ReggaeTimes

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It has been two decade since Ninja Man has grace Canada with his presence, but this past weekend has put all that absence to an end, as Ninja Man, held a press conference at York University promoting the One Umbrella Movement founded by Ninja man himself.

The One Umbrella Movement and its’ organization, which promotes non-violence, especially amongst the youth.

Dancehall artiste Macka Diamond has released a new soca single titled “Groovy Soca” The single is produce by Machel Montana’s production team and is getting heavy rotation in Barbados. Barbados in now celebrating Crop Over their interpretation of Trinidad’s Carnival. Macka Diamond is schedule to perform along side Machel Montana at the final leg of the Crop Over season on August 3, 2008.

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Junior one Blood Reid is in the process of releasing his latest album “Junior Reid, The Living Legend” the album will be released on the Danger Zone Music Group and SoBe Entertainment Leak Records. Tracks featured on the album are “This is Why I’m Hot”, “Mo Money” and the most recently released single “Don’t Play Dirty”

Junior Reid burst on the scene in the late 1970’s with tracks such as “Human Nature”, “A1 Lover” and “See How Black See How Me Shine”. He has now broadens his horizon with collaboration with a number of hip-hop artistes. Junior Reid as collaborated with The Game, Fat Joe, Fabulous, DMX and Eve.

Released earlier this year was Leroy Smart newest single, “One of a Kind” the single has now hit Jamaica Music countdown charts and is said to be among the best reggae singles for this year. Leroy Smart has worked along side the best producers and has been in the business for over 40 years and still going strong. “One of a Kind” is very popular and is being played on radio, television, in dances all over town.

ENTERTAINMENT PUBLICIST, MARC JOHNSON, FOUND STRANGLED

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The Jamaican entertainment fraternity is still in a daze over the news that well-known entertainment publicist, Marc Johnson, is dead. Johnson’s neighbours found him strangled in his apartment at Sullivan Place, off the Mannings Hill Road, in St. Andrew, on Sunday June 8.

According to a report issued by the CCN, at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon the caretakers of the apartment discovered Johnson’s body. They quickly summoned the police. They took him to the Kingston Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The 42 year-old Johnson was very active and popular in the national entertainment industry. He has worked as publicist for the likes of, Carlene (the dancehall queen); the Shocking Vibes Record Company, D’Angel, and many others. He also performed publicist duty for the producers of many ‘live‘ stage show events, the most recent being, “Black My Story” which was held in February.

Speculations are rife surrounding the reason Johnson was murdered and the police are yet to establish a motive for the killing. Funeral arrangement for Marc Johnson is tentatively set for July 6.

“MAGMA” ON AN UPWARD FLOW

By Baldwin S. A. Howe

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Jamaica, the birthplace of Reggae music has been a beacon and source of positive inspiration for the world. Its magnetic appeal has attracted creative artistes the world over. One such artiste who has gravitated to Jamaica to immerse himself in the culture is Adam Mayo, a.k.a. Mango seed, who hails from Bermuda. He became aware of Rastafari from as early as 17 and began to visit a Bermudian Rastafarian commune that frequently held Nyahbynghi celebrations. The music, especially the drumming, was the magnet that kept pulling him and encouraging him to experiment musically. At first, he began playing the “Kete” drums. He diligently learnt the art of playing these drums during his early initiation to the Rastafarian faith.

Rastafarian theological concepts had such a positive influence on Mango seed’s life that he fully embraced the faith and became a devout believer. It was during this time that he decided he would utilize the medium of music to deliver his special message to the world. With this resolve in mind, Mango seed began to study playing the guitar. He did so relentlessly and at 19, considering himself a fully fledge musician, he made a trip to Mexico. While there, he began performing ‘gigs’ in the town of San Miguel with a group he formed and, of course, his repertoire was straight reggae. Mango seed worked in Mexico for a year, returned home and later he made a move to Gt. Britain.

In England Mango seed pursued academic studies in the field of horticulture, which to him, was a way of keeping in tune with nature. He worked at this occupation for a year before the lure of music called on him again. An English record producer/engineer named “Messenger intrigued by Mango seed’s musical ability” took a decision to produce him. This association evolved into the birth of the musical group, Mango seed. The group recorded an album titled, “Conscious Fire” in an attempt to gain exposure and recognition for their special brand of reggae music. After serious attempts to get the “Conscious Fire” album released in Europe they eventually released it in Bermuda. “Conscious Fire” garnered rave reviews in Bermuda, received nationwide radio rotation and spawned several hits such as, “Too Much Concrete”, “Babylon” and the album’s title track, “Conscious Fire.” These songs were categorised as being culturally positive and they made Mango seed a household name and a respected artiste in Bermuda.

On the strength of the “Conscious Fire” album, Mango seed got the opportunity to perform, here in Jamaica, on the prestigious annual music festival, “Reggae Sumfest”, in 2002. In playing that ‘gig’ he had the honour of performing on the same night that such heavyweight acts as, Capleton, Anthony B, Paul Eliot and other major reggae stars preformed. His act was of a very high standard and he impressed the entire media corps in attendance.

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Since making that first trip to Jamaica in 2002, he has become a constant visitor to our shores. His popularity here has grown considerably and his songs are receiving deserved rotation on national radio. One of his fans is popular radio deejay Mighty Mike of Irie F.M. who especially expressed a liking for his song, “Too Much Concrete”, which he plays quite often.

In 2003 Paul Elliot, who remembered his “Reggae Sumfest” performance from the year before,

approached him and expressed the desire to produce some work with him. The first release they worked on together was a combination effort titled, “Build Another Bridge.” The song became very popular and this encouraged Paul Elliot to produce a hit video for the song.

After shooting the, “Build Another Bridge” video, Mango seed paid another visit to Great Britain in 2004 and almost immediately he became an in-demand act. He got the opportunity to tour all through Europe working on several sound systems, two of which are, Nation Vibration and Roots Garden. The tour took him through several countries namely France, Germany, Italy, Belgium among others. Mango seed used this opportunity to experiment and gauge audiences’ reaction to his work as a solo act. He told Reggae Times that the experience he has gained touring through Europe with these sound systems was quite invaluable. He said the tour helped to equip him in fine-tuning his act, to the extent that he learnt to adjust his performance to satisfy a particular audience in whichever country he performed. When Mango seed returned to England after the tour, he got billing to perform at the Glastonbury Music Festival. Mango seed considers his performance at this event to be a milestone in his career as he got the privileged to appear before over, 65,000, (Sixty five Thousand), people, backed by a 30, (Thirty), person strong orchestra on what the event’s organizers call the Samba-Reggae Night. Mango seed followed up that performance by getting billed to also work on the annual concert series organized by, Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales, through his charity organization, The Prince’s Trust. On that occasion, Julian Marley called him on stage, to perform for thousands, in the heart of Leicester Square, London.

Since 2006, Mango seed has virtually taken up residence here and has been campaigning on the national recording circuit. In that year he recorded two singles titled, “Let The Lion Out” and “Marcus” again both songs received wide and frequent rotation on national radio. He later had the video of “Marcus” filmed which also became popular. On the performance side, Mango seed has also worked on the popular annual “Boxing Night concert, “Sting”, both in 2005 and 2006.

With the coming of 2008 Adam Mayo has decided to dispense with the Mango seed tag and will from now be known in the world of entertainment as, Magma and he intend to keep flowing upwards like red hot lava. ‘Magma” is poised now to really ‘buss out.’ He is currently working diligently on his debut album project, for executive producer, Joe Bogdonovich, the owner of, Down Sound Records. Magma has confided to Reggae Times that a few of the tracks are already completed. He is very secretive about this project and do not want to divulge too much about it. Despite doing this special project for Down Sound he remains active and has recorded material for the Caveman Record label and G-Jams Records out of Portland.

Magma says this year is his year to ‘erupt’, everyone should watch and listen out; the lava flow is on the way up. He also told Reggae Times he is now working on improving his presentation as he billed to perform on “Roots Night’ at Reggae Sumfest this year.

JAH ROOTS SPREADS

HIS BRANCHES

By Baldwin S. A. Howe

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Clive McKerney is one of those people whose spirit is one of pure positiveness. He has been an active member of the Jamaican music fraternity from the age of 14 years old. Now at the age of 44 he is still very active, having given over 30 years of his life to the music business. Because of his loving and caring nature, he earned the name, Jah Roots.

In 1993, Jah Roots produced and released his first recording; “Say Pray”, on his Inity Lion record label. He also produced an all-star album titled, “Children of the Black Emperor.” The album features such artiste, as Benny Hill who did, “Don’t let the devil get you out”, Ratigan working on one titled, “Revelation”, Inity Lion worked on, “Days of Slavery”, Chubby Mello did, “Have Mercy On Me”, Wolf Man sang, “Jah I Depend On You” and Montgomery did vocals on, “Criss and Clean” Rolex did, “I Wanna Know.” Jah Roots added his touch to the project by singing, “Gone A Foreign”, “Clean Up Your Kingdom”, “Gone Abroad” and “Pray.” The “Children Of The Black Emperor album, is a widely sought after album in Australia and this makes Jah Roots a very popular Reggae artistes in the land down under. His song, “Gone A Foreign is a perennial favourite there. The album is exclusively distributed in Australia by Reggae Down Under, a Australia based company.

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Jah Roots, because of his love for trying youths, is currently the advisor to Bermudian born artiste, Magma, as well as popular singer Lion Cub. Jah Roots is currently working on a new album and have completed the vocals for some new songs; one titled, “They Take I from the East”, the other, “The Road to Africa”. Jah Roots expects to complete this project by year-end.

Recently he performed at the prestigious Hilton Hotel and gained rave reviews for doing several Dennis Brown songs. The footage of his performance is now receiving constant rotation on all the national cable television stations.

Jah Roots is now in preparation for a world tour, which will see him performing in the U.S., Germany, Canada, France and Africa. He recently starred on a Guiness Stout advertising campaign soon to be released. Jah Roots is constantly spreading his branches in the music business while continuing to spread love and doing positive works.

FIRST GLOBAL CREATES “BUILD JAMAICA

WITH MUSIC” PROJECT.

First Global Financial Services, one of Jamaica’s financial services giants, has come forward with a far-reaching new initiative called the “Build Jamaica with Music” programme. First Global Financial Services, (FGFS), officially launched this programme on Thursday May 22. Attendees at the launch were informed that a number of efforts would be initiated under the programme that will contribute to the development of young Jamaicans through good music.

First Global financial Services’ president, Ms. Sandra Shirley, in a keynote address outlined some of the things her company plans to do in assisting in the uplifting of Jamaica’s music. The “Build Jamaica With Music “, programme will be sponsoring the Sonny Bradshaw School Band Competition, The Alpha Boy’s School Band, the annual Ocho Rios Jazz Festival, as well as putting on a series of Sunday concerts in the Emancipation Park to expose talented young musicians. The series of free Sunday concerts will be held in the Emancipation Park and will commence in July through to August and December ’08.

Ms. Shirley emphasized that the Sonny Bradshaw School Band Competition will aim to encourage music literacy among young people and lift the standard of Jamaica’s popular music. In FGFS’ support for the Alpha Boy’s School Band, note was made of the 128-year tradition and history of the band, which was established in 1880. FGFS’ assistance to the band will seek to strengthen the tradition of discipline and the high level of outstanding music tuition it offers to its students. Some of the Alpha Boy’s Band’s past student who have excelled in their field are, Don Drummond, Bobby Ellis, Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace; the late Desmond Decker, Dizzy “Johnny “ Moore, Leroy Smart Dwight Richards and Sparrow Martin. First Global Financial Services will extend a strong arm of support to the annual staging of the Ocho Rios Jazz Festival, Jamaica’s first truly established jazz music festival. The financial sponsorship support from the FGFS will assist the 18-year long established event in extending its reach to attract additional foreign and Jamaican audience to come and experience performances from some of the world’s leading musicians working alongside some of Jamaica’s best musical exponents.

The Honourable, Olivia “Babsy” Grange, the Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports was the guest speaker at the launch. She expressed that the First Global financial Services’ announcement of the “Build Jamaica with Music” programme is a timely one. She also remarked that it comes at a time when other corporate entities are cutting support from some music events because of violence and indiscipline associated with some shows and added that this show of support for Jamaica’s music and its development is most heartening.

BARACK OBAMA IS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S

PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE

By Baldwin S.A.

It is now official; a historic chapter in United States politics has unfolded. Many Jamaicans, including a large portion of the music fraternity are delighted that Barack Obama, has succeeded in defeating Hillary Rodham-Clinton for the coveted Democratic Party’s Presidential nomination. This nomination race will also go down in history for many reasons. For one, it has been the first time that a black, or as they now say, an African –American man and a woman has both battled to become the presidential nominee in the United States Of America. Either of the two candidates from the outset, had a date with history. With the result now decided, it is now the first time in that country’s history that a black man will run in a presidential race in the hope of becoming the president of the United States.

Barack Obama’s victory is a great stride towards him becoming the first Black U. S. president. His victory sets up a November election competition between him and Republican Party’s nominee John McCain. Most people sees this contest as a clash of generations plus a debate on the validity of the current war being waged in Iraq. Barack Obama is just 46, and he vehemently opposes the war. John McCain is 71, a former Vietnam veteran who is staunchly in support of the current U. S. military action in Iraq.

Barack Obama has completed one of the most remarkable U. S. political campaigns ever experienced in that country and in so doing has secured the needed delegates to lock up the nomination yesterday, (June 3). It is amazing that four years ago the first- term senator from Chicago, Illinois, was virtually unknown and has now toppled one of the most powerful political families in the world, “The Clintons.” Hillary Clinton seeking to become the first U. S. female president entered the race as the overwhelming favourite, but was totally ‘blackwashed’ from the beginning.

In a country where race relation is many times tenuous and African-Americans had to fight just for the right to vote, the victory of Barack Obama is quite significant and stands as an important milestone in the United States of America’s political history.