Bitter Sweet Smiles In A Hackney Paradise

If you haven’t got a ticket for this Sunday’s main event in London, then you’re in for a case of “Your name’s not down, you’re not coming in!” The event literally sold out minutes after it was announced.

“Smile and the world smiles with you” the saying goes so why is it then that opportunities to smile or derive merriment are often shunned? Have a party tomorrow and see how many ‘regret’ messages you get afterwards. Just before Christmas yours truly was involved in an event called ‘Lovers Live’ which boasted the return of the same Lovers Rock vocalist, Jean Adebambo who is being honoured at the Empire. Admittedly, the promotion could’ve been stronger but nonetheless the word was out, interest was high, attendance was good but the south London venue was far from full. After the gig I had people asking me “when is......” Others were waiting for Ms Adebambo’s next appearance as it was widely recognised that the chanteuse was firmly on the come back trail having broken her silence a few months earlier at the Brixton Academy.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be as Ms Adebambo sadly took her own life a few weeks later. The shock waves that reverberated around the UK Reggae scene must’ve registered on the richter scales of Australia! The surprise element was all the more poignant because this was a singer/songwriter who had disappeared from the scene for almost twenty years. Now, I know what you’re thinking, ‘a lot of artists stop making records and come back every so often’. Well you’re right, but with most artist’s there’ll be a single release here, a live performance there or they’ll surface somewhere like Canada. But with Jean, the silence was deafening. There were rumours that she’d emigrated, but to where, nobody knew.

Born to a Montserratan mother and Nigerian father, Jean Olufumnilayo Ola Adebambo who grew up in East London was well renowned for performing acoustically with her guitar in the late 1970’s. At the turn of the decade, her debut release, ‘Paradise’, would prove to be her most enduring and best-loved anthem. The type of song that has swathes of females swooning from the opening bars all the way till the end of the record nearly 30 years later. The type of song that meant that her name was actively missed over the years when Lovers Rock reunions would amass the cream of the genres kings and queens to venues as diverse as the local Acton Town Hall to the prestigious Royal Festival Hall.

Lovers Rock is today seen around the world as ’Romantic Reggae’ with the likes of Beres Hammond leading the charge, but for British born Blacks it is much much more than that. It captures memories of our cultural experience’s teenaged angst if you like as it was the first music form created by Black Britain. Waaaaayyy before Grime, Trance, Dub Step and even Jungle. It is without doubt the soundtrack to our lives. With that in mind, the passing of any of the stars of that genre was always going to be big news as it has proven.

As with many of her peers, Jean never really knew how anthemic her music was, - make that is because Paradise will forever be a bona fide classic. A gifted musician, she played the keyboards, guitar, and wrote most of her own songs. And yet she would tell friends that she would’ve been happy being a backing vocalist for her favourite group, The Emotions. A very quiet individual, she’d carved herself a career in the Health Service and had even been promoted shortly before her passing. The sadness that greeted the unexpected news meant that the two daughters she left behind could be in no doubt of how much their mother was indeed loved.

This Sunday much of Britain’s Reggae community will be in attendance at The Hackney Empire in East London for a tribute concert to Ms Adebambo. With this event comes one more piece of history to add to the legacy. The fastest sellout show in The Venue’s history. Britain’s Black community have not attended that venue in such eager numbers since the 90’s when the forces conspired for a drive to encourage locals to attend it coincided with a televised variety-cum-talent show called the 291 Club based on the famed Amateur Night At The Apollo.

If you’re not one of the privileged few with a ticket, I guess you’ll just have to wait for the reviews to know what you missed. Until such time I shall be flashing a bitter-sweet smile as through the ‘Pain’ as I’m there ‘Reaching For A Goal’ in a Hackney ‘Paradise’.






On This Day.......

1988 – Barrington Levy had a 1 week stay atop the UK Reggae chart in-between Dean Fraser’s ‘Girlfriend’ and Aswad’ ‘Don’t Turn Around’.







This week’s number one’s around the Reggae world.

‘Bad Man Don’t Cry’ – Shaggy – RETV Reggae, JA/South Florida, USA
‘Calm Down Yuh Nerves – Bescenta – Jamaica Music Count Down (Reggae)
‘I Can Feel Your Pain’ – Gyptian - New York, USA
‘Love Is Automatic’ – Marcia Griffiths Ft: Busy Signal - Choice FM, London/BBC 1xtra
‘Love We Deal With’ – Million Stylez – Germany (Pictured)
‘Million By A Mawning’ – Vybz Kartel - Outaroad.com, JA ‘Romping Shop’ – Vybz Kartel & Spice – RETV Danchall, JA/France
‘Start Anew’ – Tarrus Riley – New Style, Birmingham, UK ‘Time To Shine’ – Laden - Jamaica Music Count Down (Dancehall)








In De Charts

‘Flying Dagger (100 Stab)’ – Aidonia – Jamaica Music Count Down(Dancehall)/RETV (Dancehall), JA
‘Know Yourself’ Lloyd Brown & Peter Spence – New York
‘Pull Up Your Trousers’ Vivian Jones & Nereus Joseph – New Style, Birmingham (Nereus Joseph Pictured)






On Air

Fridays – 10pm -12 Midnight – Aston FM 89.1/www.astonfm.com with Chicken George
Saturdays – 7pm – 9pm – www.playvybz.com
Sundays – 10pm -12 Midnight – The Archive Selection on Choice FM as part of Natty B’s Reggae Top 20 Countdown
Mondays – 6pm – 9pm – Elayne Smith’s Music Industry Show on www.colourfulradio.com (Monthly)

Live:

March
Mar 12th - Aidonia in Berlin, Germany
Mar 13th - Aidonia in Milan, Italy
Mar 15th - Aidonia in Copenhagen, Denmark
– Dennis Bovell/Lloyd Brown/Prezedent @ Jean Adebambo Benefit Concert @ Hackney Empire, London, England (SOLD OUT!!!!)
Mar 21st - Aidonia in Toulouse, France
- Bongo Chilli @ Polish Club with Underground Roots, Bradford, UK
Mar 22nd –Prezedent @ In Celebration of my Sisters with Playvybz family @ Hackney Empire, London, UK
Mar 26th – Bongo Chilli @ Hi Fi Club with The Root One Band, Leeds, UK
Mar 27th – Prezedent @ Labadi Nights with P’nP Family, DJ Abrantee, Cheese ‘n’ Bread & More @ Manjaro Bar, Holloway Rd, London, England
Mar 28th – Bongo Chilli @ Everyone Centre (Dub Central), Sheffield, UK

April
Apr 1st – Prezedent @ Lovers Rock Lounge with Carroll Thompson & Guests @ Ruby Lo’s,London, England
Apr 2nd Prezedent & DJ Ice @ Funky, @ The Prince Albert, Wolverhampton, England
Apr 4th – Bongo Chilli @ The Sands with Underground Roots, Grange Over Sands, UK
Apr 11th – Chi Ching Ching @ Stratford Rex, London, England
Apr 12th – Prezedent @ The Studio Club, Bedford, England

May
May 2nd – Lloyd Brown @ Deighton Centre, Huddersfield with Mike Anthony & Kofi
- Nereus Joseph & Prezedent @ African Language Fundraiser, Spotty Dog Football Club, Forest Gate, Upton Lane, London, England
May 6th – Prezedent @ Lovers Rock Lounge with Carroll Thompson & Guests @ Ruby Lo’s,London, England

July
25th – Lloyd Brown @ Lovers Rock Gala, Brixton Academy

August
2nd – Lloyd Brown @ Reggae Rising Festival, California, US

September
Sep 19th – Lloyd Brown, Dennis ‘Matumbi’ Bovell, Sylvia Tella & Prezedent @ The Giants Of Lovers Rock @ The O2 Indigo2, London, England

Parallel Universe: Vybz Kartel & Mavado in Daggering Wet Dream Court Drama!!!!!

NB: If this correspondence reaches you in error please reply Unsubscribe.

News out of Jamaica sees the unthinkable coming to pass. Mavado and Vybz Kartel are on the same side of an argument!!!! Following the unprecedented move by the Jamaican Broadcasting Commission to enforce a blanket ban on sexually or violent songs even if they they have been edited out! The ban inspired by the recent ‘Daggering’ dance craze, has seen Mavado release a song called ‘A So Dem Move’ and Vybz Kartel has released ‘My Music’. Normally, the conversation would have ended with the committing of these lyrics to tape, but not this time! Kartel, real name Adidja Palmer, has taken the fight to the courts to challenge the legality of this ruling. As many artists and indeed Media involved in Reggae/Dancehall have been equally incensed by this move it could turn into the kind of battle that would see the Reggae industry taking on the Broadcasting Commission in a legal wrangle.

As a music, Reggae has had it’s fair share of courtroom battles. There is a saying in Music publishing, “Where there’s a hit there’s a writ” that is more pertinent to Reggae than most other music forms due to the organic nature of its creation. I shan’t bore you with a list right now, but just suffice to say that almost without exception, every Reggae record that has hit the international charts has attracted some form of dispute. These disputes normally take the form of “Ah me write that song’, or ‘ah me buil’ dat riddim!” The closest Reggae has seen to the potential scale of this argument was actually not that long ago.

In 2005 there was an out-of-court settlement involving some 250 Reggae artists and musicians in France of all places. There is a Performance Society in France called ADAMI who are that country’s equivalent of Britain’s PPL. They are responsible for collecting royalties for everyone who plays on a piece of music i.e. session musicians, backing vocalists, etc. Anyway, it was found that ADAMI had not been dispersing royalties to Jamaican musicians. How did this come to light?

Because of a totally unrelated court case which involved a French label who were heavily involved in releasing Reggae compilations. The now Rasta elder, Max Romeo famed for anthems like ‘War Inna Babylon’ and the recently versioned ‘Chi Chi Bud’ was being interviewed whilst on tour in France and opined “that man is a tief”, the label owner took offence and promptly sued said journalist. In the midst of unravelling the case, the journalist’s lawyer realised that Max had never received remuneration from the aforementioned French society and to his amazement, neither had any other Jamaican artist - including wait for it..... The Marley estate!

It was particularly significant for Max because back in 1969, before he was a righteous Rastaman, he scored a massive pop hit with the risqué ‘Wet Dream’, which itself was subject to its own politics being banned by the BBC no less (but that is a whole ‘nother story).

And that my friends is how we find ourselves in a parallel universe that sees Mavado and Vybz Kartel on the same side of a Daggering Wet Dream court Drama.

On This Day.......

1990 – Sanchez was sitting pretty at the top of the UK charts with his rendition of the perennial Gospel classic, ‘Amazing Grace’.

This week’s number one’s around the Reggae world.

‘Bad Man Don’t Cry’ – Shaggy – RETV Reggae, JA

‘Calm Down Yuh Nerves – Bescenta – Jamaica Music Count Down (Reggae) (Pictured)

‘I Can Feel Your Pain’ – Gyptian - New York, USA

‘Love Is Automatic’ – Marcia Griffiths Ft: Busy Signal - Choice FM, London/BBC 1xtra

‘Million By A Mawning’ – Vybz Kartel - Outaroad.com, JA

‘Nah Drop Di Ting’ – Burro Banton – Germany

‘Romping Shop’ – Vybz Kartel & Spice – RETV Danchall, JA/France

‘Start Anew’ – Tarrus Riley – New Style, Birmingham, UK/South Florida, USA

‘Time To Shine’ – Laden - Jamaica Music Count Down (Dancehall)

In De Charts

‘Flying Dagger (100 Stab)’ – Aidonia – Jamaica Music Count Down (Dancehall)

‘Know Yourself’ Lloyd Brown & Peter Spence – New York

‘Mountain Top’ Gappy Ranks – BBC 1xtra, UK

‘Pull Up Your Trousers’ Vivian Jones & Nereus Joseph – New Style, Birmingham

On Air

Fridays – 10pm -12 Midnight – Aston FM 89.1/www.astonfm.com with Chicken George

Saturdays – 7pm – 9pm – www.playvybz.com

Mondays – 6pm – 9pm – Elayne Smith’s Music Industry Show on www.colourfulradio.com (Monthly)

Live:

March

Mar 4^th – Prezedent @ Lovers Rock Lounge with Carroll Thompson & Guests @ Ruby Lo’s,

London, England

Mar 6^th - Aidonia in Jouy Aux Arches, France

– Bongo Chilli @ West Indian Centre, Leeds, England

Mar 7^th - Aidonia in Mannheim, Germany

Mar 12^th - Aidonia in Berlin, Germmany

Mar 13^th - Aidonia in Milan, Italy

Mar 15^th - Aidonia in Copenhagen, Denmark

– Dennis Bovell/Lloyd Brown/Prezedent @ Jean Adebambo Benefit Concert @ Hackney Empire, London, England (SOLD OUT!!!!)

Mar 21^st - Aidonia in Toulouse, France

Mar 22nd –Prezedent @ In Celebration of my Sisters with Playvybz family @ Hackney Empire

Mar 27^th – Prezedent @ Labadi Nights with P’nP Family, DJ Abrantee, Cheese ‘n’ Bread &

More @ Manjaro Bar, Holloway Rd, London, England

April

Apr 1^st – Prezedent @ Lovers Rock Lounge with Carroll Thompson & Guests @ Ruby Lo’s,

London, England

Apr 2^nd Prezedent & DJ Ice @ Funky, @ The Prince Albert, Wolverhampton, England

Apr 11^th – Ding Dong @ Stratford Rex, London, England

Apr 12^th – Prezedent @ The Studio Club, Bedford, England

May

May 2^nd – Lloyd Brown @ Deighton Centre, Huddersfield with Mike Anthony & Kofi

Nereus Joseph & Prezedent @ African Language Fundraiser, Spotty Dog Football Club, Forest Gate, Upton Lane, London, England

May 6^th – Prezedent @ Lovers Rock Lounge with Carroll Thompson & Guests @ Ruby Lo’s,

London, England

September

Sep 19^th – Lloyd Brown, Dennis ‘Matumbi’ Bovell, Sylvia Tella & Prezedent @ The Giants Of

Lovers Rock @ The O2 Indigo2, London, England