Yorkshire-based singer Adele Harley isn’t exactly a newcomer since she’s been in the business for quite some time. However, she’s looking forward to a higher profile due to the impending release of her debut album “Come Into My Life” produced by reggae duo Mafia & Fluxy due for release on August 16, 2010.
Produced by ‘Mafia & Fluxy’ this seventeen tracked album is tipped to be the top Female Reggae album of this year and beyond.
The album will feature 17 tracks, 13 written by Adele and Mafia & Fluxy and features collaboration with Glamma Kid, Leroy Mafia, legendary reggae sax man Dean Fraser, as well as the multi talented Harley playing strings and flute on two tracks.
As a taste of what’s to come here’s a preview of the track “Love’s Taken Over” a cover of the Chante Moore original to give you some idea of her potential. Don’t watch her colour: this woman can sing and she looks pretty with it too!
Our own Michael Conally is an uprising, budding comedian. Ever since he did a month long training course while on contract at the BBC, he’s been moonlighting as a comedian after dark.
His latest effort sees him helping the top media mentoring organisation MediaTrust in its volunteer member recruitment drive.
In a video Conally, who is actually also a MediaTrust mentor, is seen clowning around between the sobre comments of the other mentors.
To hear Malijah’s press you’d think he was the next Bob Marley! They’re happy to tell you that their man is the kind of rare singer who comes along once every generation, a kind of singer who has the remarkable ability to combine family values, humour and religion in his message-oriented music so that the whole world can rock to it.
What is undeniable is that the singer’s latest combination song, “No Combo” (Breakfast in Bed), done with former model Zenesha Riley, has been generating quite a lot of buzz in the local and international reggae scene.
“The song is more than just a single that promotes healthy eating, it is funny but serious and urges you to take a look at your lifestyle, and make the changes so you can live a healthier, more upful life, there is a message beneath it all, you have to set your thing right, no one else can do it for you.”
Apparently this is is a commercial for a Chinese phone company in which they superimpose old Bruce Lee footage into a ping-pong match.
The actual footage looks dated from around the late 1960s but the images are so well blended you don’t see the join. It’s amazing what they can do with computers these days, innit?!
Coming up next footage of Bruce Lee fighting Muhammed Ali in a king fu/boxing match. Don’t miss it! Now, wouldn’t that be something?!
It’s currently going the news rounds that within two years late reggae superstar Bob Marley will generate more money as a dead artist than both Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson.
Somewhere along the line you have to suspend credibility but if true this is a tremendous achievement for a little ghetto youth who has made it big on the international scene.
So now everyone wants to be like Marley. But what are the things that have made Marley as successful as he has become? Here are some pointers…
Bob Marley was true. True to his music, true to his belief in Emperor Haile Selassie, true to his belief in his (Trench Town) roots and true to his belief in people.
His music had depth that connected with people on a human level and also with people on a higher, spiritual plane. Thus, his music was always destined to stand the test of time for generations to come because he took the trouble to write great material in the first place.
He was a Rastaman who wasn’t wearing locks to further his career; his locks were the crowning glory to his faith.
He feared no one and was a fighter, even when there was dissent within his own group. Some members, apparently, did not like his “ital” food philosophy but went along
He surrounded himself with excellent people who could get things done; from Chris Blackwell to the musicians in his group.
He did not alienate people, either with his message nor his outlook on life, even when they tried to kill him.
He was a charasmatic leader who had a wider world view than his backyard. He saw music as a ‘weapon’ in African people’s struggle, something he saw for himself first hand at the 1980 independence gig in Zimbabwe, Africa where he heard from freedom fighters, led by current President Robert Mugabe, how much of an inspiration his music was to them.
He was comfortable with reggae music and had no pretensions about wanting to play any other kind of music just to prove he could actually do so. Through this he showed that great music is possible in any genre, even one that was not even appreciated in his own country.
He identified firstly with the oppressed, the underdog, the street people and he took their message to the world without “prettying it up”, unvarnised, exactly as it was without flowering or decorations.
He was an enigma, a mystic, a wild man whose libidio showed him to be just like any other rock and roll star where sex, drugs and music were easy staples.
He was a one-off: in the right place, at the right time born of a lineage that probably gave him certain initial operational advantages which his ample talent followed up on.
Great business acumen and a man of discipline, integrity and trust. It is now legend that Blackwell did not expect anything after giving Marley
Jamaican recording artists have a hard time getting their videos aired on B.E.T. the supposedly Black Entertainment Television which many critics say operate almost discriminatory against certain artists and genres like reggae.
The situation is so bad it is reminiscent of the days when MTV refused to air music videos from black artists, until a certain Michael Jackson bust that taboo open with his Thrillere video to open the trickle then the floodgates!
Things are said to be so bad at B.E.T. that artists have to lobby to get their videos aired on B.E.T. Uprising Jamaican artist David M, who first introduced himself to the music scene in the 90′s has just had the premiere of his music video for the single “Lest we forget” on B.E.T. on Sunday March 14th, 2010.
He’d been told in good faith that the video would be shown (which it was at 10:30am EST) but David took the precaution of waiting while it was actually aired before going public about. He’d learnt from the experience of Mavado whose surefire hit “So special” was given a promise it would be aired in October 2009 on B.E.T. only to have hopes dashed because of “legal issues”.
It would be funny that videos from black artists should be pre-screened, vetted and refused in this manner, if it wasn’t so tragic. So it must be sweet when you finally get your vid shown and the world can appreciate your work!
