MJ HONORS QUEEN IFRICA

In a business where women have been denounced to simple sex objects, bragging rights and dime pieces, it is refreshing to see a female artist like Queen Ifrica. Fyah Muma as she is affectionately referred to has been consistent with a positive, uplifting theme through her music, since she came into the business in the mid nineties. Continue reading: www.mariajackson.ca

Bringing unity back to dancehall

Maria Jackson Entertainment has learned that one of the most respected dancehall artists, Vybz Kartel, is making an honest effort to diffuse all the tension amongst artists in Jamaica. 876 radio has reported that Kartel, Aidonia and Mavado are actually in the studio working on a project together. This is consistent with statements made by Kartel earlier in the year that he wants to bring unity back to dancehall. Continue reading: www.mariajackson.ca

Amy Winehouse Wins Over London Crowd With Two-Song Set At Nelson Mandela Concert

A very stable Amy Winehouse took the stage at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday concert in Hyde Park around 9:20 p.m. local time Friday (June 27). Continue reading: www.mariajackson.ca

Reggae4i.com

Evolving slowly from the year 2000, Reggae4i.com - the home site of KRucial Reggae promotions - now receives about 10,000 visitors per month. What is news is that we're hoping to relaunch this summer with a similar look, but many more robust features. For starters, the store will be more functional, there will be banners when you open it up, and we'll be able to switch out songs in the Audio Player and videos in the Video Player. Come see what we've got - some good live footage - some positive text, but keep in touch to see what the future holds for Reggae4i and all those we represent!

The organisers of Reggae Sumfest, Summerfest Productions, in their first public statement since the announcement of Red Stripe's withdrawal from the event, say that while Red Stripe's contribution was significant to the staging of the festival and they will miss working with the company, their absence will in no way deter the festival.

In commenting on the decision of Red Stripe to withdraw its title sponsorship after seven years, Mr Gourzong said: "Red Stripe, in their role as title sponsor, has been integral to the success of the festival over the last seven years, and we wish to express our sincere thanks for that support. Red Stripe has taken a position against what they see as some very negative aspects of the dancehall music, and while we will certainly miss them, we appreciate and accept their decision. Our local performers have been integral to the success of Reggae Sumfest over the years.

They are extremely talented and our music is world acclaimed, we do not need to use indecency or violence as a selling point. Regrettably the inclusion of violent and degrading lyrics in some songs by a few of our artistes is cause for concern as this could hurt the industry and alienate sponsors."

The 16th staging of Reggae Sumfest is set for July 13-19 and will kick off with the beach party at Tropical Beach on Sunday, July 13, featuring top sound systems. On Thursday, July 17, top dancehall performers will energise the full capacity crowd, while Friday and Saturday will continue the tradition of offering the finest reggae singers and bands, alongside top international stars.

Digicel, Ocean Spray and Air Jamaica, the JTB and VP Records have once again signed on as major sponsors, while for the first time, Supreme Ventures has signed on as a silver sponsor, Red Bull has come on board as a gold sponsor and Jamrock Magazine as a platinum sponsor.

Negotiations are under way with several other companies who have expressed interest in supporting the event. Media support is once again very strong with CVM on board as the official television station, Irie FM as the official radio, and the Jamaica Observer as official newspaper. In addition Fame, Hype TV, RE TV, Zip FM, TVJ, Linkz FM, Vybz FM, Megajamz, Buzz Magazine, Jamaican Lifestyle and whaddat.com, have added their support to the event.

The line-up for Reggae Sumfest this year promises to be excellent. While not all contracts have yet been signed, a peek at the wish list for the festival revealed that the local line-up promises to be as strong as ever. A long list of artistes are being targeted which include Beres Hammond, Beenie Man, Buju Banton, Sizzla, Bounty Killer, Elephant Man, Mavado, Busy Signal, Jah Cure, Richie Spice, Macka Diamond, Brick & Lace, Tami Chynn, Erup, Queen I-Frica, Etana, Tarrus Riley, Anthony B, Voice Mail, Vybz Cartel, Demarco, Courtney John. Harry Toddler. No clues were revealed for the international acts, however it was hinted that negotiations were ongoing with some very 'big names'.

So, while there have been some rumblings in the music concert arena, Reggae Sumfest is still a must-go event on the calendar for 2008, and promises to once again surpass the standards set in previous years.

After a seven-year stint as title sponsor, Red Stripe took the decision not to renew their title sponsorship for 2008.

# Win a free copy of Dispatch's "Zimbabwe Live at Madison Square" DVD/CD, compliments of Special Ops Media. We're giving away three sets. Contest ends Wednesday 30th April.

# Morgan Heritage's 10th album "Mission In Progress" is an only half-satisfying effort.

# "Riddim Driven ~ Rub-A-Dub" features another scorcher riddim from producer Kemar 'DJ Flava' McGregor.

# "Hi Grade Anthems Vol. 2" compiles some of reggae and dancehall's best known tunes about ganja, marijuana, collie, weed, sess, sensimillia and whatever other name used for the herbs.

# Da'Ville's "Do You Love Me" is an absolutely brilliant EP.

# Supersonic Sound's first production is a riddim selection called "Devil's Angel".

# Interview with Morgan Heritage... by Rastafaria.

# 'Videoclip Of The Week' features Elephant Man & Demarco's "Our World".

# Playlist for Reggae Vibes Radio Show ~ Thursday, April 17, 2008.

One Love Festival
15th,16th,17th August
Reggae, Dub, Chill out and Electronic

It is with great sadness that we at West Indian Times have to report that Michael 'Mikey Dread' Campbell who was always 'The Dread At The Control' has passed away. Mikey passed away at approximately 6:50pm

Mickey Dread was not only a reggae great, he was the first reggae artist to record with british punk bands and for this he chose The Clash, another legend. Read More about Mikey Dread biography

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW FROM SATURDAY 15 MARCH WKCR.ORG

www.angelfire.com/hi5/rankinproductions/Rankin_Po_WKCR.mp3

Tony Rankin and Friends
March, 15 2008 at WKCR FM Radio
89.9 or on Line at: www.wkcr.org WKCR FM 89.9 New York

President Carter Van Pelt Interviews Tony Rankin and Poetica on The New Release of Tony Rankin’s

"Reggae Tribute to Jimi Hendrix" (Electric Reggaeland)
The first Full Reggae Tribute to Jimi Hendrix CD
Visit
www.myspace.com/tonyrankinandfriends

To preview some of the tunes on this CD.

Also Visit Rankin Media’s You Tube Site to watch the video of "Voodoo Child"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMzfq9_8foQ

Also "Up From the Skies"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TweVhkFe

Teresa Castellucci

Jah Birth New Ltd. Secures a Deal with South African Broadcasting Corporation for “CHANCE – A TRIBUTE TO LUCKY DUBE”

Johannesburg, South Africa

Jah Birth New Ltd., based in Kingston Jamaica has secured an exclusive deal with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), one of the nation’s largest and most powerful broadcasters. The SABC has entered an agreement with Jah Birth to acquire the full and exclusive rights to Prophecy’s single “CHANCE – A TRIBUTE TO LUCKY DUBE” for a limited period in South Africa and the rest of the world; the agreement also extends to the single’s video. The song was written and recorded in Jamaica on the Jah Birth label and was dedicated to Lucky Dube after he was murdered in Johannesburg on October 18^th.

Rohan Brown, a.k.a. Prophecy, is an up and coming Jamaican reggae artist who has been with Jah Birth since 2000.

“This project is a spiritual one and one which we had to do” says Delroy “Worm” Nevin, Chief Executive Officer of Jah Birth New Limited. Nevin continues to explain “that something needed to be done to honour a revolutionary, a humanitarian and a fellow reggae ambassador.” Thereafter, CHANCE – A TRIBUTE TO LUCKY DUBE was born. While the song acknowledges the loss and the pain felt over Dube’s death, it also asks pertinent questions about violence and its consequences.

In addition, the SABC is producing and filming a video for the song along with a documentary on Lucky Dube. The filming began in Jamaica and concluded in South Africa. Both the video and documentary will include footage taken in Johannesburg, Soweto, and Durban. The documentary, which features Prophecy, follows Lucky Dube’s eldest son, Thokozani, as he embarks on a journey tracing his father’s path back to the roots of Reggae music. Thokozani comments: “The fact that the Jamaicans called us upon doing a tribute song to Lucky Dube is an indication that the SABC is a true custodian of South Africa’s cultural heritage and artistic expressions.”

While in Johannesburg, the single, CHANCE - A TRIBUTE TO LUCKY DUBE debuted on 18 of the SABC’s radio stations simultaneously. Meanwhile, Prophecy was busy filming and interviewing with major radio and television stations across the nation while maintaining his connection with radio at home in Kingston, JA. After a week of non-stop excitement for Jah Birth New Ltd., Prophecy and South Africans, radio stations in South Africa were inundated with calls from listeners thanking and praising the Jamaican native who honoured their hero. In return, Prophecy was honoured at a packed Club Carfax in downtown Jo’burg.

History was also made when Prophecy performed CHANCE - A TRIBUTE TO LUCKY DUBE with Lucky Dube’s band, formerly “The Slaves”. It was extremely emotional and his performance was greeted with immediate calls for an encore. The highly receptive crowd also had an opportunity to hear more of Prophecy’s work when he performed additional, original songs: DEM WRONG, DON’T COME TELL ME and an acapella of PUFF PUFF and PASS.

Now that it is official, Prophecy and Jah Birth are very proud to share this exciting news with the rest of the world. For more information, and to book interviews contact Teresa Castellucci via

July 16-24 2006 by Tony Rankin Winn, Cindy Simeon

As in many years of production and performances, hundreds of artist, multitudes of press, both local and international, thousands of fans, Reggae Sumfest came and left great memories of some of the greatest Reggae artist and performances in Montego Bay.

This year Easy Star Records was invited to cover Reggae Sumfest with their international Crew. Consisting of Tony Rankin, Virginia Sharif, and Clyde Williams (MontegoBay),and Cindy Simeon.

The task of Covering Sumfest was made very accommodating.

Thru the years of covering Sumfest, various Production Companies have had the Challenge of Making it all work.Prievious years this contract was maintained by Headline Entertainment (Based in Kingston).Headliner was very professional in compiling the venue, stage, vendors, artist, scheduling ,stage and back stage access, and great accomo0dations for the press to interview,video,and photograph all the artist. Production plays a great part in making it all work. In the past the venues were very comfortable when meeting artist and utilizing the pressroom. Here, there are computers, Internet, fax, copy machines and huge wide screen plasma TV of the ongoing show. You never miss anything.

The Schedule of Performances can be viewed on their Reggae Sumfest Web site.

www.reggaesumfest.com

A-to-Z Hotel
Hotel portal and hotel directory for independent and family hotels in the world, Hotel resources, links, add url, hotel consulting, internet promotion for hotels...

Voici le nouvel album Reggae de Tiken Jah Fakoly.

Sur cet album Reggae, , Tiken Jah Fakoly raconte cet Africain dont l'identité est déclinée dès le premier morceau (« dioula, akan, sénoufo, brésilien, black-américain …») comme pour mieux en réaffirmer
la richesse de la culture Africaine disséminée partout dans le monde, mais aussi l’unité. Cet Africain vit aujourd’hui une expérience extrême, et quoi mieux que le Reggae de Tiken Jah Fakoly pour en expimer les peines.

L'album Reggae “L’Africain”, produit entre Bamako, Paris et Londres. Tiken Jah Fakoly s’est entouré des
producteurs de Reggae Kevin Bacon et Jonathan Quarmby (qui ont contribué aux carrieres Reggae de Ziggy Marley, Finley Quaye, Del Amitri…).Cet album Reggae, dont une partie des titres est écrite par Magyd Cherfi (Zebda), inclut les featurings du Sénégalais Akon, de Soprano et de l'ivoirien Beta Simon.

Check out the upcoming New Release from Tony Rankin www.rankinmedia.org,

 "Tony Rankin's Reggae Tribute to Jimi Hendrix (Electric Reggaeland)
 

Tony has beer Sing Jaying most of his tumes over Riddims with the Jimi Hendrix Lyric Foundation. He has now started compiling all of his "Electric Reggae Land" Style of "Reggae-oke",Sing Jaying,Chanting tunes into a soon to be completed and released CD.You can preview some of these tunes on his My Space Page:

www.myspace.com/tonyrankinandfriends

Some of The tunes included in the project are:

1."If a 6 waz 9"

2."Bold As Luv"

3."All Along Da Watch Tower"

4."Cross Town Traffic"

5."Up From The Skies"

6."Rainey Day Rain All Day"

7."Waste Medley "Live Medley Mix"

8."Lay Lady Lay" By Bob Dylan

9.Plus an"Bonus" interview on KTUH FM (www.ktuh.org) with Loriell

Please visit the site and preview this new project. Hopefull it will be ready for the "Rankin's Far East Tour" with Ranking Joe www.myspace.com/rankingjoe

www.myspace.com/rankingjoemusic

They are planning to Link with the Bangkok Massive in Bangkok for a Reggae show with soone to be released Thai Reggae Bands. Talks are soon to be finalized with the Bangkok Massive

www.myspace.com/bangkokmassice

www.myspace.com/45thieves

Special Thanks to Ras Abda in Brooklyn at The Riddim Factory, Don P from Bangkok Massive , and especially "Wise Bwoy" fromReggae Guest House

www.reggaeguesthouse.com