seen.´s non-hippie reggae and dancehall blog

In its current issue entitled “150 Jahre Pop” (150 years of pop music), German music magazine Spex features a 16-page special on reggae, dancehall and dubstep which explores the history of Caribbean music and how it influenced club music on a global scale.

Should be a nice weekend read even though Paul-Philip Hanske from another German (online) magazine called Jetzt argues that Spex´s special doesn´t look at the dark side of dancehall (=homophobic and violent lyrics) enough while he, too, praises the innovativity and intensity of reggae and dancehall productions.

Der Sound von Dancehall ist innovativ und fordernd - die Texte aber versteht man meist lieber nicht. Das eigentlich Erstaunliche aber ist, dass so gut wie niemand bereit ist, sich diesem Widerspruch auszusetzen. 

Read his article (which is pretty good in my opinion) here.

© Last Night´s Party

Just a quick one for tonight: check

- Don Letts´ second Fabric podcast,

- Diplo´s Santogold mix CD,

- Imeem´s “Key to the City” on Philly,

- an insight into the life of a Woofah contributor  &

- an Rahul Verma´s article on “UK MCs, the Caribbean and rave culture” (feat. quotes from Gabriel Heatwave, Roots Manuva & the Ragga Twins)

Even though - having gone to UWI myself - I definitely think that the sticky streets of downtown Kingston are a better place to understand the dynamics of Jamaican reggae and dancehall culture than some air-conditioned classrooms up at Mona, there´s no doubt a good reason to deal with the matter on an academic level.

On the first weekend of July, the Global Reggae Conference - number seven in a series of conferences on Caribbean cultural studies - took place on Mona campus. UWI TV has the videos of all keynotes.

I haven´t had the time to check them all myself, but from the titles, these are the ones most likely to be interesting:

- Reggae Music as Social Catalyst

- Serious Ting - The Structure of Jamaican Popular Music

- Plenary - Reggae in Japan and Australia

- Imag(in)ing Reggae

via DHM/Jojo B.

While I`m not the biggest fan of reposting things from HighSnob and them people, I couldn´t resist upping this one: for summer 08, 10Deep are putting out some adjustable hats named “Trenchtown”. I really like them. Especially the black version. (via CtotheJL)

They will probably sell better than Elephant Man´s album (via DancehallMobi) and will look good vibing to either Fly Music´s reggae cover tunes of the day, The Bug´s “London Zoo” album preview mix or whatever blogrocking beats.

The fastest man in the world, Nike+ and VP records teamed up to put together a compilation for Nike+´s compilation series. Currently, it´s only available in the US iTunes store and includes a selection of

classic dancehall cuts (…), pionearing raggamuffin (…), and an exclusive track recorded by Asafa´s favourite VP artist, Mavado (…)

Another nice quote from Nike´s official promotional copy is this one:

Reggae and other Caribbean music isn´t just about getting irie and lounging on the beach. Reggae itself has several subgenres that are high-energy and pulse-quickening, including dancehall, reggae and ska.

No news there but good to see a major company other than Puma supporting Jamaican athletes and artists.

Somewhere I read that today is International Reggae Day.

Somewhere else I read an article about the success of Jamaican track and fielders bringing smiles to the country.

The contrast between the two worlds — of violence and of athletic excellence — finds a reflection in music with the hardcore ‘dancehall’ often glorifying the gang lifestyle while the lighter melodies of reggae pay tribute to athletic prowess.

There is already a tune called 9.72 in tribute to ‘Lightning Bolt’.

Mavado that is. For other new dancehall tunes, check Tim Turbo´s Cyan Wait blog.

And ye - I uploaded some pictures from Gabe and me visiting NYC about a month ago on flickr.