Nineteen-year-old reggae singer Koffee can now boast the title Grammy Award winner after walking away with the trophy for Best Reggae Album for the Rapture EP at the premiere ceremony held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California,...
Jamaica Live was designed to showcase live, original Jamaican musical content to audiences across the world and it has all the right ingredients – reggae and dancehall stars, excellent musicianship from multiple local bands and vivacious hosts. But...
From the moment I first saw the trailer for Sam Mendes’ 1917, I was intrigued. In it, the main character is running towards the camera and suddenly the film is cropped to only be seen through the text ‘1917’. It was a neat trick of editing that...
Last November, young Jamaican Kevoy Burton was excited about landing a lead role in Joseph, a feature-length film co-written, co-produced, and directed by Marcia Weekes, blurring the borders between the Caribbean and Africa. At the same time,...
For most entertainers, longevity in music is high on their list of priorities. However, with the entertainment industry as fickle as it is, there is a constant changing of the guard. And so when a solo artiste or a group manages to rack up at least...
The local music scene and social media quickly became abuzz last November after it was announced that reggae newcomer Koffee had been one of the nominees of the 62nd annual Grammy Awards. She created history by becoming the youngest solo act to be...
Reggae Month is often associated with music, but February 2020 has much more in store – particularly for local cinephiles. In the coming weeks, the famous Henzell property, 10A (West King’s House Road) – which has been transformed into a...
It is no secret that raw talent abounds in Jamaica. The Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA) has, since 1970, been a beacon of hope for those wishing to hone those talents through one of their schools – dance, drama, art,...
An Internet search may not be the fastest medium to find on-the-up entertainer Siobhan (pronounced Sho-van). Even with a unique name like hers, which is of Irish origin, a Google search would first present musicians from Ireland like one of the...
This may sound rather dramatic, but it was an apocalyptic vision that changed the path for reggae singer Pliers and led him to record his very first gospel song. Pliers’ end time scene was played out about two months ago, and to this day, he is...
Roots reggae sibling group Morgan Heritage – namely Roy ‘Gramps’ Morgan, Peter ‘Peetah’ Morgan and Memmalatel ‘Mojo’ Morgan – have embraced a new challenge, the inaugural staging of the iJAM Music Festival. Scheduled for Orlando’s Tinker Field in...
While Beach Road Trip (BRT) Weekend gears up to make its debut in Jamaica, organisers are making it clear they are not here to start any competition with the other party weekend that already exists on the island. In an interview with The Gleaner...
Dancehall entertainer I-Octane is beaming now that his daughter Octavia, an aspiring recording artiste, received the opportunity to perform on a major stage. Last Sunday in the wee hours, the proud father invited his 10-year-old daughter to share...
Reggae singer Romain Virgo has double reasons to celebrate today. It's the singer’s 30th birthday and his wife, Elizabeth, has given birth to twins. The sex of the babies are still unknown but an overjoyed Virgo took to social...
Because of the approach taken by the Edna Manley College’s School of Drama and the Sistren Theatre Collective, community drama in Jamaica is about helping communities to solve social problems. Often, the dramatic work is created through discussions...
From the genesis of her career, dancehall entertainer Ce’Cile has always sought to break new ground so that she could plant the seeds for success – and she flourished – adding a bit of change that the local music industry needed to see from female...
In 2014, Soyini Phillips won the first Miss Universe Jamaica Central Pageant. Now, at 23 years old, the beauty queen, TV presenter and journalist is the new pageant manager. Pointing out that it has been a lifelong dream of hers to contribute to the holistic development of young women, Phillips described this latest achievement as an honour...
Thomas Markle doesn’t think he’ll see his daughter, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, ever again. The retired lighting director hasn’t had contact with the former Suits actress since before she married Prince Harry – the father of her eight-month-old son...
This year is shaping up to be a big one for the local gospel industry – in terms of album releases from major artistes. In addition to Kevin Downswell hitting the road again for his successful Realignment Tour later this summer, to coincide with...
Gospel artiste Kevin Downswell is not a man ever short on words, or air from the diaphragm. Last week, the performer invited a small group of close friends and relatives to gather in a private listening session for not one, but two singles. In...
Frankie Campbell, frontman of legendary Jamaican band Fab 5, while questioning the inclusion of a sound clash on the stage of the just-concluded roots reggae festival, Rebel Salute, is also calling out emcee Mutabaruka for his “utterances”. For...
A World War II satire that follows a lonely German boy named Jojo whose world view is turned upside down when he discovers his single mother is hiding a young Jewish girl in their attic. Aided only by his idiotic imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler,...
Two young British soldiers during the First World War are given an impossible mission: deliver a message deep in enemy territory that will stop 1,600 men, and one of the soldiers’ brothers, from walking straight into a deadly trap. 1917 is a war...
For the reggae and dancehall fans present at Rebel Salute early Sunday morning who wondered who Akeem Campbell was, their curiosity was satisfied when one of 2019’s breakthrough artistes, Chronic Law, stepped on to the stage as the sun rose in the...
Next month’s annual staging of Reggae Month in Jamaica will see the introduction of Sound System Echoes – The Showdown at Sundown, a clash featuring 12 sound systems. The new feature, introduced to appease disgruntled reggae lovers who feel Reggae...
