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April 2007 Archives

April 9, 2007

New Roots

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Occasionally a new reggae artist will come out that gets people excited about roots music again. Many years ago it was Sizzla, leading a 90's revival of conscious artists. More recently it was Warrior King and more recently still, I Wayne and Turbulence.

Ranaco is one of the newest singers out releasing conscious tunes. The terrific Jamrid site (www.jamrid.com) tipped me off about him a few weeks ago, and I've been trying to track down some of his singles. I am about a year late, but I did manage to find two of his bigger tunes, "Nah Run Well" and "Sixty Queens." Had to get them all the way from Japan in fact.

"Sixty Queens" proves it is always handy to have a Bible around when listening to reggae. The title is a reference to the Old Testament's Song of Solomon, a chapter which has been mined before by many writers and singers (Sizzla's "Black and Comely" is a title pulled from these chapters). Ranaco nicely takes these lines and turns them into a conscious love song:

There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number
My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her (Solomon, 6:8)

It doesn't require as much Bible study to get that "Nah Run Well" is all about the "wicked ticians" (politicians) turning Kingston into a place of violence and struggle.

April 16, 2007

Burning Spear and Delroy Wilson

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Delroy Wilson's "Keep On Trying" comes from the Music Lab label, an imprint of Studio One which featured a number of releases on the 10" format in the late seventies. They seem to be getting more and more sought after, understandably, as the music on these records is generally excellent. A friend was nice enough to lend me "Keep On Trying", which I knew was a re-done Studio One riddim but couldn't figure out which one. I discovered the answer when I found a 70's copy of Burning Spear's second album "Rocking Time" which is where the riddim first appeared, on "What A Happy Day".

April 22, 2007

People's Choice

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It seems that vinyl is dying again. Record companies stopped pressing vinyl for most genres back when CD's started to take over, but hip hop vinyl survived (though pressed in lesser quantity) and so did reggae on wax. DJ's needed to spin records, after all. That rationale has now disappeared, as DJ's are using digital files to play in small set-ups and even for the largest soundsystems.

I was forced to reflect on this when I went to Music Ambassador, a reggae distributor based in Brooklyn, as they were shutting down their shop due mainly to the precipitous decline in demand for records. It's beginning to feel strange picking up 45's, as if they are becoming novelty items.

Happily new songs are still being released on 45, though I don't know how long that is going to last, and of course the format isn't the most important thing, it's the music.

That said, I was happy to find two new tunes backed by classic riddims, on vinyl. "People's Choice" rides what most people know as I Need A Roof but started out as Larry Marshall's Mean Girl. It's a fine roots song with lyrics and music evoking the past. "Lean With It" is a catchy hit song climbing the charts right now, featuring Vegas starting a new dance, Elephant Man style. It's on Sly & Robbie's Taxi label and it's on one of my favorite riddims, Darker Shade of Black.

About April 2007

This page contains all entries posted to DJ Wicz in April 2007. They are listed from oldest to newest.

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