Reggae 50…A New Dawn

By: Charles HE. Campbell

Firstly, Tony Rebel and his family must be congratulated on a very successful staging of Rebel Salute in it's new home of Richmond Estate on the North Coast. From all the reports, the physical improvements inherent in the change of venue, has greatly enhanced the festival, and improved its patronage. Beres Hammond put on another scintillating performance, confounding all the naysayers.

 Following a very successful staging in 2012, Reggae Month is here again, under the theme ‘Reggae 50…A New Dawn’. This is an implicit recognition of the resurgence and heightened profile of young Reggae Bands and conscious/roots Artistes, as well as its deepening integration with other artistic disciplines.

Therefore, the slate of events listed for this year, in celebration of this national treasure, is reflective of the continued growth of the Festival, showcasing Jamaica’s dynamic entertainment sector, as well as the breath and diversity of our music and creative art-forms. JaRIA’s premier events – the popular ‘Reggae Wednesdays’ which have always high-lighted all the genres of Jamaican music, returns to Emancipation Park for the second time, with a twist. Through divine intervention, the first of the concert series fall on Bob Marley’s Birthday (February 6^th). The night is dubbed ‘From Mento to Marley’, featuring a varied musical fare, such as the Jamaican Symphony Orchestra performing the ‘Marley Symphony, movements 1 & 2, arranged by Jon Williams, Energy Plus Mento Band playing Marley’s ‘Who The Cap Fit’ and ‘Small Axe’ in Mento style and Ska Rebirth led by Sparrow Martin. Patrons will also get the rare twin opportunity to see Count Ossie’s son, Time and his band of drummers the indomitable Mystic Revelation of Rastafari and master drummer, Ras Michael and the sons of Negus. The night will feature Hempress Sativa and one of Bob Marley’s sons from Trench Town, Fabian Marley.

  Ash Wednesday (February 13^th) will feature gospel artistes in a concert called ‘Reggae Praise’ from 2pm – 6pm, followed by ‘Voices’ of Reggae including stars like Freddie McGregor, AJ Brown and Mikey Spice, in the evening.  The following week, on Wednesday February 20^th, ‘Progressions’ has an impressive line-up of mostly young performers including: Chronixx, TOK, Akmatic, Lutan Fyah, Ikaya and Pentateuch

 The last concert of the month, ‘Reggae Gone Global’ is going to be an exciting integration of music, dance, fashion and drama.

The elegant JaRIA Awards Concert takes place on Saturday February 23^rd. Icons such as Jimmy Cliff, Frankie Campbell, Cynthia Schloss, Joe Gibbs, Stephen Stewart, Soldjie Hamilton, Bunny Lee, Paul ‘Jah Screw’ Love, Aston ‘Familyman’ Barrett, Bobby Ellis, Queen Ifrica, Beres Hammond, Mighty Diamonds, Third World and Barry Gordon will be Honourees in various categories.

As customary, the Tribute to Dennis Brown will be staged downtown. Having outgrown its original location, the concert has been moved to the larger King Street this year, and will feature performances from Shaggy, Beres Hammond, Ken Boothe, John Holt, Taurus Riley, George Nooks, Horace Andy, Errol Dunkley, Rootz Underground, QQ, Andrew Tosh, Dean Fraser, Lloyd Parkes and We The People.

All JaRIA Reggae Month events will be streamed live on www.jariajamaica.com and on www.facebook.com/jaria.jamaica

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Reggae-50----A-New-Dawn_13497589

Email: che.campbell@gmail.com

The Re-emergence of Sizzla

By Charles H. E. Campbell

Over the recent holiday season, Sizzla re-emerged as the most popular, in-form and hard-working headline act on the live circuit, at this time in Jamaica. A casual glance of the flyers and advertisements, as well as the show reviews, reveal that he not only performed at a majority of the large annual stage shows and ‘name-brand’ events such as Sting and Superjam, but skilfully moderated his repertoire and approach for smaller, more intimate gigs like Resistance – a live tribute to Producer Fattis Burrell, staged by his son Kareem. This is a subtle but critical aspect of performance careers, too often missing from our younger artistes. From all the reports, Sizzla displayed throughout, that he has reached a new plateau in mastery of his singing, audience rapport and stagecraft. In so doing, he’s set the template and raised the standard bar for local performances going forward.

On two of the shows, Sizzla was ushered off the stage by police officers after the prescribed 2am deadline for live events, in accordance with the Noise Abatement Act. Once again, this brings centre- stage focus by the Entertainment Sector on the urgent need for its reform.  It also drives home the dire consequences for the sector if the Government doesn’t establish Entertainment Zones across Jamaica, as one of the new measures being explored to allow live music to thrive, especially during the peaks of our annual cultural calendar.

In the meantime however, promoters will have to be more cognisant of the restrictions and time constraints imposed by this Act. They will have to better plan their event schedules, especially the running order of live performances, so that headline acts are given the maximum time they deserve to delve into their repertoire for the pleasure of the patrons.

This triumphant re-emergence of Sizzla is in-keeping with a positive trend in our music that has been taking root over the last five years. Conscious and Roots style Reggae are once again coming into their own amongst local artistes and music fans alike; gaining prominence on the live circuit, if not on local radio airplay. This movement has, in large part, been led by artistes such as, Protoje, Kabaka Pyramid, Chronixx, Jah 9, Iba Mahr, Jesse Royal, Ikaya and Bands like, Raging Fyah, C-Sharp and Uprising Roots.

 Billy Wilmot and his family should be given a lot of credit for the monthly Jamesia series, through which most of these acts continuously honed their craft, while getting tremendous exposure.

 Recently Mr. Vegas and Busy Signal, two of Dancehalls dominant stars, grabbed news headlines when they both released Reggae albums, enhancing their personal profile and catalogue, while bringing even more international attention to the genre.

Most of these artistes will be appearing on Rebel Salute, which is being staged on January 18 & 19, at a new home this year, Richmond Estate in Priory St Ann. The change of location to the North Coast and new format are bold moves by Tony Rebel and his family, so I wish them blessings and the best of luck.

Email:che.campbell@gmail.com

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/The-re-emergence-of-Sizzla_13363529

Review Business Model

By Charles H. E. Campbell

Winston Blake of Merritone fame recently proffered the opinion that the year 2012 was the worst in recent memory for the Jamaican Music Industry. Furthermore, given the parlous state of the US economy, this dilemma is unlikely to ease anytime soon.

Winston Blake

  There is sufficient empirical evidence to bear this out. All genres of music have been adversely affected by this prolonged, intractable worldwide recession and by the ability of fans to download music free of cost. Plummeting Jamaican Reggae Music sales seem to indicate that it has relatively borne more of the brunt of their compounded impact.

 The recent revelation by VP Records executive Neil Robertson, on December 12^th, of very weak sales, during that week, of Reggae’s top 50 songs on the Billboard Reggae Charts, is a continuing trend, but just the tip of the iceberg. While the year commenced positively, with an upward blip on the radar, as the year progressed, except for a few of our premier artistes, the data on performance tours also reflected a downward spiral.

 Now is an opportune time for us to review our business model and seek ways of improving our performance in the international market-place.

  Native Wayne Jobson of Indie 103.1Radio, Los Angeles, has volunteered some favourable market indicators which may help in designing urgently needed corrective measures. To paraphrase him, “Jamaica has (seemingly) abandoned reggae and has let others claim its birthright.
The sales figures for Rebelution (50,000) and Soja (40,000) are quite strong in today’s market, and both these groups play "Roots" style reggae with more traditional song structures.
Meanwhile Rihanna (from the Caribbean), with the two best songs she has released to date, takes Reggae - ‘Man Down’, and Dancehall - ‘Pon De Reply’, and becomes the biggest star in the world. Rihanna is the biggest download artist of all time (more than Michael Jackson and the Beatles); also she has the most Facebook friends on earth.

 Close behind Rihanna in Facebook friends, is the other biggest star on earth, Bob Marley.

  Jimmy Cliff however, recently got a six page article in Rolling Stone magazine, and his latest album ‘Rebirth’ got a FOUR STAR review. Even Michael Jackson and the Beatles do not get six pages. That’s how much they respect Reggae when it’s good.

America and the world have fully embraced Reggae as a musical style just as Jamaicans (seem to) have forgotten how to make it. Good songs with good hooks will always win out over fad and bluster.”

In an attempt to promote the conversation, my initial thoughts are: Too many of our current releases contain weak tunes and lyrics; while not wishing to discourage experimentation or the infusion of other pop influences, as Marley and Third World successfully did, unlike early Dancehall music, which incorporated Mento rhythmic patterns with Reggae’s heavy drum and bass, today’s style has less musical distinction from and is too fused with its US progeny - Hip Hop;  with the absence of multinational record companies supporting our acts, Jamaican artistes lack marketing vehicles with a global reach, needed to sustain the penetration of international markets; the Reggae genre suffers from lack of adequate airplay in our domestic arena, which traditionally created the initial buzz/hype; we suffer from a negative market perception, caused by the anti-social behaviour of a few high profile acts, which has damaged the entire Jamaican brand. The solutions are implicit.

Email: che.campbell@gmail.com

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Review-business-model_13307819