NEWS & EVENTS

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Listen back to my chat with the legendary B.B. Seaton. Bibby discusses, among other things, the Gaylads story, the harsh, but crucial, mentoring meted out by Boris Gardiner, receiving record royalties from Studio One. Bibby also developed Soul Beat, worked at the Jamaican Federation of Musicians and penned some serious classics recorded by numerous top artists including Ken Boothe, Marcia Griffiths, Dennis Brown and UB40 among others. A truly amazing legacy.

Tracklist:

Chuck Jackson – Any Day Now

The Four Tops – It’s all in the Game

The Four Tops – It’s the Same Old Song

Lou Rawls – Love is a Hurtin’ Thing

The Temptations – War

Wes Montgomery – Bumping on the Sunset

#BBSeaton, #Winston&Bibby, #The Gaylads, #BorisGardiner, #CoxsoneDodd, #A&R, #StudioOne, #SoulBeat, #MetronomeMusic, #JamaicaFederationOfMusicians, #Ska, #Rocksteady, #Reggae, #DropDaBiscuit, #Music, #Podcast,

Great interview with legendary Burning Spear by Lloyd Bradley in The Guardian.

He is the Jamaican legend who liberated reggae, taking it out of Kingston, drenching it in horns – and giving it a joyous, spiritual kick. As Burning Spear hits the road, he looks back on his astonishing life.

It’s been two decades since Burning Spear set foot on a UK stage and almost as long since he took on anything that could qualify as a tour: a remarkable state of affairs for the man who has been Jamaica’s most exhilarating performer for half a century.

With an agenda that was equal parts celebration, Black history lesson and pulpit preaching – immersed in horn-drenched music that was at once modern and ancient – Burning Spear entranced and energised audiences across the world. Subdued lighting, smoke (much of which came from the crowd) and live dub versioning built the atmosphere around roots reggae’s greatest voice as he offered hope for the future while addressing the injustices of the past.

The new Penguin edition of Linton Kwesi Johnson’s Selected Poems comprises three previously unpublished verses, the most recent of which is titled Di First Lackdoun. 

Written in August 2021 in his signature style – London-Jamaican patois rendered as it is spoken – it recounts a walk he took in his local park in Brixton as the long weeks of the first winter Covid gave way to spring.

people juss skattah like littah
all ovah di clean-cut carpets of green
redeemin ert an sky an sunlite

some a sit inna wide wide circle
like in some aintshent tradishan
a ritual of revahrence to life

A great interview in The Observer has Linton talking about the new collection and his career as a poet.

Interesting article published in Gal-Dem and Vice about black female DJ experiences working around the world. 

In this book extract from 'Tales From the Booth', an anonymous DJ reveals how travelling the world for music isn't as glamorous as it sounds.

The Secret DJ is a music industry ghost – an anonymous British DJ notorious for his unfiltered views on the debauchery and downsides of the dance music industry, which he recounted in two memoirs. 

In his 2022 follow-up Tales From the Booth, he’s taken a slightly different tack; collating similarly uncensored accounts from other nameless DJs about the business they’re in. The published extract is by an anonymous female DJ of colour.

Drop Da Biscuit checks in with the legendary Phillip Fraser. Phillip reveals how the music of Sam Cooke and Slim Smith inspired him to sing. Phillip’s Greenwich Farm roots meant that he was surrounded by the very best musical talent available in Jamaica and he tells how his links with Tony Mack, Bertram Brown, Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith and Sugar Minott and many other reggae legends helped to forge his career. Phillip created Freedom Sounds with Bertram Brown, started Razor Sound and Cornerstone and helped set up Roots Tradition. It’s a great story. Forward!

Tracklist:

Phillip Fraser – Just Can’t Run

Phillip Fraser – This Morning

Phillip Fraser – Find Another Girl

Phillip Fraser – Ragamuffin Soldier

Phillip Fraser – Little Nut Tree

Phillip Fraser – Your Man

#PhillipFraser, #BertramBrown, #FreedomSounds, #SoulSyndicate, #Razorsound, #Cornerstone, #Reggae, #Music, #Podcast, #DropDaBiscuit,

The RFUK Edutainment Seminar & Showcase is the ideal event for people aiming to be successful performers and for those wanting to gain more knowledge and understanding about the music business. The event is broken down into two parts, a free Edutainment Seminar in the daytime and an affordable performance showcase in the evening.

Edutainment Seminar Session:

The afternoon is packed with a variety of practical workshops and presentations carefully chosen to be of benefit to a wide range of people in the music and entertainment business. Industry professionals are kindly giving their time for free for the benefit of the community.

Showcase Session:

This session kicks off with PA performances by the three winners of the RFUK Star Pick Competition

Next is the presentation of awards to the winners of the RFUK International Reggae Day People’s Choice UK Reggae Music Poll.

Sat, 20 August 2022, 14:00 – 22:00 BST

Theatre Peckham, 221 Havil Street, London SE5 7SB

Trojan Records have announced a new compilation album Rise Jamaica! Jamaican Independence Special to celebrate Jamaica’s 60th year of independence. The album, out on double CD, double vinyl and digital, will be released on 5th August and will celebrate the hugely influential sounds of the island nation.

Marking the 60th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence in August 2022, this celebratory collection will showcase an array of the island’s major hits as well as previously unissued tracks, all of which were recorded in 1962, the year that the island became a sovereign nation. The album will be available as a limited edition 28 track 2LP colour vinyl set (Disc 1 Green Vinyl & Disc 2 Yellow Vinyl) and also as an expanded 50 track 2CD Digipack.

The compilation celebrating the 60th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence will be released on 5th august. 

Listen back to my interview with Italy’s Mr Roots and Culture, Fabrizio Laganà. Fabrizio reveals how he first caught the reggae bug in 1977. Fabrizio has set up a reggae promotion company, had his radio station bombed by political opponents, lost all his record shop equipment and stock to robbers, ran a sound system  and has penned a number of books about reggae.

Tracklist:

Pat Kelly – How Long (extended Barnabs mix)

Gregory Isaacs/Trinity – A Riot/Staff of Life

Cultural Roots – Only Jah Knows

Ijahman Levi – Jah Heavy Load

Veterans (aka Alton Ellis/Naggo Morris) – Peace Within

Justin Hinds – Rain Drops 

#FabrizioLaganà, #MrRootsandCulture, #RadioCitta'Futura, #GoodStuffPromotion, #FacebookTributes, #JustinHinds, #NattyTakeOver, #HearticalFM, #ReggaeGlobalRadio, #ItalVibesShow, #DropDaBiscuit, #Podcast, #Reggae, #MusicPodcast, #Music, #Podcast,

150 artists show in South London at this annual Alfresco Art Fair. 16th & 17th July, 10am-6pm. Josephine Avenue, London SW2 Urban Art 2011 is a unique London event not be missed. Not only is it the perfect setting to view new and original artworks, it is also a great way to meet and talk to artists face to face. All this plus live graffiti being created in front of your very eyes, delicious food to taste, some great music to listen to, plus the opportunity of raising money for some very worthy causes...what more could you ask?

The Guardian reports that Getty Images photos dating back to 1800s have been made available free to allow telling of black history stories beyond enslavement and colonisation.

A collection of almost 30,000 rarely seen images of the black diaspora in the UK and the US, dating from the 19th century to the present, has been launched as part of an educational initiative to raise awareness of the history of black people in the UK.

The Black History & Culture Collection includes more than 20 categories of images including politics, hair, education, female empowerment and LGBTQ+.

It begins with images from the 1800s, including a portrait of two South African children – Albert Jonas and John Xiniwe of the African Choir – erupting with laughter in 1891. Photos of abolitionist and civil rights figures, the Notting Hill carnival in the 1980s and the Black Lives Matter protests of recent years are also included.

Meet veteran singer songwriter Lascelles Douglas. Lascelles reveals how, as a young man, he was mentored by a pre-Culture Joseph Hill, and how he linked with Glen Washington and Sly & Robbie. Lascelles was a founding member of Humble Lion F.C., a Rastafarian football team founded in 1974 and he now runs independent record label Starlyte Entertainment Enterprise and Media Inc (SEEMI).

Tracklist:

Bob Marley & The Wailers – Ambush in the Night

Dennis Brown – Black Liberation

Lou Rawles – Ain’t That loving You (For More Reasons Than One)

Lascelles Douglas – Touch Me

Jimmy Cliff – Many Rivers to Cross

India Arie – Ready for Love

Lascelles Douglas – Stop the Violence

#LascellesDouglas, #DerrickThomas, #ImperialMinstrels, #JosephHill, #HumbleLionFC, #RhythmAlliance, #StarlyteEntertainment, #Reggae, #Music, #Podcast, #DropDaBiscuit,

Interesting article in USA Today on the impact that the classic tune 'The Message' made on Hip Hop 40 years after its release.

At first, there was no message.

Rap was all bluff and bluster. Party stuff, straight up. Hip hop, you don't stop. Throw your hands in the air, and wave 'em like you just don't care. Somebody scream.

And then — straight outta Englewood, New Jersey — came 'The Message.' That record, released 40 years ago Friday, hit the reset button.

"You could smell the 'hood in the song," said Melvin Glover, aka Melle Mel, the vocalist and one of the key architects of the record.

'The Message' issued July 1, 1982, set the pattern for all the hip-hop records that came after.

It is, arguably, the single most important hip-hop title ever released. A claim that Rolling Stone Magazine bolstered in 2012 by making 'The Message' No. 1 in its cover story, "The 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time."