Published:Friday | March 20, 2015 | 12:00 AMMel Cooke
It is a happy coincidence that two of my all-time favourite Jamaican popular music performers, Capleton and Burning Spear, have songs with similar titles which use travelling by road to represent life struggles, through which they are assisted...
Published:Friday | March 20, 2015 | 12:00 AMMel Cooke
Can we rebel against child murders now?I have always wondered what would happen to the prodigious output of weed songs if the green gold was legalised. As much as I thought the law against marijuana was silly and ineffective, I never thought there...
Published:Thursday | March 19, 2015 | 3:12 AMMel Cooke
For the third staging of the monthly poetry event, Outspoken, held at Nanook, 20 Burlington Avenue, St Andrew, Deline Campbell and Joan Webley came up with a 'Three The Hard Way' line-up.Oku Onuora, Samuel Gordon and Abbebe Payne are the poets who...
Published:Friday | March 13, 2015 | 12:17 PMMel Cooke
With smoke from the fire at Riverton dominating life in the capital and parts of St Catherine, as well as the brutality meted out to two pregnant 14 year-olds, it is a good time to revisit one of the standout songs about sparking a flame."A big man...
Published:Friday | March 13, 2015 | 12:04 PMMel Cooke
It is that time of year again when four students from a Jamaican high school huddle together, listen intently to a question, sometimes consult each other, and then fire an answer as rapidly as they can - if they can - all...
Published:Monday | March 9, 2015 | 12:34 PMMel Cooke
One of the longstanding characters in the Twin of Twins Stir It Up music and comedy series is poet and broadcaster Mutabaruka, who utilises his distinctive voice in numerous poetry recordings and two radio programmes on IRIE FM. On Saturday evening,...
Published:Sunday | March 8, 2015 | 4:14 PMMel Cooke
The structure of Saturday night's Simply Myrna at the Courtleigh Auditorium, New Kingston, was as uncomplicated and effective as the sole backdrop to the performances, a rectangle of white with the event's name in cursive. Supported by a crack band,...
Published:Wednesday | March 4, 2015 | 12:51 PMMel Cooke
From an opening group reading by Owen 'Blakka' Ellis' former students to his closing delivery of the popular Gateman (which he promised would be the poem's final outing), Tuesday's launch of Ellis' Riddim and Riddles was chockful of emotions. Among...
Published:Sunday | March 1, 2015 | 7:18 PMMel Cooke
Equal weightings of poetry and prose, as well as gender, started off Kingston Book Festival 2015 yesterday, a substantial audience turning out at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, for Love Affair With Literature 4.The poets, Professor...
Published:Friday | February 27, 2015 | 10:34 AMMel Cooke
For Reggae Month 2015, The Sunday Gleaner revisited stories about songs by persons who have a strong connection to February. There were songs by Bob Marley, Dennis Brown, Wayne Smith and William 'Bunny Rugs' Clarke. However, the story of Sleng Teng...
Published:Friday | February 27, 2015 | 1:16 PMMel Cooke
As he hosts events during Reggae Month celebrations, as well as others outside of February, the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association's (JaRIA) Ibo Cooper never fails to give context to Jamaican popular music's importance. He does it in at least three...
Published:Wednesday | February 25, 2015 | 1:41 PMMel Cooke
The weekly 2015 Grounation series ended on Sunday with the calm of Dr Kenneth Bilby's voice and, centred on Larry McDonald, drumming ranging from finessed fingering to furious flurries at the Institute of Jamaica, East Street, Kingston.Bilby...
Published:Tuesday | February 24, 2015 | 2:41 PMMel Cooke
In half-hour, the documentary Perry Henzell: A Filmmaker's Odyssey traces Perry Henzell's quarter-century journey to his second feature film, No Place Like Home. The tale of serendipity and tenacity, determination and despair, debuted at the Louise...
Published:Friday | February 20, 2015 | 12:00 AMMel Cooke
It has been eight years - and an album in between (Black Gold, 2010) - from Duane Stephenson released From August Town (2007) to his current Dangerously Roots (released September 2014) set. Still, the St Andrew community, which borders the...
Published:Friday | February 20, 2015 | 3:32 PMMel Cooke
There is an inherent common weakness to the two singing music competitions which have enjoyed media dominance in this country, one since the early 2000s and the other in 2013 when a Jamaican came out on top. They are 'Rising Stars' on the local...
Published:Friday | February 13, 2015 | 5:26 AMMel Cooke
The Sunday Gleaner continues to honour deceased Jamaican popular music standouts whose births or deaths are connected with Reggae Month, February, by revisiting their stories of standout songs. William 'Bunny Rugs' Clarke has two links to February...
Published:Friday | February 13, 2015 | 1:48 PMMel Cooke
A few, years ago, my first (and to date, only, though hopefully that will change one day) poetry collection was released by Blouse and Skirt Books. The title is 11/9, an inversion of the accustomed date and perspective on 9/11. One of the poems in it is about how the history of America's involvement in war is remade in Hollywood, where Uncle Sam always wins, and is especially relevant now as American Sniper comes under scrutiny.
Published:Friday | February 13, 2015 | 3:29 PMMel Cooke
References to the qualities of the Lignum Vitae tree, from the sturdiness of its wood to the beauty of its leaf, ran throughout last Tuesday's launch of the Lignum Vitae Writing Awards at the St Andrew Parish Library, Tom Redcam Drive, Kingston.The...
Published:Wednesday | February 11, 2015 | 8:08 PMMel Cooke
Tomorrow evening, Countryside Club will host its first Valentine's Day Dinner and Party since reopening in November 2013. Dubbed Shades of Blue, it is a combination of a three-course meal (with a complimentary glass of wine), performance and party...
Published:Friday | February 6, 2015 | 5:32 PMMel Cooke
For the rest of February, The Sunday Gleaner will honour three Jamaican music performers who are connected with the month by birth (Dennis Brown and William 'Bunny Rugs' Clarke) and death (Wayne 'Sleng Teng' Smith) by revisiti...
