Jamaica’s tennis player Dustin Brown stands at the entrance of a good example of achieving greatness. He meets Britain’s Andy Murray in round two of the Men’s Singles at the US Open continuing at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, on Friday, September 3, 2010.

While the odds favour in-form Murray, currently ranked number four in the world, the 25-year-old German-born Brown, ranked 123rd, has bags of confidence. He claimed his first Grand Slam scalp on Wednesday, ousting Spain’s Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-4, 7-6 (8/6), 7-5.

“I’m really excited to play against him (Murray),” Brown said. “I’m definitely going to play my type of tennis, play aggressive, and try to keep the points short.”

Born in Celle, Germany, to a Jamaican father and German mother, Brown grew up in Jamaica but honed his skills on the minor-league clay court tournaments of Europe. He pulled off a shocker at a grass-court event this past summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. That is when he beat another big boomer, American Sam Querrey. It was his first victory over a top 20 player.

Brown, who enjoys special support from New York’s Jamaican community at the US Open, hopes to add the scalp of top 5 player Murray in their match on Friday.

Gilberto Gil is an artist whose music has expanded from the centre of his Brazilian roots to the centre of the universe – and that’s not just a cute turn of phrase! From his humble beginnings in Salvador (Bahia, Brazil) in 1942, Gil, like the sentiment of Star Trek, has boldly taken his music into other worlds and civilisation where few others have gone before.

One of those cultures was reggae having been influenced by Jamaica’s primary legend: Bob Marley of course. But, making connections seem to be a Gilberto Gil imperative and he made the biggest connection when his virtuoso music dropped him into the bosom of politics and he was elected Minister of Culture in 2003.

Just imagine Bob Marley as Jamaica’s official Minister of Culture and you get some idea of what I’m talking about. That this would never happen in Jamaica is another story altogether…

The appointment of the Don of Brazilian music was one of the biggest surprises of the new cabinet. And also the most controversial, because the artists and intellectuals of the Workers’ Party (PT), including its head and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, strongly opposed to such a precious position in the hands of anyone outside the party.

But Gilberto Gil, who ran for the opposition Green Party, had publicly supported the PT and had ceded some of his music for Lula’s election campaign and its people.

Political consciousness is not new to Gil, of course, and his cover of Bob Marley’s deep political and sociological look at the love of a mother for her son could just as well be speaking to a situation in Bahia, Brazil as it was in Kingston, Jamaica.

Do you feel the vibe?!

The group Third World, reggae’s longest established ensemble, rehearsing for their 35th anniversary tour at home in Jamaica.

The year 2012 is shaping up to be a nice little earner for late reggae superstar Bob Marley. According to a report in CNNMoney.com a management deal struck between the singer’s estate and Canadian private equity firm Hilco Consumer Capital is forecast to land Marley his biggest ever nest egg.

If the predictions prove true Marley would become the richest dead celebrity, with a billion dollar earning that will eclipse that of Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson combined!

The report also quotes professional marketer and professor at New York University’s School of Business Mickey Goodman as follows:

Just like in his heyday Bob Marley is till bubbling on the top 100, just like a mighty dread!

"Redemption Song" a song released in 1978 by the late Jamaican reggae superstar has just been voted among the top 20 political songs by New Statesman readers and members of the Politcal Studies Association.

Redemption Song", comprising two verses, a repeated chorus and a simple chord progression,

This is probably not for the squeamish or those who runs to babylon for every lickle t’ing! But there’s a wicked cartoon pilot that’s been doing the rounds since last year hoping to get a deal to go into full production. And I can’t help but love it!

The cartoon, Ninjamaia, about a James Bondish Jamaican Ninja spy – yeah, it does stretch the imagination! – is one of the wickedest and funniest cartoon I’ve ever seen. I am biased of course as it does feature Jamaica prominently. Don’t take my word for it: watch it for yourself. Remember where you heard about it!

1. Jamaican music (this include roots rock reggae, dancehall reggae, ska, rock steady, mento).
2. Gangsta (or bad boy) Style (Jamaica introduced the style conscious to wearing their shirts outside their pants.
3. The foundation for rap (Jamaica invented the concept for rap back in the late 1960s/early 1970s and called it “toasting”. On Bob Marley’s “Put It On” he sings: ‘I’m not boasting…feel like toasting’…).
4. Dub (instrumental version of a track’s A side, usually spiced up with echo and other effects).
5. The Remix (we call it the version where you basically have the one rhythm and slight variation of content on it. For instance you could have a singer, a rapper, an instrumentalist, etc. all doing their own special performance on the one basic rhythm track).
6. The DiscoMix (long-playing 12″ vinyl records, now largely obsolete.).
7. Bob Marley & the Wailers (Marley’s ability to unite opposing politicians and sensitise the world to the dynamics of Jamaica’s indigenous music, the beauty of our local woman in the form of a Jamaican Miss World and politics is still a landmark).
8. Personalities (Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Mary Seacole).
9. Rastafarianism.
10. Dreadlocks.
11. Bauxite (Jamaica is currently the world’s second largest exporter of Bauxite, falling short only to the much larger Australia. In an earlier decade it was the world’s biggest exporter of bauxite, the raw material for aluminium).
12. World, record breaking athletes (among them, of course, Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Donald Quarrie, Merlene Ottey, Herbert McKenley, just to name a few).
13. Inspiring Holiday Destination (home of author Ian Fleming, creator of the James Bond novels; through Sandals Jamaica invented the all-inclusive holiday resort concept.)
14. Jamaican patois (Ali G’s displacement of Jamaican language and style is what gave the character his quirky resonance).
15. Gold (at one point Jamaica was the gold capital of the world, attracting many pirates from all parts of the globe.).
16. Sugar.
17. Rum.
18. Liquor (Tia Maria and others).
19. Ganja (Jamaica’s term for marijuana; also called The Weed, among others.).
20. Blue Mountain Coffee.

Can you think of other ways Jamaica has impacted on the world?

Ground-breaking film The Harder They Come has come again! But this time it’s reincarnated as a colourful stage play which  kicked off its North American tour in Toronto on Tuesday.

Like the 1972 film on which it’s based, the musical was written by Jamaica’s Perry Henzell who died in 2006, but not before he’d written the script for a musical based on his tale of a would-be musician who becomes a wanted man in the mean streets of Kingston, Jamaica.

British producer Jan Ryan brought it to the stage and Theatre Royal Stratford East and UK Arts International have teamed with Mirvish Productions to premiere it in Toronto.

The film, with its track of famous songs such as The Harder They Come, You Can Get It If You Really Want and Many Rivers to Cross, brought lead player, singer and song-writer Jimmy Cliff to superstardom. Cliff’s character, based on a real-life Jamaican criminal, cannot negotiate the politics of the music industry and turns to crime. Many of the issues tackled in the film is still pertinent today so should resonate with audiences around the world.

The Toronto production, the first stop on an international tour, runs June 21 through Aug. 23 at the Canon Theatre.

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Wha’gwaan Jamaica?