CATHERINE HALL, St James — Head coach of Jamaica's Reggae Boyz Theodore Whitmore has labelled some clubs and players as "dishonest" about their record of invitation for national duties.

SINGER Timmi Burrell has always loved the cultural side of reggae, but recently he opted for a different approach to kickstart his career. Burrell, who hails from Spanish Town, is one of several acts on the hot Mercury rhythm with his song, Tek Time. Beenie Man, Assassin and Spragga Benz have also recorded on the Mercury. Burrell said the time was right to jump on a popular beat after years of doing more conventional recordings. "I'm more of a cultural singer, that's what I love. But because

Long before the plaza became a feature of urbanised life, the shop was a focal point of the community - and remains so for those who are not from the social strata and areas of the country where mall culture rules.

The year 1962 will long be remembered, not only as the birth year of Jamaica as an independent nation, but also as the birth year of Jamaica's foundation music - ska. Ska was indeed Jamaica's first legitimate musical form, from which all others like rocksteady, reggae, and dancehall evolved.

Former Reggae Boy Altimont Butler is in the island for the weekend along with officials from Norway first division club, Notodden FK, to sign Waterhouse left-back Andrae Campbell, who just completed a two-week trial with the Scandinavian club.

GAY and transgender organisations in Belgium have promised to end their protest at Reggae concerts featuring acts who are known to have recorded songs bashing their lifestyle. The commitment was made in a joint statement between gay and transgender organisations, the promoters of reggae concerts and reggae festivals and the reggae community in Belgium, days after Beenie Man issued a video recording apologising for his anti-gay songs and admitting that he respected all human beings. The gay and

FORMER Reggae Boyz captain Ricardo 'Bibi' Gardner has been released from Bolton Wanderers following the club's regulation from the British Premier League.

BILLBOARD-charting producer Cordell ‘Skatta’ Burrell is one of the few people immune to the collective doom hovering over the reggae-dancehall industry during the last few years. In a dancehall milieu today where bonafide crossover hits are harder to find than a sumo wrestler’s bellybutton, ‘Skatta’ remains unfazed. He has mastered the art of ‘breaking through’; the art of sounding different and new while doing so with credibility and style. The hits w

AFTER being off the radar for a few years, conscious singer Chrisinti has returned with the song, 36 Bullets. And no, it is not a gun tune. "I woke up one morning with $36 in my pocket and a million bills to pay," said the artiste. Although despairing about his financial situation, Christinti says he never lost faith. His precarious position was the inspiration for 36 Bullets. The song was produced by Fitzroy Francis for Mightyful 13 and is doing well on reggae char

AFTER a recent slew of concerts featuring Jamaican reggae and dancehall acts, promoters in Zimbabwe are now moving to book and promote African acts for concerts in that country. Zimbabwean newspaper The Standard quotes the organiser of a concert set for that country's capital city, Harare, next Friday, as saying they have gone for Nigerian musician Flavour Nabania along with locals Oliver Mtukudzi and Alexio Kawara in a show for that country's Africa Day celebrations. The show organisers are f

!n commemoration of Jamaica’s 50th anniversary of Independence from Britain, the Jamaica Observer’s Entertainment section recognises 50 persons who made significant, yet unheralded, contributions to the country’s culture. This week we feature... IN an arena where copycats roam aplenty, Tenor Saw was one of dancehall's originals. The distinctive yodel, which made songs like Pumpkin Belly and Ring The Alarm dancehall standards, emerged in the early 1980s with the dawn of reggae

MONTEGO BAY, St James — Jamaica's Reggae Boyz and Guyana's Golden Jaguars will intensify their preparations for the June 8 start of the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying tournament when they meet in a friendly international at the Montego Bay Sports Complex this evening at 8:00.

DANCEHALL kingpin Beenie Man has apologised for his gay-bashing songs in a YouTube video, possibly bringing closure to over 10 years of acricmony with gay rights groups. The video was posted yesterday on rototomsunsplash.com, website of the popular summer reggae festival. This year the Rototom Sunsplash will be held August 16- 22 in Spain. Beenie Man is scheduled to perform on the show. In the one minute, 35-second message, a remorseful Beenie Man pleads: "Please I am begging you do not have

NO date has been set for the funeral of Violet Bonner, mother to reggae artistes Richie Spice, Spanner Banner, Pliers and Snatcha Lion. The family is awaiting the return to Jamaica of Richie Spice — who is in France — before any funeral arrangements are made. Richie left the island last weekend for several concerts in Paris. Bonner — affectionately called Auntie Vie — widow and matriarch of the Bonner family, died in the Andrews Memorial Hospital in St Andrew on Monday

BRACO, Trelawny — Jamaica's Reggae Boyz will go through a final training session at the Montego Bay Sports Complex starting at 6:00 pm today as the coaching staff try to finalise the starting 11 in tomorrow's friendly international against Guyana at the same venue.

AFTER having short stints in Russia and Vietnam, Reggae Boy Errol Stevens is back home, well focused on helping Jamaica qualify for their first World Cup Finals since 1998.

Two of the country's top artistes, Mr Vegas and Luciano, have already lent their voices to the Reggae Boyz theme song for the 'Road to Rio' campaign. The island's senior footballers are in the midst of preparations to attempt qualification for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil....

Western Bureau: Two of reggae's living legends, Freddie McGregor and Marcia Griffiths, showed their musical prowess and that their music is still relevant when they sizzled in Montego Bay at the Dream Girlz Collections' To Mom With Love Concert....

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) — Author Carlos Fuentes, who played a dominant role in Latin America's novel-writing boom by delving into the failed ideals of the Mexican revolution, died yesterday in a Mexico City hospital. He was 83. Fuentes died at the Angeles del Pedregal hospital where he was taken after his personal doctor, Arturo Ballesteros, found him in shock in his Mexico City home. Ballesteros told reporters outside the hospital that the writer had a sudden internal hemorrhage that ca

THE Harder They Come soundtrack is the only Jamaican album included on American publication Paste Magazine's best albums of the 1970s. It comes in at number 70 on a list dominated by rock albums. Significantly, the Paste table does not include an album from from Bob Marley. Reflecting on the impact of The Harder They Come, Paste's Geoffrey Himes stated: "There was a lot more to the early years of reggae than Bob Marley and the Wailers, and the best of the rest is brilliantly summarised on thi