Bob, Bruno and the Grammy tribute

Hab=ving watched - and rewatched the recent tribute, I'm not convinced it was such a good thing for Bob and for Jamaican music. what's your take?

http://mnialive.com/entertainment/news/3441-grammy-awards-tribute-to-bob-marley-when-is-a-tribute-not-a-tribute.html

OF BLACK FACE & PUBLIC FACE

Two Actresses in the Jamaican “Star System”

“The mask habitually worn by the actor is likely to become his true face”

-Plato

An interesting perspective from the Greek philosopher (educated, by the way, largely on Egyptian principles, but that’s another column). In the unofficial “arts hierarchy” actors, and stage actors in particular, enjoy a peculiar place – they’re nowhere as obscure or overlooked as writers or painters are, but they generally pale in comparison to music artistes. Dancers, at least those in the dancehall sphere, have carved out a special space for themselves, even as their counterparts in the more formal dance world remain virtual unknowns.

In Jamaica, there’s a star system, but its vastly different from what obtains in the self-obsessed US. Of course, comparisons are slightly unfair, given the scale and also the fact that, apart from the ongoing “cross-over” of celebrity screen actors to the stage, most career stage actors toil in relative obscurity.

Whatever the visual medium, Jamaicans like their stars accessible; entourages, publicity hacks and other retinue are for the music biz. It’s a common occurrence for random members of the public to acknowledge and even engage the best-known and most popular “celebrities”  - even the music stars - in light conversation, a virtually unheard of (or maybe bygone) practice in the US.

Its against that backdrop that I engage  Deon Silvera in conversation outside a busy shopping club in a Kingston suburb.  Silvera, of a quiet yet curious demeanour, ready to engage, is one of the best known Jamaican stage actresses and has also done television and big screen work, though her talents contributed to one such, the Denzel Washington vehicle, “The Mighty Quinn” ended up almost toally on the cutting room floor. Her portrayals span the gamut but are also littered with the kind of scrappy, boisterous urban women that represent today’s  social reality.

Our dialogue is frequently interrupted by stares, pointing fingers and the inevitable questions and greetings from passers-by, all of which she receives and responds to in good graces. “I don’t get tired of it” she remarks at on stage. “You know this is how our people operate, and in that way, its good for us as the actors to get that recognition.”

Contrast that with the attitude of Andrea Wright, a one-time teacher who is now known across the island as “Delcita” the name of a character (a type, really, but more on that in a bit) that she palys. Matter fact, Wright’s situation lends some credence to Plato’s quote, given that while Delcita is universally known, saying the name Andrea Wright might get you a chorus of “who?” This nickname culture is prevalent in Jamaica, and a generally throughout the Caribbean as well as the American South, tracing its roots back to slavery when families were broken up and original African names were discarded in favour of  Westernized ones and other less favourable descriptives.

Ironically, the Delcita character is played in the “blackface” style that also emerged in the slave period in the US and spread to the UK and her colonies. This “coon” depiction would be roundly booed in amny parts of the US today, but here, coupled with a healthy dose of Jamaican sayings and contrived comic situations, has made Delcita the #1 draw in Jamaican theatre. Lines stretch around corners wherever her productions play and women and even young girls speak of her as an “empowering” figure.

All of which has led Wright to disdain the charges (including my own) that she is deliberately upholding a negative stereotype. Speaking on a local radio show, Wright defiantly says “Delcita is a way that we can make people laugh and even dish out practical advice from the stage. I don’t have time to go back in no history book and fret ‘bout no coon or naything like that. The people not putting that on them head.”

This is largely true, notwithstanding the fact that several callers to the show did voice their displeasure with and opposition to the blackface representation and its transmitted values of loudness, ugliness and ignorance. Delcita is big news and big business, maybe not Hollywood-big, but certainly big enough nationally and among Jamaicans overseas, many of whom still have the rural-based “dunce-head” stereotypes still close at hand – and to heart. 

Stephanie's Debut EP "Real Woman" set to drop January 31, 2013

You've heard her voice on many local and international recordings doing backing vocals, she's a songwriter for Rebel America Inc., She's done two studio albums with the legendary Sly and Robbie for Sony Music Japan (UNITZz), she's the Sponsorship Manager for the Gungo Walk World Alternative Music & Arts Festival hosted in Jamaica. She produces,promotes and performs on various live music shows locally, she's traveled the world singing with European singer Fermin Muguruza and Groundation, among other notable achievements. Stephanie has been pursuing her solo career for some time now; a multifaceted entertainer, her experience in the music industry has prepared and poised her for the journey ahead.

Stephanie will finally release her long awaited debut EP titled "Real Woman". The steadily growing fan base has been asking for an album for some time now which has been a work in progress and is poised for release further in 2013. However she's ready to introduce herself to the world at large with a five (5) track EP scheduled to drop on January 31. If you're not already following Stephanie on various sites, please see links below and start now so you don't miss a thing. Hot collaborations, remixes, world-class. Stay tuned!!

Become a fan on FB: http://www.facebook.com/stephsingslove 
Follow on twitter: http://twitter.com/stephsingslove 
Reverbnation: http://www.reverbnation.com/stephaniemusicpage 
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/stephsingslove 
http://www.youtube.com/PrncessStphie 
Check out my blog: http://stephaniemusicent.blogspot.com/

HE'S A REBEL - BUT NOT TONY!

Worm Bass

He's toured the world with the likes of Beenie Man, stood on the Grammy podium, and even shot a cover feature fro French Vogue

Tony Rebel

but for Delroy Nevin, more popularly known as "Worm Bass" Royal Caribbean, it's being mistaken for Rebel Salute founder Patrick "Tony Rebel"

Barrett that is still a bugbear. The situation is so bad, he recounts, that even members of the "Rebel's" family and entourage have come up to him

thinking him to be Tony Rebel.

But Worm Bass, himself a three-decade veteran of the entertainment biz, whose career started in the resort town of Montego Bay and blossomed in 

Ocho Rios, is not letting the more than passing resemblance or the mistaken identity faze him. He's moving forward as he always has with his career

in his typically organic fashion. Among his upcoming projects are a full-length disc ("in progress; we're taking our time"), and a number of dates both

across the island and overseas.

Scanning the overall music/entertainment scene, Worm Bass is appealing to artistes to take more of what he calls the "long view." in developing

their career. "We could gain so much more form this business is artiste were willing to take a serious look at the business and not be just running

down the quickest dollar," he says.

That said, the lanky bassist, and multiple talent is working hard to get himself established in the higher firmament of the music scene and thereby help

to erase the ongoing confusion between himself and "the Rebel

Courtney John Project

Jedi Dub: Courtney John's Rootstronic

Michael A Edwards

Picture the iconic scene.

Its Star Wars, and young Luke Skywalker has just walked into an intergalactic bar/nightclub; all manner of strange  (at least to us back then) and weird denizens of faraway galaxies are milling about, imbibing drinks and making the scene just as they would in a terrestrial club. And then just as on Earth, music plays a big part in setting the scene,

Its the same kind of scene that Courtney John conjures up in "Soul of A Man" on of seveal tracks on his about-to-be-released disc. There are no visual aids, but none are necessary, as the music creates all the ambience one could imagine: multiple percussive patterns cascade over, cross with and meld into one another while all manner of fills, distortions and other sonic treatments snake in and out of the pieces to create a sonic rapture that's hard to categorize and even harder to shake out of memory.

Ironically, the exercise, featuring John, legendary keyboardist/producer Steven "Lenky" Marsden (he of the "Diwali" riddim among others) and drummer/vocalist Wiz, owes it genesis partly to another movie,Oliver Stone's 2012 release "Savages".

"We were asked to contribute some material to the soundtrack," John explains, "and in coming together for that process, we just get a vibe on this kinda sound, and we just followed it and started to experiment.

Some of the results of those "experiments" are already available (see the "Soul of A Man" video link below) and the whole package is about to released as The Courtney John Project, with the sound being branded "Rootstronic". Tour dates, beginning in Europe, will follow on that in short order. Its a forward-looking, global-minded but distinctly Jamaican sonic palette, with shades of the dub giants of the early 70s (King Tubby, Perry & the Upsetters, Pablo Moses) as well as the electro-dance music that's still enthralling audiences worldwide.

Such feats are par for the course for Courtney John who since emerging with a cover of Paul Davis' 1977 smash "I Go Crazy" has made a habit of nurturing his musical idiosyncracies rather than merely shuffling along to the beat of externally imposed "trends".   "To me this is part of a natural progression," he says as the music continues to fill the studio confines. "Our approach is to release ourselves from any conventions that the combined industry and community might try to impose - its just about being true to what we hear and coming up with an experience that can reach people and at the same time take us forward."

Indeed, the gratifying thing about hearing these tracks is that they are as much organic as "technic" the beats come hard, but its not an overwhelming  kind of noise; rather, the Rootstronic reaches back to foundations of the Jamaican sound and to the future without compromising the listener experience, provided of course, one is open-minded enough to begin with.

John feels many are. "The feedback so far is definitely validating the work," he says. "People are hungry for something new and  they're responding, both here and overseas .

Toward the end of our listening session, talk turns to the recent "monster deal" made by George Lucas in selling his legendary Lucasfilm production complex to the Disney Company. While the music is certainly intended (and very much good enough) for wide consumption, it would certainly be a propos to have forthcoming episodes of the Star Wars saga bolstered by the "Jedi Dub" of the Rootstronic sound.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkdhvlOp0o8&feature=plcp

Courtney John - Steady reppin "Jamaican Soul"

 While his catalog thus far betrays no allegiance to any specific genre, singer Courtney John does admit to a "soft spot" for one particular variant.
"'You could say I was bitten by the rocksteady bug," he relates. "It's still a very under-appreciated genre. It kind of fell under the shadow of the emergent reggae of Marley, Tosh et al between the late 60s and early 70s. It was our soul music"

That huge movement of  "Jamaican Soul" as the artiste puts it is enjoying one of its best resurgences yet, especially out of UK, where in fact, it never fell out of favour. Its a favourable bellwether for John - and for Jamaican music as a whole - as he gets set to release his latest album this July.

The disc is titled "From Letters to Words". The title, he explains, speaks to progressions, both personal and musical, which he felt were important to mark and to explore. "Presently, in the "words stage" of my life - not just in terms of career.

The new album comes about three years after his last release, Made In Jamaica. Not an extraordinarily long gap in the overall music biz scenario, but to Jamaican audiences used to cascades of product following product, it may be seen as something of a hiatus. John insists he's "not the type to feel pressured to match up with the 'scene' via a whole lot of output. Its more important to me that I
have to have something to say."

And, in a falsetto as wiry and agile as his frame, the singer makes some eloquent statements, ten tracks in total, including a cover of  the Chi-Lites' "Have You Seen Her" as well current singles "So Beautiful" and the "Its Gonna Be Alright" the latter an alternately smooth and spiky folky kind of song for which a video is already in rotation. John lists it as one of his favourites from the collection.

"Its Gonna Be Alright" also speaks to his overall outlook for the music, provided of course, that certain benchmarks of quality can be revisited and maintained. "There's vast wealth out there," he states in defiance of the "recession rhetoric" that plagues many. "And even when times are hard,  that's when people seek out and try to discover new music. We as Jamaican artistes need to look at the product rather than blame the economy." John, who controls the sale of his music online, as well as his own publishing adds that he has sold  more records online than  he saw on any physical statement from a record company.

Its not meant as a boast, but it is a validation of his decision to hold to the high road and not jump into any limiting deals or to compromise his independence and artistic integrity. "Reggae and the Jamaican sound is still hugely powerful. I decided not to do the "quick cash" thing or sell out in any way. Thankfully, because of the technology, I've been able to link with great people around the world, and they have been finding me."

 Indeed, they have been finding him from such disparate locations as Papua New Guinea, Russia, Kenya, Ghana, Gambia, Uganda and Tanzania and also Hong Kong and other parts of Asia. he has a fall schedule of tours to connect live with fans, beginning with the September and then Europe  and possibly other locales later in the year. 

And with Jamaica 50 excitement (and controversy) high, Courtney John has crafted his own tribute record, just widely released. It features, among others Marcia Griffiths and  Beenie Man. The feedback, he says, is overwhelmingly positive. Beyond that, he's working on another full-length disc, this one titled "The Courtney John Project", which he describes as "roots-tronic" a moniker which certainly holds some intrigue. It puts him alongside noted "riddimeister" Lenky Marsden and other top-notch creators in a decidedly "experimental" mode.


Its a posture he'd like to see - and hear - more Jamaican artists and producers adopt. "There's no one fighting down our music in the major markets as some people state and would have us believe. Its just that as a product the sound has become stagnant, its locked in to something that is obviously not working and not really in demand. So guys just have to really look into themselves and come up with a viable sound. Not saying that youth today should necessarily look to produce the same sound as we had in the 70s, but to take the principles the professionalism that Bob and the others upheld and build on it." 

DON COSMIC LIVES!!

perhaps the most revered and controversial instrumentalist-composer to come out of Jamaica. After the death of saxophone legend Charlie ‘Yardbird” Parker in 1955, the graffiti “Bird Lives!” became common around New York City. I have appropriated that phrase for the similarly legendary Don Drummond.

Even the most prestigious  and scholarly music  admit that very little is known of his early life. From a recording standpoint, he first emerged around 1956, amidst the then nascent sound system movement, contributing horn breaks on what were then known (and still so called now in some circles) as specials. Several of these would be later released in the UK, to great acclaim (but little, if any direct remuneration) on Chris Blackwell’s Island records imprint.

With the advent of the 1960s, Drummond, like many of his contemporaries, were increasingly drawn to and influenced by the twin strands of the global Black nationalist movement and the more distinctly homegrown Rastafari  ideology. Without a doubt, this must have placed him and his bandmates in sharp variance with the  Establishment who frequented the better clubs to witness their live performances. Whether this exacerbated Drummond’s  then already well known mental difficulties (schizophrenia? Manic-depression?) cannot be said with certainty.

It didn’t help either that his live-in girlfriend was Anita Mahfood, an exotic dancer popularly known as “Margarita”. Mahfood, though part of the economically powerful Kingston merchant class was herself a bit of  a “wild card” and her relationship with the troubled genius was no doubt tumultuous. That tumult reached a grisly and tragic crescendo in the early hours of New Year’s Day 1965, shortly after Mahfood returned to their East Kingston apartment.  There were reports of an argument and screams. In the aftermath Mahfood, then only 23, was found dead from multiple stab wounds.

Drummond was arrested and – in a bit of a whirlwind – tried, deemed “legally insane” and remanded to Kingston’s Bellevue Hospital. That brings us back to May 6^th, 1969, the day he died, but not to the end of controversy. With no autopsy performed, Drummond’s death was ruled a suicide, an “official” version that remains contested by conspiracy theories of various sorts to this day.  The hospital staff, one claims, ruthlessly beat and otherwise ill-treated Drummond, all with the tacit permission of the then Government, which was bent on stamping out this “Black Power nonsense” (It was hardly a year prior that rioting broke out in the wake of the Government’s decision to expel pan-Africanist Walter Rodney); others claim that Mahfood’s family had extracted revenge for her demise at Drummond’s hands.

The full truth has very likely been interred with the body, but, selfish as it may seem, in the wake of Drummond’s departure, we have the tremendous treasure of the music. His official recorded output has been put at over 300 songs.   No matter how often one hears classics like “Eastern Standard Time” or “Confucious” or “Man In The Street” the warm idiosyncracy and fleet-footed, “hop-skipping” energy (my coinage) of Drummond’s playing and compositions shines through. This goes not only for us here in Jamaica, but for music lovers worldwide

Which brings to mind, as an aside, What is it about the month of May anyway?

Bassist Lloyd Brevett recently made a painful, and by all accounts untimely, transition (precipitated by the tragic shooting death of his son), leaving drummer Lloyd Knibb as now the only surviving member of the original musical aggregation known as the Skatalites who helped shape and popularise a distinctly Jamaican sound, enjoyed in the four corners of the earth.

 Incidentally(?) May is also the month in which Clement “Sir Coxsone” Dodd checked out of this earthly realm. He left us, in 2004, on May 5 to be exact, or one day before (36 years after) Drummond did. It was in Dodd’s famed Studio One that Drummond and the Skatalites not only laid down their own recordings, but as the de facto “house band” provided support for a host of other Jamaican musical legends.  “Don Cosmic” as he would also come to be known, first caught Dodd’s attention during a performance at Kingston’s Majestic theatre

But back to Drummond. To borrow a very apt summation from noted musicologist Herbie Miller, “He was a musical prophet created by the people, not one imposing himself on them in pursuit of stardom, but having it thrust upon him. Drummond observed their tribulations and aspirations then reshaped them into a blues allegory reflected through his compositions and plaintive trombone tone.”

In my own humble estimation, Don Drummond was an original, a “one-of-a-kind” from a nation that seems to specialize in “one-of-a-kind” people. Whatever format you can get it in, get hold of his music and – in a very good way – let him blow your mind.