ROOTZ UNDERGROUND RETURN TO RED BONES

International reggae band Rootz Underground, fresh off a multi-city tour of Europe, will play Red Bones the Blues Cafe in Kingston on Friday night (April 8).

The six-man aggregation last played the venue in December of 2010. Since that time, they have been busy fulfilling tour dates and also recording new material, even as they continue to push their sophomore full-length album, “Gravity.”

“We’ve been a away for a good while and we ready now to give our fans in Kingston, and especially at Red Bones, a taste of what’s been happening with Rootz Underground over the last few months,” says lead singer Steve “Lightnin’” Newland. “We always have a great vibe  there and this time will be no different.

The band has also remained active on the social front,  starting promoting its Rootz ReLeaf initiative, by which its fans around the globe are encouraged to plant trees in their neighbourhood and document that tree planting by photo, those items then being placed on the band’s website.

The European tour took Rootz Underground through Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany and France, the latter country including a performance at Paris’ renowned Zenith Music Hall, a venue which has also hosted the likes of Alpha Blondy and Canadian rockers The Arcade Fire.   By month’s end, Rootz Underground will be heading to the southern Us state of Louisiana for the annual Festival de Louisiane, and will be hitting other events and venues in the southern and western US prior to and expected summer return across the Atlantic for more European dates.

Infinity: Next Up

Infinity (born Daniel Edwards) set another stone in his bid to be THE next international artiste out of Jamaica, with a suitably varied and scintillating set at Kingston's Red Bones the Blues Bar recently.

Ably supported by vocalist Thamar, guitarist samuele Vivian, keyboardist Joshua Jones, percussionist Ouida Lewis,  The list, eclectic from the start, was even more so in the second set, which featured an appearance from "Mr. Get It" Bryan Art. The set included originals like  Seeds of Glory, the hot new single, "Save Me", Eyes of One" the playfully boasting "Ratings" and the haunting "So Many". Look to hear much more from this focussed yet unassuming musician over the coming weeks and months. 

To Leo, Da Victory...singer Conquers Quad

"I planned to leave long time, but you hold me"

That was just one of the endorsements that rang out at Kingston nite spot the Quad (now in a transition phase) following a sometime impromptu yet always engaging set from singer Leonardo McFarlane(full name Leonardo Carmichael McFarlane), more than ably supported by Pon Fyah (Ozou'ne, Chris and Damion on keys, drum and bass respectively).

The affable crooner, who until recently had been in the Triangle area of North Carolina, told the audience he wanted to comemmorate Black History, but having not been present for the month, gave a "lifetime's worth of classic reggae, soul and r&b tunes, done in a variety of styles by the ever-inventive band.

The crowd refused to let him go, and the impression was so distinct that the artiste earned himself a return engagement come Thursday night, along with the likes of veteran Ossie D.

Victory for Music @ the Pegasus

whether you want to call it "big people tings" or " the mature alternative" there were no cliches necessary: it was just good music at the Pegasus Gardens as the Victory Christian academy had the likes of Dwight Pinkney, Della Manley, Seretse Small, Keith Lyn, Alex Martin-Blanken and Christine Fisher and Boris Gardener, to a moderate but enthusiastic crowd on Sunday night.

Blues, Ripe for the Pickin @ Red Bones

Gawaine Campbell (top left) is a more than proficient student of the blues idiom as laid down by Stevie Ray Vaughn, B B King, Luther Allison and more. In the company of Fitzroy Bennett, Jerome Wiles and Ruel Miller at Red Bones on Friday night, he delivered a rousing, if slightly uneven set of blues standards that included a rollicking "Rock Me Baby" and a magisterial "Texas Flood" that ideally should have closed out the first set, but was sadly followed by a neo-soulish  reading of "Ain't NoSunshine".

No matter. Just to see Campbell's atmospheric flights of fancy and hear his intense love for the music, whilst his bandmates strived to match, as reward enough. The mangoes on the tress skirting the Red Bones stage may need some more time, but as a bluesman - thus trodding a lonely road in Jamaica - Gawaine Campbell is maturing very nicely.

Highlights of UWI 12th Annual SALISES Conference

The Sound of Jamaican Music: Social & Economic Research Conference

Having sat through varied presentations and a keynote address from Bank of Jamaica Governor Bryan Wynter, the audience at the opening of the UWI Social and Economic Sciences Conferenee wee in the mood for  some levity and, courtesy of legendary music man Ibo Cooper and some choice musical cohorts, they got even more than that. In the space of about an hour, the attendees (from various countries) were taken on a trip traversing the spectrum of Jamaican popular music, starting with mento and coming right through the advent of Bob Marley to the present dancehall daze. The presentation was well received and the compliments were still flowing the band's way well into the post-session cocktail hour. when "musicology" and sociology meet, everybody wins, or as Bob famously said, "one good thing about music, when it hits, you feel no pain."