Marley

The Third Globe’s first celebrity and probably the most familiar individual on the earth, reggae massive BOB MARLEY is famous this year in a film by Academia Award-winning manager Kevin Macdonald (“One Day In Sept,” “State Of Play,” “The Last Master Of Scotland,” “Touching The Void” and “Life In A Day”). MARLEY, which obtained a rapturous party at its best at the Germany Film Celebration on Feb 12, will open in U.S. cinemas on Apr 20, 2012, with all VOD and digital systems, through Wagner/Cuban Business’s Magnolia Images. Created by Bob Ask (Shangri-La Entertainment) and Charles Precious metal (Cowboy Films), and professional generated by Bob’s son Ziggy Marley and Isle Information creator Bob Blackwell, the film features gorgeous stay shows, romantic interview with household, and unusual documented video – all of which informs the specified tale of the celebrity who increased from the ghetto to become one of the best of popular music before passing away unfortunately young at the size of his popularity.

To this day, BOB MARLEY continues to be one of the most important and powerful performers of the Last millennium. Praise include a GRAMMY Life-time Success Prize (2001), several items in the GRAMMY® Lounge Of Fame, induction into the Stone and Throw Lounge of Fame (1994), and the Artisan Move of Fame (2001). His way of life and music constantly motivate new years as his history life on with his collection promoting over 50 thousand collections globally since 1992 alone.

As the key associate piece to this really recommended documented, the formal soundtrack from MARLEY will be launched through Worldwide Music Corporations (UMe) on Apr 17, 2012, as a 2-CD selection and a unique 3-LP vinyl fabric set. The CD contains 24 paths, hand-picked by the Marley household and Bob Blackwell, collecting together some of the most considerable musical technology times of one of the most dearest and valued performers of all-time. Presented are traditional facilities sessions, a unique Kindred Soul dub mix of “Exodus” and paths from various stay shows such as, for once on record, the 1978 One Love Serenity Show efficiency of “Jammin’” during which Marley registered the hands of nasty governmental competitors Eileen Jackson and E Seaga, a act which went some way towards reestablishing peace to a strife-torn Barbados.

Says Kevin Macdonald, Director: “MARLEY the film is an romantic, individual symbol of the renowned musician. But as with any film about an specialist, the main objective has got to be to deliver the audience back to the music with a repaired gratitude for its elegance and importance. That’s why I am so satisfied that Isle are launching this unique selection of music from and motivated by the film.”

Says Bob Blackwell, Executive Manufacturer and Isle Information Founder: “Kevin MacDonald has made a wonderful film about Marley. I think it will touch the minds and hearts of many. It informs Bob’s tale effectively for the first some time to you get a real sense of the man and his amazing ability. His religious concept is as appropriate now as it ever was and his music still resonates all over the community.”

Says Ziggy Marley, Executive Producer: “This documented is the greatest thought of my dad’s life. The household is extremely pleased to be able to have the community lastly experience this psychological voyage.”

It is not chance that the prize for Kiwi reggae band Katchafire, fourth and latest album is called On the Road Again. There have been over the last three years. The band has toured faithfully throughout New Zealand, Australia, Pacific (including Hawaii) and the United States, title shows and festivals in and call anywhere in more than 30,000 people in 2000.

Tomorrow we return to Invercargill is Saints and Sinners for the first time in 28 December last year. Katchafire keyboardist and saxophonist Jamey Ferguson said, we had a little break as soon as early January, then hit hard and we are still running.

It‘s a bit disappointing to play smaller venues, after the stages Arena San Diego, Southland Times suggests. Not so, “he says. Saints have a decent-sized club. I like a little less of myself, when the whole band is a bit closer to each other. A nice little scene where you can almost touch the best performance.

Ferguson joined the group of five concerts in its existence in 1997 when he was touring for much of his life, but says he never stopped to think what might lie beyond music and Katchafire nomadic lifestyle. “I have not really thought about that yet, “he said. I think when my fingers are falling and I am going deaf…

A lot of Internet buzz keeps rolling mill Katchafire. Ferguson said that many people have their concerts already know the songs from his latest album, so it’s a good sign. Invercargill Your visit is a stop on a national tour that takes them from top to bottom. As the New Year will be back on the road with Black seed for three weeks and then there are the summer festivals and another trip abroad.

Ferguson stories that he feels like a break from the tour every two days and then get up the next day. He acknowledges that is a cool lifestyle. He is very relaxed, not as strict about the hours. You get to see the world, many for free, eat well, and know many good people. We are very happy.

Back in the 1970s, when Black Power was the rage in Jamaica, it was cool to clench fists and wear an Afro. Many former radicals have mellowed, but not poet Oku Onuora who, at 58, retains the snarl of his firebrand youth.

Regarded by some as the father of dub poetry, Onuora is scheduled to appear on the Seh Sup’m poetry show today at the Village Café in St Andrew. Chatting with The Sunday Gleaner recently, he said he remains a committed revolutionary.

“Nuthin’ has changed, ’cause wi still seeing the same ’sufferation’ and oppression,” he said.

It has been some time since Onuora has performed, having taken a break from touring and recording. He does not believe his message has been lost to a generation caught up with dancehall feuds and iPods.

“Some of my original work, wi talking ’bout tings like ‘Dread Times’ and ‘Pressure’, still relevant to the times,” he said. “People mus’ listen to our work all 100 years from now.”

Onuora speaks in a fiery, piercing tone, like the inspirational warrior addressing his troops before battle. It has been 10 years since he toured and, typical of serious messengers like Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan, shies from commercial recording.

A Movement is the title of his latest collection of recordings which will be available through the Internet later this year. According to Onuora, his writing has never been solely for recording.

“I don’t get up an’ jus’ crunch out albums, I’m not what yuh call a current writer. I have to feel it before I record anything,” he explained.

Despite his inactivity, Onuora retains a strong fan base in Europe and the United States’ west coast where his 1984 effort, Pressure Drop, is hailed as one of the great protest albums. He remains a prolific writer, but said he turned his back on music when negative elements took over.

“Mi neva like wha’ a gwaan, all of a sudden everybody did tun bad man. Mi nuh inna dat, me’s a revolutionary, mi come fi blow down oppression!” he exclaimed.

Mervyn Morris is a professor emeritus at the University of the West Indies and one of the Caribbean’s distinguished poets. He first met Onuora in the mid-1970s while he (Onuora) was incarcerated at the St Catherine District Prison for armed robbery.

Morris played an influential role in getting ECHO, Onuora’s first book of poems, published. He is not surprised at his achievements.

“Oku has a lot of talent but that’s one thing, he’s always been concerned about social conditions and equality. He’s an activist with conviction,” Morris said.

Oku Onuora went through a phase of ‘badness’ in his youth. Born Orlando Wong in east Kingston, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1970 for armed robbery but was released in 1977 after vigorous lobbying by academics and human rights activists.

It was while in prison that Onuora’s passion for poetry and protest literature grew. He remembers reading Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver’s classic autobiography, Soul On Ice, and the writings of Malcolm X.

He also followed the freedom movement in Africa, finding heroes in Mozambique’s Samora Machel and South African Steve Biko.

With a new name (Oku Nagba Ozala Onuora is his complete name which is Nigerian for everlasting fire or light which burns oppression), Onuora hit the ground running after his release from prison, performing at high-profile events.

The following year, he cut Reflections in Red for Bob Marley’s 56 Hope Road label, which some musicologists recognise as the first dub poetry song. Along with the pioneer Linton Kwesi Johnson in Britain, Mikey Smith and Mutabaruka, Onuora helped put the genre on the map.

Smith was killed in 1983, the alleged victim of mob violence, but Linton Kwesi Johnson and Mutabaruka have enjoyed enduring careers.

Onuora is uncommitted about his plans to promote A Movement, but hopes to perform regularly at intimate events like Seh Sup’m.

“Wi cyaan seh how much show wi going do, but wi coming to blaze!”

REGGAE superstar Sizzla Kalonji has ditched his native Jamaica and relocated to Zimbabwe after being rewarded with a farm for performing at President Robert Mugabe’s 86th birthday celebrations in February.

State-owned local media was quick to extol the development with the Sunday Mail declaring that the artist “was the latest and most important visitor to be swayed by the infectious Zimbabwean touch”.

“In Zimbabwe we have already started recording. I am also looking into areas Judgement Yard (his company) can invest in for the upliftment of Zimbabwean youths,” Sizzla said.

Reggae Rock Band Rootz Underground is currently on a one month Spring tour of Europe. The band, which left Jamaica on March 28, has so far performed in France and Switzerland. The band will also do shows in Greece, Italy and Poland. This tour is coming off the successful internet release of Rootz Undergrounds’ last single Power to the People which was ‘livicated’ to the people of Haiti. The tour will last until the end of April, just in time for the release of Rootz Underground’s latest album Gravitywhich is slated for a summer release.

Lead singer for Rootz Underground, Stevie G, says the Europe tour is going well: “We are very happy with the reception we have gotten so far. Every time we come to Europe we win over new fans with old fans bringing their friends to the shows and the vibe is just wicked. We have only done one week of the tour so far with several stops left in France, Italy, Greece and Poland and we are really looking forward to bringing positive music to these parts of Europe.”

In France on Wednesday March 31 Rootz Underground performed at Cabaret Sauvage in Paris, while the very next day, Thursday April 1, they performed at Chatodo in Blois followed by the Garorock Festival in Marmande, France on Friday April 2. The band then moved to Usine a Gaz in Nyon on April 3 which is located some 25 kilometres north of Geneva in Switzerland.

Rootz Underground has eight more dates in France as well as two dates in Greece, two in Italy and one in Poland. This will be the first time that Rootz Underground will be performing in Italy and Greece and lead guitar for the band, Jeffrey Moss-Solomon, thinks that this is a big step for the band: “We have never performed in Italy or Greece before. This is a big step for the band as we have a lot of fans in those two countries and we are especially looking forward to Greece as we hear that since the economic turmoil there, people have been using our songs to gain strength in their struggles.”

After the release of their second studio album,Gravity, Rootz Underground will return to Europe in the summer to perform at a few Reggae festivals. So far the band is confirmed for Summerjam in Germany onJuly 2 and Roskilde Festival in Denmark on July 3. These two shows are major signposts on the reggae music calendar. There are also other shows in the works but these dates have yet to be confirmed.

Rootz Underground’s 13 city Spring Europe tour continues with great crowd support as the band spread their message and music internationally. The band’s popularity has steadily grown around the world and Rootz Undergound continues to rise in Europe.

If you are hard-pressed to identify a stylistic signature for Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, the gifted songwriting team behind “Ragtime,” “Once on This Island” and “Seussical,” it is probably the way they want it. As they explained to their sometime librettist Terrence McNally, who interviewed them at the 92YTribeca on Monday evening, they take pride in never repeating themselves.

“A Man of No Importance,” “Dessa Rose” and “The Glorious Ones,” three musicals they described as “artisanal shows,” produced at Lincoln Center, are set in 1964 Dublin, the antebellum South and 16th-century Italy. The musical flavors are as varied as the settings.

The evening was the debut of Lyrics & Lyricists Downtown, a more intimate, informal offshoot of the 92nd Street Y’s series that began in 1970. Staged in a modified nightclub setting, with few frills and a vivacious cast of four — Jason Danieley, Quentin Earl Darrington, Kecia Lewis Evans and Christiane Noll, performing to the lone accompaniment of Mr. Flaherty on piano — the show was a welcome throwback to Lyrics & Lyricists’ original incarnation.

In the good old days eminent songwriters appeared onstage to discuss their professional lives and creative process. But as that generation died, the series had to reinvent itself. Today it is a nostalgic, staid, sometimes lifeless variety show devoted mostly to recycling the work of the same talent pool under various concepts.

Lyrics & Lyricists’ new artistic director, Deborah Grace Winer, has done her best to enliven a format that is inescapably moribund, but only so much can be accomplished without the appearance of the original creators. The presence of Ms. Ahrens and Mr. Flaherty, both of whom are articulate and affable, gave the series’s concept a shot of adrenaline.

Monday’s program was a valuable tutorial on the work of Ms. Ahrens (lyrics) and Mr. Flaherty (music) who have been collaborating since 1983. The show portrayed them as crucial transitional figures who have helped bring world music (the calypso, reggae and samba of “Once on This Island”) into the mainstream, while upholding traditional standards of songwriting craft. Their chameleonic skills were illustrated by a number from the 1997 animated film “Anastasia” that was indistinguishable from a typical Disney song.

But at their best — in “Ragtime,” an assignment they won in a blind listening contest of submitted songs — they bring old-time romantic heroism into the modern age. They were the ideal figures to initiate Lyrics & Lyricists Downtown, a once- or twice-a-year series, whose effort to introduce younger Broadway songwriters to a younger audience deserves to flourish.

Basseterre, St.Kitts – Grammy award winning artiste Wyclef Jean joined rising Kittitian superstar, Infamus in what many termed the most memorable musical performance in recent times.

Wyclef Jean met Infamus when he was invited to be the headline act at a Concert held at St.Kitts’ Warner Park Stadium.

The Haitian born artiste during his astounding performance told thousands that he heard a song playing the previous night and liked it.

Just as the beat for Inafmus’ first big hit ‘21 Gun Salute (We Miss You)’ began playing the crowd reacted with a massive uproar as they were thrilled to see their very own being recognized by the megastar.

Infamus entered the stage letting the viewers know that he was there to represent as he shouted his now famous line “Infamus a Represent !!!!!!”

He performed his two hit singles and did a impromptu performance with Wyclef Jean for ‘Feel like Crying’.

“I like your songs,” Jean declared. “Them tunes need to be on 106 & Park, We gotta work on that. I got to go back and talk to them people and tell them I saw something tonight.”

Jean’s statement followed with an eruption of cheers once more from the massive crowd and both artistes continued performing together with freestyles and an on the spot remix for Jean’s hit ‘Sweetest Girl’.

This collaborative performance came about after a member of Jean’s band along with his manager made contact with Infamus the night before.

According to Infamus’ Manager Diego Spanner, Jean’s manager was amazed at the crowd’s reaction when the DJ played ‘Feel Like Crying’ during his set. They then observed a young boy singing the song as if he knew every word.

“He then asked the little boy what was the name of the artiste, because it appeared to them as if it was an international song as everyone was into it,” he said. “The boy then corrected their initial assumption by boldly stating, “He’s from right here! His name is Infamus!”

When Jean’s manager managed to get in contact with Infamus later that evening he expressed his liking for the music and thought it would be good to have him perform with Wyclef Jean.

Upon Jean’s arrival to the island the following day, Infamus was thrilled to receive a follow up phone call from the international star, which confirmed the collaborative performance.

Jean’s team also highlighted their anxiety to have the young artiste record in there state of the art studio back in New York along with the possibilities of being contracted to Yclef Records. Yclef Records is a record label owned by Jean and their aim is to showcase talents from all hidden corners of the world.

Performing live on stage with Wyclef Jean has been the greatest experience in the career of this young artiste, who possess a unique singing style he expresses as “Life & Times”.

USHER’S latest disc, Raymond v Raymond, is a bit like déjà vu. It has all the elements of his earlier albums. There’s the less-than-subtle autobiographical relationship track — in this case, it’s a song about divorce (Papers). And in the vein of 2004’s Confessions, a woefully apologetic Usher spills the beans about cheating on Foolin’ Around. It opens with him saying: “I know I vowed to never do this again, but it seems to be the only thing I’m good at.”

While it’s clear he underestimates his ability to do better in the fidelity department, it seems the singer has limited himself musically as well.

The Jim Jonsin-produced There Goes My Baby is instantly appealing, but upbeat club tracks including Lil Freak, featuring rap “it” girl Nicki Minaj, and She Don’t Know, with Ludacris, are catchy but disappointingly safe choices for 31-year-old Usher.

So Many Girls and the will.i.am-produced OMG border on disastrous as far as sound and lyrics go, but the real letdown of Raymond v Raymond is that those who listen to it won’t know any more about Usher Raymond, as an artiste or a man, than they previously did.

Reggae Legend, Ernie Smith in celebrating 42 years in reggae music has re-launched his website featuring significant changes to further promote his career.

The site is designed to enhance Ernie’s visibility on the World Wide Web. Producers, Performers, Promoters, Radio DJs and Sound System Operators are encouraged to visit Ernie’s website for information as well as to listen, and/ or download samples of his songs – old and new – for study/cover/collaboration.

Fans, Family and friends are also encouraged to submit photos of themselves and Ernie for review and possibly, periodic inclusion on the site.

All in all 2010 is gearing up to be fun-filled.

Ernie Smith is promoting his album “Country Mile” and will be visiting some Caribbean Islands, East Coast of the United States and Central America from late March to August 2010.

The Reggae Ballardeer recently told us “I am heartened by the responses I have been receiving from the album. I know now that my evergreen fans are enjoying it and lo and behold, I have a new crop of fans. I am blessed. It is my hope that Music Lovers everywhere will be satisfied after listening. I did try to touch on some key issues of social forms”.

Ernie is slated to perform on the 8th Annual Talent Search and Award Show at Giggles Comedy & Entertainment Centre, Long Island, on the 27th of March.

NEW YORK – Reggae singer-songwriter Julian “ Ju Ju” Marley has been nominated for four International Reggae & World Music Awards (IRAWMA) in the category’s of : Bob Marley Award for Entertainer of the Year, Best Album of the Year, Most Cultural / Educational Entertainer of the Year and Emperor Haile Selassie I Award for Spiritual Service Through Music . The IRAWMA ceremony will host the top names in reggae, soca, and world music, with a scheduled performance by Julian Marley and other nominees.

Marley’s IRAWMA Award nominations comes on the heels of a Grammy Nod for Best Reggae Album that the talented artist received for his third studio album entitled, Awake. Co-produced with his brothers Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley and Stephen Marley, Awake was released on April 28, 2009 on Ghetto Youths / Universal Records.

“Ju Ju” Marley responds to the nominations, “It is such a great honour to be recognized. I give thanks to the IRAWMA award staff and to all the fans that continue to show their love and support.”

Born in London in 1975, Julian Marley has been blessed both by the great talent and legacy of his father Bob Marley and by the unique perspective that comes with an upbringing in a multicultural community. Having been exposed to music all his life, Julian Marley has become a skillful veteran performer, producer and songwriter with numerous successful international tours and albums under his belt. In 2009, Julian Marley and his band The Uprising spanned the globe in support of Awake. Having just finished a major European leg, Julian has extended his Awake world tour with The Uprising to include performance dates in Europe, the Caribbean and the United States throughout 2010.

The 29th Annual International Reggae & World Music Awards ceremony, produced annually by Martin’s International & Associates, will be held on Sunday, May 2nd at York College Performing Arts Center in Jamaica (Queens), New York. Watched by over 20 million viewers on television, fans may cast ballots online at the office. IRAWMA