Internationally acclaimed and beloved reggae singer Lucky Dube was gunned down in Johannesburg South Africa on Thursday night. Police say the shooting resulted from a “botched carjacking” as he was dropping his teenage son and daughter off at a relative’s home. Fortunately, his youth were not physically hurt, but will surely be traumatized from watching their father get killed. Lucky Dube was one of Africa’s most successful artists, producing several platinum records among the 22 albums he released in 25 years. Dube is known and respected for his social-political lyrics about apartheid-era South African culture. He was a voice of the people whose music and life were uplifting and hopeful during times of struggle while teaching the rest of the world about life in South Africa. His death, too, is an international statement on the quality of life in this dangerous place. ([More →])

The rest of this year is going to be very kind on the ears with new and “new” reggae releases from Dennis Brown, Ras Shiloh, Israel Vibration, and I-Wayne whose upcoming album features a duet with the legendary LADY G!!! BooYah! ([More →])

Michael Franti and Spearhead continue to tour in support of last year’s release, Yell Fire! The ever-busy Franti is also about to publish the first book from his own publishing company. The book is a “visual and musical journey about self acceptance” for children titled, “What I Be” and the new publishing company is called Stay Human Books. ([More →])

The Jamaica Observer reported today that Jah Cure will be performing in the UK after Curefest in October. Jah Cure fans are going crazy for any news about the singer since his release from the Tower Correctional Facility in July. He made his first public appearance at the Sundance Reggae Music Fest in Holland and the crowd response was unprecedented. So much love and joy and appreciation came from the audience during the concert and in the weeks following. Cure’s second concert is the 3-day festival that was organized in his honor – Curefest in Jamaica October 12-14th. This will be a huge weekend for Jah Cure, not only because it is his big show on home soil, but also he will be celebrating his 30th birthday on October 11th. As he gears up for this big event, his promoters are setting the stage over in the UK. Taurrus Riley is already scheduled for numerous UK concerts opening for Buju Banton and will also open the shows for Jah Cure in UK. Taurrus Riley, son of the legendary Jimmy Riley has been blazing his own path up the music charts this year. ([More →])

Ode to sensi flowers, sweet and sour… On the reggae tip, Chip Fu (of the Fu-Schnickens) recorded his own version of “Love Mi Sensi” over Collie Buddz’ Come Around riddim. Tis a nice, chillin reggae choon. While Dame Grease gives us a sneak peak into the video shoot for “Sour Diesel” with NORE and Styles lighting the way. ([More →])

Music producer “Computer Paul” Henton is widely appreciated by digital reggae and jungle fans, but not as widely recognized by mainstream channels. He’s had four of his tracks go Gold: “I Can See Clearly Now” by Jimmy Cliff, “As Raw As Ever” by Shabba Ranks, and two songs by Inner Circle, all (I think) from the 90’s. The spotlight shines on Computer Paul again this week as he receives his first platinum award and it’s a double! ([More →])

I don’t have a full concert review to share just yet, but I wanted to give you a glimpse at what happened last night when Pato Banton came to town. He performed at the Independent, with the Mystic Roots as backup. He had just launched into his biggest hit song – “Gwarn” when he noticed a guy in the audience wearing a GWARN T-shirt. He pulled that guy up on stage and the two of them ended up doing the most ridiculous duet I have ever seen! Pato swears it wasn’t rigged and you could see the genuine surprise on his face when this guy, Frank, busts out. ([More →])

Greensleeves is 30! A record store and label that has done so much for reggae music, from roots to jungle, is celebrating 3 decades in business with a double disc compilation release. The album contains 30 songs, each representing a different year in the history of the legendary label and it’s available on CD as well as digital download. Both versions include artwork, sleevenotes and an interview with the founders of Greensleeves.

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What we have here is a simple roundup of reggae shows and reggae music festivals dat a gwaan this month in north america. Mostly in Cali, but there a few others sprinkled in. By no means exhaustive, I just wanted to throw these out there without spending a long time posting about them. Have a peek: ([More →])

What would Bob Marley think of his albums being released in every new media? These days, there are many options for the rastaman on the go. USB, SD, mp3, and ringtones, Bob Marley and the Wailers are as mobile as a rasta can get! That’s right, ringtones! Verizon Wireless and Universal Music Group announced a deal today that makes an extensive catalog of Bob Marley tunes available as ringtones for Verizon cell phones. A press release about the new ringtones puts Bob Marley on the highest musical pedestal and hails Verizon as a leader in mobile music for inking the deal with Universal. ([More →])

Joseph “Culture” Hill is still one of the most prominent and relevant figures in roots reggae culture. As a member of the trio Culture, Joseph Hill wrote, sang and recorded the legendary and historically significant song “Two Sevens Clash.” The song was released in the seventh month of 1977, a time when a religious and superstitious Kingston, Jamaica came to a standstill due to a prophecy by Marcus Garvey. Garvey predicted that there would be chaos when the Two Sevens came together. Hill had a vision about the prophecy, and came up with the lyrics for the apocalyptic song that so captured the imagination of reggae fans in Jamaica that schools and businesses closed for the day and many people stayed indoors on 07/07/77. ([More →])

Reggae veteran Jah Jerry passed into Jah’s hands last week at a ripe old age of 80. 80 years of skanking around Babylon is not bad, not bad at all. Jah Jerry was one of the founding members of the Skatalites, reggae and ska’s most prolific band as well as the pioneers of the ska sound. Infamous for their years as the house band at Studio One, The Skatalites were formed around 1963 by Jah Jerry, Tommy McCook, Don Drummond, Jackie Mittoo, Johnny Moore and Rolando Alphonso, but many more legendary musicians participated in the band during its continuous career. It was The Skatalites that created and developed the ska sound with bass guitar, rhythm guitar, drums, and horns. Most of the music coming out of Studio One in the 60’s, and probably the 70’s too, featured the Skatalites playing all kinds of reggae styles as the backing music for the many different vocalists who would come in to record a record. The band consists of new members these days, as most of the founding members have passed on, but they continue to tour and record, carrying the ska torch into the future. ([More →])

Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls” begins week three at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 music chart today. Watch out for this kid – he seems like the sweet harmless type, but he’s one savvy teen. Plus, he seems to be getting the sweet end of the Epic stick. Turns out that Epic has outsourced the marketing of Sean Kingston’s debut album to Koch Records. Combining Epic’s resources with Koch’s targeted marketing might be better than a single record deal with either one! ([More →])

Tanya Stephens has been awarded the second ever RDI scholarship. The Resource Development International scholarship was established in Jamaica in 2005 as a distance-learning option to pursue Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with top British universities. Assassin was the recipient of the first RDI and is reported to be doing very well, he is even at the top of his class! ([More →])

Visa issues were the cause of Horace Andy missing several shows in the US recently, when he was scheduled to share the bill with dub and reggae heavyweights Sly and Robbie. The visa has been issued finally, Andy flew from Kingston, Jamaica to California, and the tour will proceed as planned. Cherine Anderson opens the concerts, warming up the crowd for Horace Andy’s roots reggae crooning and Sly and Robbie’s relentless and warm jamming on drums and bass. ([More →])