|  | Jamaican ART on the Beach...
Kimberley Jaeger is the voice of "Common Ground,² a public affairs show broadcast on Sunday mornings from 7-9 a.m. on Boston radio station WZLX (100.7 FM). Gemmzine spoke with her on something dear to her heart - the culture of Jamaica, its fabulous art, and the ties the island has to Boston.
³I'm intrigued by similarities between New England and Jamaica,² Jaeger says. "Both regions utilize the same names for some cities, towns and counties. ³Those similarities [occurred] perhaps because of the English rule, where slavery existed in Jamaica under the British rule, [just] as slavery once existed in the United States. | It was abolished sooner in Jamaica than it was in the US.² That such similar names as Salem, Ipswich, Falmouth and Middlesex Parish appear on both the island and Massachusetts is quite telling. If one is in conversation from Portsmouth, Jamaica, on the phone with a person in Manchester, New Hampshire, it can get downright confusing as Portsmouth and Manchester exist on both the island and in the Granite State. Carving Wood By Hand A gifted artist Jaeger met in Jamaica has become a good friend. Elijah Silver, a native Jamaican, is a ³carver.² She says, ³From my understanding, he lives in Montego Bay and he travels approximately 20 miles to come to this beach in Falmouth to sell his carvings.² Silver tends to be a loner in a world where there are many, many, many people who carve art into wood. Silver has a spot on the beach where he¹s by himself selling his hand-crafted wares. On the villas and beaches of Jamaica Jaeger goes to a particular beach for the wind surfing and kite surfing. She considers Trelawny Beach in Runaway Bay ³one of the best beaches in the world for this.² Trelawny is situated on the North Coast of Jamaica in Falmouth, 23 miles east of Montego Bay, and it is just a 30 minute drive from Sangster International Airport. "There's a villa on the beach and a set of cottages," Jaeger says. "There's also one private home and one guest cottage. Also on this beach there are two all-inclusive resorts. On one side of the all inclusive Starfish Trelawny there's a place called Bamboo Village made up of 50 wooden huts with metal rooftops that are all stores filled with Jamaican art and T-shirts and jewelry. What I find intriguing is that what one vendor selling is very similar to what other vendors are selling. There are carvings, jewelry, clothing and paintings. The shops get them from other artists and put them in their stores." WZLX public affairs director Jaeger adds, ³Music is a major piece of Jamaican culture - it is not just all about reggae. There are little DJ booths that they have in the cities where 45s and vinyl used to be sold. Soon cassette tapes were selling and now they sell CDs. They have little carts with speakers on them, called 'Sound Systems' and the artists tend to play the music really loud. Since I work in radio I consider myself a DJ. but the term 'DJ' in Jamaica can also be used to describe an entertainer who could be a singer. A 'disc jockey' is someone who is on the radio playing songs. The music is a major piece of the culture and people are always singing and listening to music.² Drumbeats of Jamaica The rhythms of Jamaica are part of the art of that country - and a Boston based record label, Negril West, Inc., is documenting those rhythms by nurturing the work of Kingston, Jamaica producers Shawn Myrie, Justus Arison and Andrew Myrie. The drumbeats that inspired the young men as they attended church on the island is reflected in the music they make with some of Jamaica's hottest up and coming acts. Based in Monson, an area very close to Springfield in Western Massachusetts, the label is giving these producers and the artists they work with the kind of love and attention that Motown gave to the musicians in and around Detroit back in the 1960s. Jamaican Music in New England you might say? Keep in mind that Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, brought the music of Jamaica to London, and in doing so, was essential to introducing the sounds of Jamaica to the world. In February of 1964, "My Boy Lollipop" by Millie Small was one of the first reggae tinged pop tunes to introduce the music to a mass audience. The Island Records imprint did much to expose the music of Bob Marley and other genius artists from the Caribbean. |
| Talking with Keely B, producer Shawn "Krucial" Myrie and legendary engineer Stuart "Dinky" Dawson at QATV Cable in Quincy, the passion these individuals have for the music they develop is quite clear. Dawson worked with The Mamas & The Papas" and thought that "California Dreamin'" would be the perfect vehicle for this group. The song landed in the R & B charts of the Billboard Hot 100 in 2005 and was the start of the label's journey into the record business. Quickly picked up by the legendary Orpheus Label for distribution, Negril West immediately put plans for a video into production with the Boston based Emotion Pictures (now One4Three in Weymouth) the music is being heard on television as well as radio and Tower Records, Burlington, recently sold out their stock of the debut "Zoned Out" album. |  | | In an age when acts like The Goo Goo Dolls are busy covering a Supertramp hit, the Jamaican/Boston label artist Keely B takes on sacred territory by reinventing and breathing a new sound and new ideas into John and Michelle Phillips's eternal classic. The song has been covered by various artists many times but has never saturated the airwaves as fully as it did when first launched by Cass, Michelle, John and Denny. Perhaps this Boston/Jamaican combination is the perfect formula to bring the song to a new generation of beach loving kids who just have to escape the clutches of winter. |
 | Young Gifted One It takes a lot of gumption to call yourself the "Young Gifted One" and the handsome features of Y.G.O. Justin Chong were chiseled from the rugged streets of his birthplace, Kingston, Jamaica. Producers Shawn and Andrew Myrie, two Jamaican brothers, developed their skills in the churches where the music and drumbeats filled the air. Shawn ³Krucial² Myrie feels that his growing up in that rhythmic culture has influenced greatly the beats he creates. The Y.G.O. single, ³Boom Drah,² is both unafraid and joyful bringing the spirit of Jamaica up through Miami Beach and straight to Boston proper, where it is now a proud part of New England¹s world famous music scene. |
Dinky Dawson Records Denroy Morgan Denroy Morgan is the father of "Morgan Heritage," a reggae band consisting of his offspring. And he has many offspring - 29 or 30 children - with a fifth of them making up the musical group. The "All Media Guide" refers to them "reggae royalty," but Dawson tells Gemmzine that the Jamaican media dubbed them the "First Family of Reggae." The producer says, "Bob Marley is the King and Denroy Morgan Heritage, which came after Marley, 'The First Family.'" Parts of the tapes were recorded in Jamaica, some were recorded in New Jersey, some at Saggy's studio (where many hip-hop recordings have been made) and some in Denroy's living room, the last two in Brooklyn, New York. Morgan brought his computer hard drive what musicians are now using instead of recording tape - up here to Massachusetts. "We took them all and imported them into the pro tools program in recording engineer Bob Yen's set-up at MDI Studios on Cape Cod," engineer / producer Dawson says. "The sounds are amazing." |  | The new album has a number of working titles, "Rastaman" or "Fire" among them. "It's gospel and
reggae," Dawson says. "The tune 'Lion of Judah' is The Nighbhingi [a description of the beat] while 'Theocrat Reign' is old school reggae." As he played the tracks, Dawson's enthusiasm over this project was evident. The man who was the live engineer for Fleetwood Mac, The Byrds, Lou Reed, Aerosmith and many other artists is far from jaded. He still keeps exploring the sounds and the vibrations, putting them to tape and digital with the love and care of a total professional who never flaunts his intuition but can't hide his admiration. The disc is truly inviting, featuring a total array of sounds and feelings. It was so wonderful to have dad [Denroy Morgan] come up here to Plymouth and to mix 14 songs that he's been trying to get together for over three years now, and to complete the project with the people that we have here," Dawson says. "It's a very, very spiritual project. The strongest Spiritual/ Gospel project I've dealt with in my life. It's phenomenal. It's reggae and it's Gospel. "'Little Children' is Gospel - this is one of the kids," Dawson continues. "The song has piano and a soaring voice - huge dynamics on this whole thing. You're hearing it off the computer, not a stereo. These drums - that's the beat. Niahbinghi, Kumina, Mento is what the Rastaman would play. Jou Jou is also played but these three are where Reggae came from. Kumina is the beat that Toots Hibbert of Toots & The Maytals turned into reggae." Hibbert attended the same church as Martin Scott, C.E.O. of the aforementioned Negril West label, along with Ian and Roger Lewis of the band Inner Circle, who were Scott's neighbors and who are famous for the theme song to the television show "COPS." Before there was Reggae, there was this Christian music out of Jamaica. It's the heartbeat which turned into the music known as reggae. "This is true, ancient stuff," Dawson exclaimed. A scheduled performance by the Morgan Heritage ³kids² of Denroy Morgan on April 6 at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston has been postponed; they're now slated to arrive in the states for the International Festival in Houston, Texas April 23. An east coast tour is expected to follow. Watch their website at morganheritagemusic.com for concert dates. Author Janis Reed has written for Bill Taylor's Musician's Magazine, The Real Paper (which folded into The Boston Phoenix), The Improper Bostonian, The Beat, Ron Bellanti's "Rockwatch" and "Preview" magazine. |
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