Retired American admiral William McRaven said it best: You can’t change the world alone, you will need some help, and to truly get from your starting point to your destination takes friends, colleagues, the goodwill of strangers and a strong...
Long before the fracas about black actress Halle Bailey playing Disney’s live-action Little Mermaid, Jamaican dancehall artiste Ce’cile had invested in a dark-skinned character of her own, a Jamaican mermaid, which she imprinted on her daughter’s T...
The names papa, father, and daddy are often viewed as terms of endearment, symbolising stability, leadership, expereience, and wisdom. Though they are commonly used in a biological context, exceptions are made for father-figures, religious leaders...
Imagine Dennis Brown on the Reggae Sumfest stage in July with his classic opening number Here I Come and pearly white smile … Or better yet, Garnet Silk joining Buju Banton on stage on his Long Walk to Freedom tour. For several years, deceased...
A tenement yard in the ’60s or 2019 remains an underdeveloped space, rich with sounds of all kinds. As he laid in his room on First Street in Trench Town, Vincent ‘Tata’ Ford heard the cry of a mother whose son had been arrested and charged with...
A staple at your typical Afrocentric-themed event is book dealer Kirk Scarlett, with his station of meticulously laid out Pan-African books ready to feed the mind. Popularly known as I-Nation (and the streets’ minister of education), Scarlett has...
Major Lazer’s Walshy Fire is anticipating a Grammy nod for art collective dub poetry duo The No-Maddz for their upcoming sophomore set Heaven on Earth ( H.O.E). The international producer is behind the 11-track masterpiece, which premiered at a...
You know you are in for a special treat when venerable percussionist Bongo Herman takes his Nyabinghi repeater drum and starts singing Bob Marley’s Rastaman Chant. At 75 years old, the esteemed musician has not lost a beat as his hands skilfully...
It is hard to not to be captivated by the four-octave vocal range of Julie Andrews as she runs on a hill belting out, “The hills are alive with the sound of music …” A 1965 classic, The Sound of Music film cemented Andrews as not only a gifted...
When singer Aza Lineage turned up at King Jammy’s St Lucia Road recording studio last year, she found herself in a time warp – auditioning for the veteran producer on the street before gaining access to the premises. This was the process other...
When Merritone sound-system principal Monte Blake was describing a vinyl record, he stopped for a moment, almost in awe, before romanticising the audio format. “It was so personal. It was like a girl, you could hold her,” he told The Sunday...
