News
2,789 news, 2001-2015, page 28 of 40
All reggae / dancehall news
April 2008
- Big Ali, an album and reggae guests
After being invited all over the place (from Magic System to Kool Shen via Rhoff or Bob Sinclar), the American MC Big Ali, famous for his break beats on the…
- Mavado crowned by Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone, the doyen of American rock magazines, has just released a special "Best of rock 2008" issue in which its journalists list more than 125…
- New signings at Greensleeves
Even though it has been bought by its main rival, VP Records, the British label Greensleeves is still very much active, and the proof is that it has just…
- Lord Kossity releases a rap album
It was with rap that he burst onto the public's radar (Ma Benz with NTM in 1998) and it is as a rapper that Lord Kossity returns to us this year. Dancehall is…
- Vybz Kartel calls for peace
As the spiral of violence in Jamaica prompts several public figures to speak out in the media, Vybz Kartel has now had his say too. Alarmed by the frightening…
- Cultural Warriors at La Condition Publique
The United Sounds of Dub nights are back within the superb walls of La Condition Publique in Roubaix. The resident 12 kW sound system, built for the "I-Land…
- Yankees a yard reissued
You discovered it on Reggaefrance: the first volume of the mixtape "Yankees A Yard", released in 2005, is coming out again on the same terms as its successor…
- Jah Cure in France, and in good company
Jah Cure, Luciano, Beres Hammond, Queen Ifrica, Dean Fraser, Tarrus Riley: a dream bill for any lover of Jamaican roots. This is the line-up for the second…
- Ja'Sound: Sizzla and Capleton replace the Marleys
Ja'Sound has just lost its headliners: Damian Marley and Stephen Marley, announced at the last minute (news of 31/03/2008), will not be appearing after all on…
- Jammys and Scorpio back on the battlefield
A date has been set for Sunday 13 April for yet another clash between King Jammys and Black Scorpio. The two legendary selectors and their sound systems will…
- Manu Chao remixes his Politik Kills as reggae
Featured on Manu Chao's latest album "La Radiolina", the track Politik Kills is getting a very special treatment: reworked by various artists, an EP bringing…
- Reggae at Solidays
The Solidays festival celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. The line-up for this anniversary edition remains very rock and electro (Yael Naïm, Laurent…
- Cedella Marley Booker has died
Cedella Marley Booker, Bob Marley’s mother, died yesterday in Miami, where she lived. Born on 23 July 1926 in Kingston, she married at 18 Norval Sinclair…
- UK Cup Clash 2008: hat trick for Bass Odyssey
The final edition of the UK Cup Clash, held on Saturday night at the Stratford Rex, saw Bass Odyssey win for the third time in a row, this time accompanied by…
- Ken Boothe honoured
Ken Boothe will not just be celebrating his sixtieth birthday, forty years of it behind the microphone, on 12 April in Queens. On top of all that, he will…
- Sizzla blows out his candles among friends
Sizzla will celebrate his birthday on 29 April surrounded by all his friends. The deejay will thus mark another very full year, with the release of four…
- Reggae in kit form
This will please sound tinkerers and everyone who uses a computer to compose. The German publisher Ueberschall announces the release of a new sample library…
- Sponsorship: Red Stripe sees red
The historic Jamaican beer brand announced at the end of the week that it was ceasing to sponsor live events in Jamaica. The reason given: in its statement…
- Rototom follows in Summerjam’s footsteps
Summer is approaching and, like Summerjam and Ja’Sound, each festival is starting to unveil its line-up little by little. Rototom is not short of acts, as a…
- Dub Pistols on tour in France
Hip hop, ska, dub, electro, reggae, break beat… There is a bit of all that in the music of the Londoners Dub Pistols, noticed with their album "Speakers &…
- Buju Banton and Penthouse part ways
They had worked together for 18 years. From now on, Donovan Germain will no longer manage Buju Banton’s career. "It is time for this chapter to close" the…
- Mighty Crown champions again
Mighty Crown has added one more line to its long list of honours by winning the Death Before Dishonor, held last week in Montego Bay. The Japanese sound…
- No More Babylon launches its label
After the recent release of an album, "Roots Meetings", which sealed its encounters with Ken Boothe, Earl Sixteen, U-Brown and Josie Mel, No More Babylon…
March 2008
- Supercat back on stage
The dancehall legend Supercat is back on stage. The man from whom Sean Paul drew heavily to build his success is making his live comeback at the Best of the…
- Reggae for a good cause
After organising concerts and festivals, the Grenoble association Festival Nez Rouges 38, which aims to raise donations for the Fédération des Maladies…
- The Marley brothers complete Ja'Sound
One headliner remained to be added to the Ja'Sound line-up (news of 07/03/2008). It is now official: the Marley brothers are joining Morgan Heritage, Alpha…
- Mavado in GTA 4
Rockstar Games, creator of the video game Grand Theft Auto, has just put online several trailers announcing the imminent release of the fourth instalment of…
- Garance Reggae Festival line-up unveiled
We now know the full programme of the Garance Reggae Festival 2008, which we revealed earlier this month (news of 06/03/2008). Admiral T and Ziggi Recado are…
- Mavado, when deeds catch up with words
Reality seems to be catching up with Mavado: having built most of his persona around a gangster liturgy, he is now accused of illegal possession and use of a…
- Groundation is going to get you moving
While the Californian band will be touring France from next month, the members of Groundation are not short of ideas. We know a little more about the project…
- Kaly Live dub, on album and live
Kaly Live dub returns with a new album, "Fragments", out on 7 April on Pias. The Lyon band will also be on the roads of France and beyond for a long tour…
- A new album from Straika D
Out in the shops today is the new album by Straïka D, "Hits 2 Hits" on the label Legalize Hits, which had already made a name with the compilation "High…
- 220 Sound beats Legal Shot
Recent winners of the Urban Trophée, the Rennes crew Legal Shot failed to get the better of Caen’s 220 Sound System, French champions in 2004. In a good…
- UB40: Maxi Priest replaces Ali Campbell
Like Genesis, members leave but the band stays. UB40’s career will not end with Ali Campbell’s. After the departure of its charismatic leader (news of…
- Summerjam is growing before our eyes
The line-up of the 23rd edition of Summerjam continues to fill out, and records the arrival of Pressure, Alaine, Voicemail and Ziggy & The Renaissance, among…
- Ragga on the Internet before returning to newsstands
A regular contributor to the late Ragga Magazine, Dancehall K has recently opened a blog where he posts his daily discoveries on the Internet. Something to…
- Rootz Underground, the first album
After all the talk, their first album is finally on its way: the first effort from Rootz Underground, the island band led by Steve Newland, will be with us on…
- Reggae Sun Ska 2008 lifts the veil
Discover the line-up of the 11th edition of the Reggae Sun Ska Festival in advance. The bill is tempting, bringing together some twenty acts from different…
- Tiken’s festival tour
Most of Tiken Jah Fakoly’s dates for his upcoming tour of France will be at festivals, from April to July. 18/04/2008: Printemps de Bourges - Phénix…
- Mikey Dread at the controls for ever
Taken by cancer, Michael "Mikey Dread" Campbell passed away on the evening of Saturday 15 March, at his sister’s home in Connecticut. The "Dread at the…
- Gentleman on tour
Gentleman is back in France. There is nothing like seeing him on stage again after a new album that failed to convince us. The "Another Intensity Tour", which…
- Dancehall to fight AIDS
For a campaign encouraging HIV testing in the French Antilles and Guyana, broadcast during the carnival period, the Institut national de prévention et…
- Télérama Dub Festival #6
The Télérama Dub Festival is back for the sixth year running. Still touring, it is widening the circle of its wanderings. From 3 to 25 May 2008, it will…
- Mavado rallies for Obama too
The campaign for the Democratic nomination for the American presidential race is gripping Jamaica and its artists. After Cocoa Tea and Tyrical, Mavado is in…
- L'Afrique ne pleure plus, elle parle
Tiken Jah Fakoly’s reggae can now be read. Frédérique Briard, a journalist at the weekly Marianne, is the author of "L'Afrique ne pleure plus, elle parle", a…
- Bush(man) Doctor
Delayed because of a busy news agenda in Jamaica (Reggae Month, Bob Marley’s birthday), the release of the "Tribute to Peter Tosh", Bushman’s project of…
- Shiah Coore’s first
Shiah Coore, son of Third World leader Stephen "Cat" Coore, whom we saw in Made In Jamaica, is also a producer, and is about to release his very first series…
- Reggae Southclash 2008
The final of the South clash 2008 will be held on Saturday 10 May in one of the finest venues in France, the Bikini, and will pit the local sound Mighty Earth…
- Ja'Sound festival 2008: the programme
As we announced in January (See news of 14 January 2008), Ja'Sound 2008 will take place in Bidon, in the Ardèche, from Wednesday 6 to Saturday 9 August…
- Police raid at Audiomaxxx
The statement from the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) has just come out: after a year of investigation, the Canadian police have shut down the…
- More details on the Garance Reggae Festival 2008
Garance is starting to reveal some of the names that will make up the line-up of its 2008 Reggae Festival; we already know that the stage of the Zénith de…
- Barack Obama backed by Cocoa Tea’s reggae
The Illinois senator Barack Obama is the subject Cocoa Tea has chosen for one of his very latest songs. Through its lyrics, the veteran singer clearly…
- Lauryn Hill in the shoes of Rita Marley
Bob Marley’s widow is reportedly working with the Weinstein Company on a film adaptation of her book published in 2004, "No Woman no cry : my life with Bob…
- The Summerjam 2008 line-up keeps growing
We recently announced the first names making up the line-up of the next edition of the unmissable German festival (See news of 23 January 2008). More…
- A new day dawns for Sugar Minott
In these times dominated by DJs, when dancehall is tending to establish itself as a music in its own right, totally emancipated from its reggae origins and…
- Bob Marley, the return of the lion
Buoyed by the success of his “Bob Marley, la légende des Wailers”, published in 2006 (read the article and interview), the Guadeloupean author Roland…
- VP Records has plenty in the pipeline
It isn’t spring yet, and already VP Records’ catalogue is budding all over. Besides the much-awaited next Morgan Heritage album, “Mission In Progress”, due in…
February 2008
- David Rodigan, thirty years on the job
David Rodigan needs no introduction : veteran selector, British and white, who has clashed the most prestigious international sound systems and so often…
- Tarrus Riley crowned by Jamaica
The Jamaican music industry came together for the first time to reward its peers on Sunday 24 February, the date of the first Reggae Academy Awards ceremony…
- Vybz Kartel matures
Not content with being one of the island's most prolific DJs, Vybz Kartel recently brought out his own brand of rum. Simply called Vybz Rum, this rum, in a…
- Queen Omega back with an EP
We last left her with a very good album, "Destiny", in 2004, simmered by Special Delivery and Bost & Bim. It is with the same team that Queen Omega has made a…
- UK Cup Clash 2008: final conflict
The UK Cup Clash is set to take its bow after its 7th edition, announced for Saturday 5 April at the Stratford Rex. Like their New York counterparts at World…
- Joe Gibbs has left us
Reggae lost one of its greatest figures this week : producer Joe Gibbs died on Thursday 21 February 2008 of a heart attack, aged 65. The founder of the Joe…
- A first release for Little Hero
Like several Jamaican artists, Little Hero went through Japan before reaching Europe. After a long absence (following a car accident in 1998) and a comeback…
- Dub Inc back in the racks
Champions of the French scene, Dub Inc are also paying the price of their success : all their old albums are out of stock. Their new project therefore arrives…
- Damian Marley in demand
There is no counting the collaborations between Jamaican artists and certain American artists from other musical backgrounds. After Amy Winehouse's…
- Clash 220 vs Legal Shot
Next month's Reggae Champion Arena will see the great West go head to head : 220 Sound, from Caen, French sound system champions of 2004, will take on the…
- Death Before Dishonor 2008
The international sound system clash season resumes : Death Before Dishonor 2008 will take place on 24 March 2008 in Montego Bay. The eighth edition of the…
- Half Pint draws closer
We now know the release date of Half Pint's next album, "No stress express" on Universal (news of 07/12/2007) : the singer's new opus will be in the shops on…
- Groundation : the full tour
We have known since mid-November that Groundation will play the Zénith in Paris on their French tour (news of 15/11/2008), but we did not yet have the…
