Back 2 Da Future – How do you fly Sean Paul from Jamaica to Ghana with Stone Love?

Okay this one is all about the international airwaves!!!!! Currently scaling all the international Reggae countdowns and beating down all comers atop the RETV Reggae chart and the French equivalent survey is a gentleman by the name of Da’ville with ‘Missing You Right Now’. Causing confusion with that apostrophe in his name when he went solo (was it D’ville, D’aville or Daville?), he first came to mainstream Reggae lover’s attention with the single’ ‘Always On My Mind’. Already doing a roaring trade as a single, it went into overdrive when Sean Paul jumped on it for a chart-topping remix.

Dancehall fans and especially followers of sound systems would have heard Da’ville’s distinctive vocal before even though they didn’t know it yet, as he was the lead vocalist of the dancehall harmony quintet known as ARP. ARP’s skills were brilliantly captured on a Dub Plate for Stone Love where they performed a show-stopping rendition of ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’. It was also their harmonies that honeyed Beenie Man’s version of the Biggie tribute, ‘Missing You’. That however, is not the beginning of Da’ville’s musical pedigree.

Born Orville Thomas, in Kingston, Jamaica he grew up around music. It sounds like a bit of a cliché I know, but he really did as his father was a celebrated artist and producer. A former panel worker, Thomas senior was Instrumental in the development of dancehall reggae as a bona fide genre through his Midnight Rock label. For this imprint he wrote and produced the perrenial anthem, ‘Entertainment’ for Triston Palmer and he was responsible for Anthony Johnson’s ‘Gunshot’. As well as this his own distinctive rockstone growl graced hits like ‘Cricket Lovely Cricket’ and ‘Stereograph Style’ in the late 1970’s.

Jah Thomas as he was known before he was called Da’ville’s Dad, was always destined for greatness as his own real name “Nkrumah Manley Thomas” was derived from two historical figures. The first, Kwame Nkrumah, was the man who answered the call of Marcus Garvey’s question “Africa where are your leaders” in 1957 when he lead Ghana into the limelight as the first nation to win independence in sub-saharan Africa. The second, Norman Manley, the cousin of Jamaica’s first premier, Bustamante, is now a Jamaican national hero in commemoration of his work to get the “common” Jamaican man the vote and was duly immortalised when Jamaica named her national airport after him.










And that is how you fly Sean Paul from Jamaica to Ghana with Stone Love – via Da’ville.


On This Day.......

1983 – Aswad & Dennis Brown were leading the way to ‘The Promised Land’. Following in their footsteps were Winston Reedy with ‘Dim The Lights’ and Alton Ellis with ‘Love On Top’.






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


‘A Thousand Miles Away – Ras Penco - Jamaica Music Count Down (Reggae)
‘Again & Again’ – Mavado - Outaroad.com, JA
‘Bad Man Don’t Cry’ - New York, USA
‘Can’t Be My Lover’ – Buju Banton & Jon Legend – Caribbean Hot 30 (Pictured)
‘Dance’ – Elephant Man - Germany
‘Mama’ – Vybz Kartel – Jamaica Music Count Down (Dancehall)
‘Missing You Right Now’ – Da’ville – RETV (Reggae)/ France
‘Jah Jah Blessing’ – Etana & Alborosie - New Style, Birmingham, UK
‘I’m So Blessed’ – Mavado – BBC 1xtra
‘Praise & Worship’ – Busy Signal - Choice FM, London
‘Rich This Year’ – Charley Blacks – RETV (Dancehall)
‘Shine On Jamaica’ – Cherine Anderson - South Florida, USA
‘Start Anew’ – Tarrus Riley – US Virgin Islands






On Air:

Fridays – 10pm -12 Midnight – Aston FM 89.1/www.astonfm.com with Chicken George
Saturdays – The Back 2 Da Future Show 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 – 7pm -9pm The Music Business Show with Elayne Smith on www.colourfulradio.com (Monthly)

Live:

Weekly:

Saturdays – Prezedent @ Moonlighting Nightclub, London, UK
Sunday Afternoons – The Alan Weekes Duo @ The Railway Telegraph Pub, Forest Hill, London, UK
Sunday Evenings – The Alan Weekes Quartet @ Uncle Sam’s Jazz, The Haggeston, Hackney, London, UK
Mondays – Alan Weekes @ Monday Jazz, The Swiss Tavern, Peckham, London, UK
Thursdays – Alan Weekes @ Ska, Reggae, Jazz, The Effra, Brixton, London, UK


May

21st - Prezedent & DJ Ice @ Funky2, @ The Prince Albert, Wolverhampton, England
22nd – Bongo Chilli with the Root One Band @ The Plug, Sheffield, UK
- Katie Pearl @ Vanilla, Windsor, UK
23rd - Alan Weekes with Aswad @ Worldfest, Middlesbourough Town Hall, UK
- Frisco Kid (Pictured) @ Big Ship's Rocksteady Meets Reggae and Dancehall, Jamalco Sports Complex, Hayes, Clarendon, JA
24th – Babyboom @ Pier 1, Montego Bay, Jamaica
- Bongo Chilli with Celt Islam @ The Corporation, Sheffield, UK
- Katie Pearl @ Leicester University, UK
28th – Katie Pearl @ Wardour St, Soho, London, England
29th – Mr Williamz Birthday Party @ Be Yoself, Bar Number 8, Willesden, London, England
30th - Alan Weekes with Aswad @ The Ipswich Regent, UK



June
4th – Prezedent @ Lovers Rock Lounge, Ruby Lo, London, England
– The Alan Weekes Quartet @ The Effra, Brixton, London, UK
5th – Bongo Chilli @ Riverhouse with Roots Survival, Fieberbrunn, Austria
6th - Bongo Chilli @ Villach with Roots Survival, Karntern, Austria
13th Alan Weekes with Aswad in Norfolk, UK
17th – 28th Dennis Bovell in Italy with Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze
19th – Kennedy Mensah @ Story of London Music, Willesden Green Library, London, UK
25th – Self Taught Beats @ Yoyo, Notting Hill, London, England
26th – Lloyd Brown, Winston Reedy, Paul Dawkins @ Paradise: Jean Adebambo Tribute Concert @ Tower Ballroom, Birmingham, UK
- Prezedent @ June is Black British Music month pre-Club Night, Tropics Gallery room, Bridge Park Complex, Stonebridge, London, England
28th – Bongo Chilli @ Glastonbury Festival with Daddy Freddy, Glastonbury, UK
29th - Sept 20th Alan Weekes in The Harder They Come – The Musical tour in Miami and Toronto

July
18th - Bongo Chilli @ Coming Soon with Daddy Freddy, Plymouth, UK
25th – Lloyd Brown @ Lovers Rock Gala, Brixton Academy, London, UK
- Bongo Chilli @ Bombfest with Celt Islam, Barnsley, UK
26th – Nereus Joseph @ Rasta Celebration Time, Silent Whispers Musician Club, Hackney, London, England

August

2nd – Lloyd Brown @ Lovers Rock Gala, Birmingham Academy, UK
7th – Dennis Bovell @ The Big Chill Festival, Brighton, UK
8th – Bongo Chilli @ Moorsfest with The Root One Band, Ilkley, UK
14th – Winston Reedy with Dennis Alcapone @ The Chiemsee Festival, Germany

September
19th – Lloyd Brown, Dennis ‘Matumbi’ Bovell, Sylvia Tella, Winston Reedy & Prezedent @ The Giants Of Lovers Rock @ The O2 Indigo2, London, England
23rd – 30th – Anthony Brightly @ Dejam Festival, Antigua, WI