“we are not going to do it like Bob Marley did or like Burning Spear did,” Chronixx says. “We are using their blueprint to bring on a new generation of works.”
Jamaica’s Hottest New-School Reggae Artists Return to Roots
By: Baz Dreisinger
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Chronixx |
Live bands. Soulful music. Substantive lyrics. I could be describing the Jamaican music scene circa 1976, the heyday of Bob Marley. But I’m talking about a sound that dominated at this year (2013) Reggae Sumfest, Jamaica’s biggest annual music festival.
Jamaican artist Chronixx, 20, performed live before nearly 10,000 fans at the yearly event. He’s Jamaica’s most buzzed-about artist right now, and he’s leading the way in a rich musical movement new-school roots. It’s a bit of Rasta meets hipster. Chronixx says it’s a repackaging of what came before…read more
Protoje
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Protoje |
“I sat on the top of the skyline and watched the city burn that day,” Protoje says. “So I wrote about that to say, ‘Be wise in these times,’ and understand there’s a lot of geopolitics at play.”
Protoje wrote a song called “Kingston Be Wise” about the so-called “Tivoli Massacre” of 2010, when 76 civilians were killed Jamaican police and military forces, who were scouring Kingston for alleged drug lord Christopher Coke.
This message suggests another commandment of the current movement: write your own songs and have something to say. Kumar Bent, lead singer of the band Raging Fyah, says that’s what the new roots scene is about…read more
Bits ‘n’ Pieces
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