On Jamaica’s influence of British Vernacular
Sample post with references to past interview or show…even article
On the Road with Bob Marley
“How can a big music come from a little island?” Not even Bob Marley would have had the answer in 1975, as he was about to give the world some of Jamaica’s finest hours. Never before had a talent, mistakenly called Third World in origin, had so much First World impact. Neville Garrick, graphic artist […]
100 Years Old and the Alpha Boys Band Plays On…
Victorians would have called it a brave sight, thirty-odd boys of the Alpha band, seated under a spreading almond tree, possibly as old as the band itself-tooting clarinets, trumpets, and trombones and saxophones in the gentle morning breeze. Some are barely in their teens, mostly boys from what is politely called difficult social circumstances—petty crime, […]
All At Once
Recording in Jamaica has been overshadowed by the international popularity of its output, reggae music. However, recent evidence suggests that the gap has narrowed and the technology may for the first time be moving ahead of its output. Historically, Jamaica’s recording industry and its popular music began simultaneously in the mid-fifties, unfolding a story of […]
David Rudder: New Hero of Soca
Soca, Trinidad’s popular music, is at the same crossroads reggae found itself in the mid-seventies breaking loose from parochial confines and heading for the world. For soca, “the journey now st.art” as Tam bu proclaims in song. It is being led by a young Trinidadian singer, who by being something of a superstar in Trinidad […]
Whither the Reggae Wind?
Reggae’ s growing casualty list of pop stars, DJ’s, a poet and a musician are grevious blows that a beleaguered music can scarcely stand. Internationally, it has been without a leader since 1981, and here at its tribal moorings, “dancehall” has knocked it on the ropes. The year past, was one of its worst. With […]
Belefonte: Home at Last
“Down the way where the nights are gayAnd the sun shines daily on the mountaintops” West Indians love songs with their finely spun webs of humour, sadness, and love under tropic skies are nostalgic flashbacks to a Caribbean of the Fifties – a far cry from today ‘s realities. Yet , as sung by the […]
