Island Voices Reggae & New Jamaican Music Connect to the heart of Jamaica through music... the music that frees people’s souls. By Dona Omanoff and Fureus “Jamaicans have music within them. They are born with it… That is the whole essence why the music has risen up. It’s a music spiritually, telepathically, metaphysically, vibrating in the wind…” From RiseUP an award-winning film by Luciano Blotta “Island Voices Reggae & New Jamaican Music” is proud to be an official product of the 50th Anniversary Celebration & Jubilee 1962 to 2012 50th Anniversary Jamaica: Official Song “On A Mission” by Shaggy & Various Artists You are reading the PDF version of the book. We are providing the PDF version to reviewers, media and others who may not be able to read the intended file formats which are EPUB (iBooks and other readaers) or MOBI (Amazon) file. Those files “reflow” the text according to the device reading the book. The PDF file will have page breaks that are not elegant. Also, the Table of Contents in the PDF file may seem out of order, but it’s done intentionally as the EPUB and MOBI files displays two Table of Contents and we made them different on purpose for the e-readers. Hope that makes sense. Call Dona with any other concerns at 561.309.9621. Thank you. Copyright Authored by Dona Omanoff and Fureus Dona Omanoff is an American technologist, photographer and writer. Richard Gardner (Fureus) is a Jamaican producer and composer. Read about them in the “Authors’ Introduction” chapter. ISBN: 978-0-615-74721-7 Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved. Published by Universal Eye Media 12898 SE Hobe Hills Drive Hobe Sound, FL 33455 United States of America Contact Dona at 561.309.9621 in USA Contact Fureus at 876.284.7186 or 876.850.0881 in Jamaica Visit: www.reggaemusicguide.com. “Like” us on our Facebook page. Editor: Ely White Cover Design: Zard Tompkins Photography: Dona Omanoff Special Thanks Angel investors, Carole Girouard and Donna Finan. Book review, Steve Bruno. Note from Publisher The intent of the e-book is to promote the artists by introducing readers to music and Jamaican culture. We hope the reader will also buy music from the artists via their chosen distributors, in the case of this book, iTunes. All of the artists featured in this book have a relationship with iTunes. Please contact us is you would like to be featured in the next edition of the e-book or if you would like to be removed from the guide. We did our best to use the proper affiliate linking to ensure that links to music and books work. Most of the artists in the book are Jamaican, however we do feature a few reggae artists from countries other than Jamaica and we hope you enjoy them. The book was created with Adobe InDesign CC using Palantino, Arial and Verdana fonts. “A Brief History of Rastafarianism” was published with kind permission from the author, Crispin Sartwell, a self-professed individualist, anarchist and member of the faculty of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, who specializes in American philosophy. The essay was taken directly from his website. An in-depth version of the essay is featured in his book, Political Aesthetics (Cornell University Press, 2010). Notice of Rights All rights reserved. You may reproduce and store the e-book content for your personal and fair use. Full scale reproduction of the book’s contents is expressly prohibited. We encourage people to contact us for private label opportunities so you can “brand” the book and use it for commercial purposes. We are open to innovation and want to create “win-win” opportunities for all parties involved. For information on working together, contact [email protected]. If you received the book free via marketing efforts or otherwise we’d really appreciate you telling your friends about us or writing a review. Please read the “Share Our Book” section. Trademarks iTunes, Apple, and Amazon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Inc. and Amazon, registered in the U.S. and other countries. The use of any trade name is not intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book. Disclaimer This book is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes. The authors and publisher are not offering it as legal, travel or other professional services. Neither the authors nor the publisher shall be held liable or responsible to any person or entity with respect to any loss or incidental or consequential damages caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the information contained herein. Contents of the e-book are the sole expression and opinion of the authors. Travelers to Jamaica should exercise care and caution. We are in no way responsible for how information is used or interpreted. Always use your best judgment. Acknowledgements Thank you to Elizabeth Castro for her book EPub Straight to the Point. Creating e-books for the Apple iPad and other e-readers. (Peachpit Press, 2011). We appreciated her gracious and timely answer of email questions concerning EPub and Adobe InDesign. Thanks to Rick Spisak, technology guru, for his help finding Tinyurl. We researched most of the biographies from the Internet, websites, articles, Wikipedia and other sources and gave credit when information was quoted. Where to Buy the Book The book is available from iBooks or Amazon. For private labeling or bulk quotes contact [email protected] or at 561.309.9621. We will pay a 15% finder’s fee for people helping us connect with businesses or individuals wishing to buy large quantities of the book. We’ll be happy to provide more details about referral guidelines and price discounts. Also read the “Share Our Book” chapter. About Our Logo Our e-book logo, designed by the fabulous Zard, uses the American spelling of “me kno me reggae” instead of the Jamaican—“mi know mi reggae” because we are hoping to contribute to Americans truly knowing their reggae. Don’t be an “ugly American.” Take the time to learn about the culture and the people and be a bridge of understanding and love—the true spirit of reggae music. Table of Contents “Island Voices” on page 1 “Copyright” on page 6 “How to Use This Book” on page 19 “Table of Contents” on page 10 “Authors’ Introduction” on page 15 “Metaphors & Tips to Enjoy Reggae & Dancehall Music” on page 22 “History of Rastafarianism” on page 30 “Artists A - C” on page 37 “Admiral Tibet” on page 37 “Aidonia” on page 37 “AJ Brown” on page 38 “Alaine” on page 39 “Alborosie” on page 39 “Alton Ellis” on page 40 “Anthony B” on page 40 “Assassin” on page 41 “Baby Wayne” on page 42 “Barrington Levy” on page 43 “Bascom X” on page 43 “Beres Hammond” on page 44 “Bitty McLean” on page 45 “Blak Ryno” on page 46 “Bob Marley” on page 47 “Bounty Killer” on page 48 “Brian & Tony Gold” on page 49 “Bryan Art” on page 49 “Buju Banton” on page 50 “Bushman” on page 53 “Capleton” on page 54 “Chuck Fenda” on page 56 “Cherine Anderson” on page 57 “Chevaughn” on page 57 “Chezidek” on page 58 “Christopher Martin” on page 59 “Courtney “Yogi” John” on page 60 “Artists D - F” on page 62 “Damian Marley” on page 62 “Danny English” on page 63 “Da’Ville” on page 64 “Dennis Brown” on page 65 “Desmond Dekker” on page 67 “Everton Blender” on page 67 “Fanton Mojah” on page 69 “Faithful” on page 70 “Fureus” on page 70 “Artists G - J” on page 73 “Garnett Silk” on page 73 “Gentleman” on page 74 “Ginjah” on page 75 “Gyptian” on page 75 “Half Pint” on page 76 “The Heptones” on page 77 “Hotta Red” on page 78 “I-Octane” on page 79 “I-Wayne” on page 80 “Ikaya” on page 82 “Jah Cure” on page 84 “Jah Mason” on page 87 “Jah Prince” on page 88 “Jimmy Cliff” on page 91 “Artists K - M” on page 93 “Khago” on page 93 “Konshens” on page 94 “Laden” on page 95 “Lazo” on page 95 “Lenkey Paul” on page 97 “Luciano” on page 98 “L.U.S.T.” on page 100 “Lutan Fyah” on page 101 “Mavado” on page 102 “Maxi Priest” on page 104 “Mikey Spice” on page 105 “Minky” on page 106 “Morgan Heritage” on page 106 “Munga Honorable” on page 108 “Artists N - P” on page 110 “Natural Black” on page 110 “Norris Man” on page 111 “Pinchers” on page 112 “Pressure” on page 113 “Artists Q - S” on page 115 “Queen Ifrica” on page 115 “Ras Shiloh” on page 116 “Richie Spice” on page 117 “Richie Stephens” on page 118 “Ricky Flex” on page 120 “Sanchez” on page 121 “Sean Paul” on page 122 “Serani” on page 123 “Shabba Ranks” on page 125 “Shawn Storm” on page 126 “Singing Melody” on page 127 “Sizzla” on page 128 “Spanner Banner” on page 131 “Spragga Benz” on page 132 “Stephen Marley” on page 133 “Super Cat” on page 134 “Artists T - V” on page 136 “Tarrus Riley” on page 136 “Teflon” on page 138 “Tenor Saw” on page 139 “Tessanne Chin” on page 140 “Tinga Stewart” on page 141 “T.O.K.” on page 142 “Toots And The Maytals” on page 144 “Turbulence” on page 145 “Vybz Kartel” on page 146 “Artists W - Z” on page 149 “Warrior King” on page 149 “Yami Bolo” on page 150 “Zamunda” on page 151 “Zareb” on page 152 “Recommended” on page 154 “Share Our Book” on page 158 “Travel, Health & Wealth” on page 159 “Dedication” on page 161 Authors’ Introduction from Dona I had been coming to Jamaica for over seven years, and I was in the middle of a project building a home on a hill overlooking the ocean on the north coast.