Music: Everton "Blends In" China

from Jamaicans.com 

Roots reggae singer Everton Blender (left) returned home recently following a set of successful performances in China, where he represented Jamaica at the Caribbean Music Festival in the Chinese capital of Beijing,

The award winning Reggae artist was included in a diverse group of musicians selected from the Caribbean to represent their individual countries at the Latin America and Caribbean Music Festival. Other nations represented included; Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Panama, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

“It was a really good experience especially being my first time performing in China, i received a warm welcome from the locals, and there were even Jamaicans in the crowd as well. There was an interpreter on the stage so I even sang some of my lyrics in Chinese much to the delight of my Beijing fans!” Blender shared.

Taking place over 4 days, from April 30 until May 3, the festival was staged at the Rose Bud in Beijing China and was geared at promoting cultural cooperation and creating opportunities for enhanced exchanges between China and the Caribbean.

Organized by the Ministry of Culture of China in collaboration with the embassies of the participating countries; the music festival is also part of the China-Latin America and Caribbean Year of Culture Exchange proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Performers also included Barbadian Billboard-charting artist Rupee, Grenadian soca artist Mr Killa Panamanian reggaeton artist David L, Trinidadian soca diva Lil Bitts, and 11 other bands from 15 Caribbean and Latin countries, offering fans multiple reggae, soca, rock and folk music performances.

According to Caribbean Entertainment (CE), the artist booking agency that provided the festival’s featured performers, the successful first staging will undoubtedly mean continuity and expansion of this cultural exchange  activity going forward.

“The music festival provided not only opportunities for cultural exchange but a stage for our Caribbean artists to showcase their amazing talent to a virtually untapped Asian market.” Added Brad Hemmings, CEO of Florida based Caribbean Entertainment Booking Agency.

Apart from performances at various venues throughout Beijing, including the Beihang University, Everton Blender also had the opportunity to visit some of the country’s iconic sites including the Great Wall of China.

The artiste and his team are currently working on some “re-blending” and remixing of his classic singles and should be ready for a new release in a matter of days. He will also be performing at the “Indiana Reggae Jam Music Festival” in Indiana on August 20, 2016.

Read more: http://jamaicans.com/everton-blender-represents-jamaica-in-beijing-

Music:Freddie McGregor Stays Ahead of the pack with "True to the Roots"

Freddie McGregor is really into wildlife documentaries.

A visit to his Big Ship studio/residence finds "The Captain" and his cicrcle of young protojes absorbed in the televised social and survival habits of big cats, water buffalo, wild dogs and other animals.

Of course, Freddie, after "50+" years of  striding Colossus-like yet with great agility through the "jungle" of the Jmaaican and global musica business, of racking up awards and associations enough to fill several rooms (He has two walls of fame emblazoned with photos and plaques in the Big Ship complex to verify), of being the soundtrack to countless new romances, affairs, break-ups, conceptions and other life experiences, of seeing his progeny establish their own tracks and their own varied impacts.

After all of that, Freddie McGregor is still "on the hunt" still hungry, just not for the trappings that seem to occupy so many lesser lights. No, Freddie McGregor is hungry to become better to show more of his love for the music and thesound and to show just how much further there is to go, even as he takes stock of the leagues he's already covered.

And that quest is exemplified in his latest disc, entitled "True to the Roots" Upon our visit, Freddie was stil lhuddled with engineer/producer "German" (from Stuttgart, no less) in seeking to go through the tracks and making the hard choice of paring all the fantastic material down to a manageable 13 or 14 tracks.

The lead-off tandem is the title track and Dennis Brown's "Love's Got A Hold On Me" two tasty slices of modern rtoots which serve as sort of bio notes on his illustrious career. "Yeah man, Dennis ah me bredda man," in describing the closeness between him and the late Crown Prince of Reggae. The "Roots" track offers some concrete foundational points on values without sinking into preachiness.

And yet, Freddie at this stage can manage to roam stylistically beyond the roots reggae and lover's rock that made his name and still retain a trademark sound,  that warm, rolling lower register that song after song transmits both a knowing and an eagerness for new experiences.

That duality is reflected in a stirring mix of tracks like Little Anthony's 'Falling in Love" and the original "A Song in My Head" the latter which Freddie says just evolved out of his regular writing process with the likes of Dalton Browne, one of many collaborators on the project. Dean Fraser is featured, as is

But the end result is, as stated, vintage Freddie.  Regardless of tempo, complexity or subject matter, these songs attest to the experience, intensity and wisdom that are uniquely Freddie.  It's a disc that genuinely has something enjoyable for every demographic but can be listened to and enjoyed without the burden of  trends, market values or any other preconceptions. This is not the "phoned-in" exercise of a weary veteran content to coast on the past, but the sound of a leader scanning the landscape with a positive view, with an eye to opportunity, not content to pick at consumed carcasses, but mindful always of the need to stay grounded "true to the roots" as the title track proclaims.

Its an outlook that no doubt will enable "the Captian" and head of the pack to rack up many more accolades and more loyal fans

Music: Yvad The Journeyman Who Never Left, "comes forward"

He was "reggae revival" before anyone even thought of the term. In the mid-90s, when the current crop of roots ambassadors were still pups or even unborn, Yvad released a potent combo of hope and idealism in the forms of "Bright Day" and "We Need Love". The latter brought him the then Jamaica Music Industry (JAMI) Award as best produced single in 1995, and brought teams form BET and other international media eager to see and hear reggae's latest bright spark.

Already a fixture on tour with the Marleys at the time of the breakthrough, Yvad  thereafter continued to hone is chops in all departments: vocals, musicianship, songwriting and performance. He would go on to tour with other reggae heavyweights, such as Mighty Diamonds, Israel Vibration, Bunny Wailer, Andrew Tosh and the Wailers world tour. These travels also took him around the world, but at home, the public  - and even the industry - seemingly took him to be another flash in the pan and promptly forgot .

but the man born Kevin Davy soldiered on, building his own recording studio and forming his own Yvad Reggae label to facilitate the output of his own works as well as other artistes. During this time he was signed to  Dr Dread's Ras Records where he worked with founder Gary Himmelfarb to produce the album called “Reggae for Kids”, a pioneering disc of its type which garnered global recognition.  He followed "Young Gifted and Dread" the debut album, with "Justice"  "Cease Fire" and two others that did little to firm up his sanding as a reggae act whether at home or overseas.

But a another long, formative stint as the lead sinsinger form the Wailers band, beginning in 2006, did again see him racking up the miles and adding incrementally to his fan base. "Touring with the Wailers has helped make me a  much more widely appreciated artiste," Yvad said 

Mid-stream the Wailers gig, in 2008, Yvad secured a record deal with local impresario/businessman Victor Simpson and Nubeat Entertainment, in Kingston Jamaica which yielded the album “The Sojourner” with producers Clive Hunt and Wayne Armond of Chalice Band joining Simpson behind the boards as producers.

More currently, Yvad, with his own band is performing in support of "Riverton" an impassioned plea about the infamous city dump that is also the lead single off a album set to drop in January. He has done a number of lounge dates, including at the Alibi and Chris Gayle's Triple Century, and will be featured on the 20th anniversary edition of Rebel Salute.

Throughout, Yvad has maintained his unassuming off-stage persona, even as the current material suggests that his songwriting and performance powers have stepped up a notch. It may well be time for the Jamaican public to catch up to the rest of the world in re-discovering the "original roots revivalist." 

Music: With "Live A Blast" Courtney John breaks through the stratosphere

"The future's in the past"

That lyrical paradox, almost whispered over a
single keyboard note struck repeatedly sets up what must surely be one of the most intriguing and impactful records yet from Courtney John.

While the record continues in the vein of the "rootstronic" sub-genre that the artiste and his creative cohorts premiered a while back, "Blast" with its rapid-fire intercut between soaring anthemic-type chords and more restrained yet intense passages holds the progressive listener enthralled from the first note and perfectly fits the message of rising above the seemingly tight enclosure of circumstances, something with which the singer is all too fiamiliar.

"When I wrote the lyrics I was thinking of a country kid going to town in search of opportunities. I wanted to talk about what the world can be like when someone has to start from scratch build a career, but after writing the song  I realized I was talking about my own life and my own experiences." 

I wanted to keep the production minimal so  the story would get across and because it's rootstronic I wanted to merge different musical elements.  So I got Gee Master who is a keyboard player from Paris to give us the tronic elements and Flabba Holt, Kirk Bennett and [co-producer]The Wizard from Jamaica to give us the roots element.

Speaking to the video, which combines the frenetic pace of a classic "chase"  with more expansive shots (including a great wide shot of the port of Kingston), he says  

"I knew I wanted something very different for the video.  I am a big fan of the downtown Kingston architecture and wanted to do something that would showcase that.  The idea came to mind of a kid being chased in downtown Kingston.  I  bounced the idea with Joel Burke with own I co directed the video with and before you know it we were shot the video one Sunday afternoon in downtown Kingston."

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