Some are leaves. Some are branches. Bushman, born in 1973 in the parish of St. Thomas, Jamaica, is strictly roots.

After the inevitable struggling years he met and linked up with producers Steely and Clevie in Kingston where they collaborated on singles such as “Grow Your Natty” and the hit “Call The Hearse”.

His debut album, “Nyah Man Chant”, later followed on Greensleeves, in 1997. But, that seems like ages now because Bushman has since released several albums including “Total Commitment” with the “Fire Bun a Weak Heart” hit and also “Higher Ground” in 2001, both on Greensleeves. And with several international tours now under his belt Bushman is spreading his roots reggae message to appreciative audiences globally.

Strictly roots Iyah. Knuh true?

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?!

Germany’s reggae queen Manja, aka Firegyal, sizzles in this smouldering video. She got into reggae late 1994/early 1995 which she heard at the various parties she attended in her hometown Leipzig.

From around age 17 she started going to raves/sessions featuring the sound systems Far East Sound, Donic Ban and Messers Banzani Brats after seeing flyers around Leipzig. Their reggae sound drew her in and had her under a spell and she had caught the reggae fever!

She got into deejaying herself and created a series of mix tapes but found she had this burning desire to perform dancehall reggae on stage, under the name Firegyal. “I wanted to share the excitement that I felt in me,” she remembers. She started singing at 15 and although she had always sung she did not have the confidence to sing publicly. Her stint behind the turntables as a DJ gve her the confidence to perform before a crowd.

The “It Is love” was originally called “Jah is Love” and was released in 2006 as an EP on the Rauchzeichen label. At that time she also sung in English but these days tend to sing exclusively in her native German tongue. “It Is Love” wasn’t the big success she had hoped. She then met a friend called White Scorpio who helped her gave her the impetus to focus on her music and its more intently.

“I wanted to be understood and have made my thoughts accessible to virtually everyone,” she said. “That is why “There is love” instead of Jah.

Definitely there is more to come from Manja. Watch this space.

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:

This year 39 artists submitted albums for Reggae Grammy 2010 consideration from which the final five albums were selected to be voted on. The eligibility period ran from October 1, 2008 and August 31, 2009.

The actual 2010 Grammy Awards ceremony itself will be held on January 31, 2010 at the Staples Centre in downtown Los Angeles, California, USA.

The final five:-1. Rasta Got Soul

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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