Stories by Mel Cooke

The fifth annual Jamaica Music Conference takes place from next Thursday (November 9) to Sunday, November 12. While Joan Webley, member of the local conference's management committee, notes its growth, she is hoping that its impact will extend well...

Levi Roots may take comfort in getting to do twice as many songs on Friday night at Redbones Blues Cafe, New Kingston, as he did the previous week.However, since the first time around Music and Food was staged on Friday, October 20, he got to do a...

Cherine Anderson sings Kingston State of Mind with a riveting intensity, whether she is giving a face to the murder toll ("Another man lose him life tonight/babymother she a bawl Jesus Christ") or, in a higher pitch, questioning the existence of the...

Somewhere during the shooting of the 1997 movie, Dancehall Queen, someone asked a then 13-year-old Cherine Anderson if she was going into acting or singing. Co-director of the film about how a higgler by day, Marcia (Audrey Reid) became a dancehall...

The strength of Natalie Corthesy's poetry collection, fried green plantains (2017, Nasara Publishing), lies in its reframing of the familiar to vividly convey the poet's opinion, while nudging the reader from accustomed viewpoints.However, it is not...

About a year ago, Hezron sang at a friend's wedding in the city he is from - Montego Bay, St James. He met a lady there, and during a lively conversation, she suddenly got serious. The talk took a turn towards rising crime in the city. That, in turn...

Lewis intends to develop The Incursion into feature documentary"I just keep remembering that it is my little sister and because she was black, we use to curse her and tell her that is because she black she give so much problem. I don't know what I...

Chevaughn got out of bed on his birthday last week Saturday. Although that may be taken as a given for any day, he put it in the context of deciding to meet the day and wherever it brought."It is a powerful decision every day, not to be just alive,...

Merritone, at 67 years, the oldest active sound system in the world, ventured into new territory for this year's resort segment of its annual Homecoming and Family Reunion week-long celebration. Normally, the all-inclusive hotel stay is three days,...