contents. Don’t wait for another tragedy to show your compassion. Help to create that “Rasta Government” of healthy thinking and healthy living. Perhaps in time we can replace the failing institutions of hate and silence the corrupted war mongering voices that have been the bane of human existence to this point.

 Keep the love and the positive message in the music and together let us lift up the Haiti’s of this world. Blessed love!

 GN

Jan. 23, 2010

Reggae Endz©2008