WIADCA to kick-off 50th lauding Bob Marley as Caribbean Cultural Ambassador.
http://bit.ly/2vmYsDM

Reggae master to play island concert
bit.ly/2w1myG8

Why Rootfire Cooperative Is Giving Out Microloans To Reggae Musicians
http://bit.ly/2wlHdY3

Reggae music coming to Groovin’ in the Park
http://bit.ly/2xb1ugE

Reggae helps heal mental wounds of torture for migrants in Italy
bit.ly/2wljMOD

Lawyer Up: How Legal Is Marijuana in Jamaica?
​bit.ly/2w1ifeb

Here is an introduction to Reggae if you are new to the format:

       The origin of the term reggae is still open to debate. Some believe it is a distortion of the word "streggae", which is patois slang got prostitute, while others believe that Reggae was just a made-up name with no origin.

        In the late 50s and early 60s, Jamaican musicians combined the musical stylings of a Jamaican folk style called mento with American Jazz, especially R&B, to form ska. Ska was similar to R&B in that the drum beats were emphasized on the second and fourth beats. By 1966 the songs and tempo began to slow down to a style called rocksteady and by 1968 the tempo switched again and the one-drop rhythm came to form and reggae was born.

        From the very start, Reggae began to be influenced by Jamaica's Rastafari religion. This doesn't mean that every Reggae musician is a Rasta, but ever since Bob Marley spread Jamaica's national sound around the world, Reggae and Rasafari have almost become one- much like the music and marijuana. Jamaican music that emerged in the late 1960s and early 70s is called roots reggae. Many other styles began to emerge out of roots reggae including rockers, a late '70s variant characterized by the high-hat heavy "flying cymbals" sound, and the U.K.-birthed lover's rock, a style heavy with romance capitalized on by crooners like Gregory Isaacs.
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        The Reggae music has also spread beyond the borders of Jamaica to inspire musicians worldwide. It spread to Australian Aboriginal bands to Western superstars like Elvis Costello and the Police. What started as scrappy music from a smaller island called Jamaica is now a major part of the world's musical vocabulary.

Read the rest here: http://bit.ly/1RHAVnD

The Inaugural Reggae Gathering - Grammy© Nominee Party is a worldwide gathering and celebration of Reggae; melding timeless, upcoming and nostalgic acts, with rooted, captivating innovators and leading music industry executives, who continue to evolve its steadfast movement, along with enthusiastic fans who support the genre.

This premier “all-inclusive guest policy” pre-Grammy® event, held in the heart of Los Angeles, was created to embody the quintessential representation and celebration of the industry and it’s nominees through an on-point and uplifting gathering of genre specific industry executives, brimming with live music and live painting experience, paired with authentic Caribbean delicacy’s and a limited-host full bar and a star-studded patrons.

The innovators and experts in the genre, as well as both established and up and coming talent will be in full throttle with Morgan Heritage, Leon, Jovi Rockwell, DJ Gramps Morgan, DJ Delano Renaissance Sound, DJ Westafa, The Los Angeles Reggae AllStars and other surprise acts to be announced. Trinidadian artist Pasco The Great, will execute a live painting showcase. Event hosts of the inaugural gathering will feature executives from some of the most profound labels, management and publicity firms, as well as key media, distribution and brands; all taking place under one exhilarating pre-Grammy© roof.

Mitch Santell at The Reggae Gathering (58th Grammy Awards).

Morgan Heritage, the Royal Family of Reggae behind international acclaim has been nominated for the Best Reggae Album category at the 58th Annual GRAMMY© Awards for their 2015 album Strictly Roots. To commemorate, the inaugural Reggae Gathering GRAMMY© nominee celebration, will be held on February 14, 2016, at Los Globos, located at 3040 West Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles, California.

The celebration is set to begin at 8pm with live painting by Trinidadian artist Pasco The Great and live performances from Morgan Heritage/58th GRAMMY Nominee, Leon, Jovi Rockwell, DJ Gramps Morgan, DJ Delano Renaissance Sound, DJ Westafa, The Los Angeles Reggae AllStars, special guest Hirie, and other surprise acts to be announced. The night will be topped off with authentic Caribbean delicacies and a limited-host full bar.

Editing note: It is exciting to announce that Morgan Heritage did win the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2016.

Reggae Album of the year for 2016 was awarded to Morgan Heritage

“Celebrating the history and continued growth of reggae and its steadfast accomplishments through this event, alongside the talent and movers and shakers in the genre, is simply a natural progression in the movement,” says event host Tanya Moore. “It’s called unity in community!”

The event line-up is brimming with talent, featuring live music by GRAMMY nominees Morgan Heritage, Leon, Jovi Rockwell, DJ Gramps Morgan, DJ Delano Renaissance Sound, DJ Westafa, The Los Angeles Reggae All-Stars and more, as well as a live painting showcase by Trinidadian artist Pasco The Great.

Select hosts for the inaugural event include:
• Shaggy, a.k.a. Mr. Boombastic / Ranch Entertainment
• Eric Kohler – AEG Live
• John Rollins – President/Magazine Consulting Team & Founding Publisher of Vibe
• Clifton “Specialist” Dillon – Shang Records
• Matt and Jon Phillips – Silverback Management
• Pat McKay – SiriusXM Radio
• Morgan Heritage – 58th Grammy Nominee
• Lukes Morgan – Ineffable Music Group
• Eddie Donaldson and James Marland – The Grow Division
• “Native Wayne” Jobson – Indie 103.1 Radio
• Rocky Dawuni – Artist/58th Grammy Nominee
• Dana Shayegan – Collective Digital Studio
• Richard Lue – VP Records Group
• Cary Sullivan – Rocky Dawuni/Afro Funke’/Boom Yard
• Sire Dhone Johnson – RHA/ RSPK/Los Globos
• Tanya Moore – Moore Media/ Moore CEG
• Buppy Brown – Artist -Brown2Music Records
• Junior Francis – The Reggae Show
• Larry Little – Fortress Music/ Resident DTLA
• Leon- Actor/Musician – Leon and The Peoples

Scott Brown, Director of Programming for Big Reggae Mix

Ever since Sure Dread joined roots reggae band Jah Roots at the age of 14, he has been developing his talents on reggae-keyboards. With no other mentor but Jah, his talents and the albums he has heard, Sure Dread now has his own style of roots reggae. In Jah Roots, many times he needed to fill the music without the help of a guitarist or another keyboard player. "You can definitly count Jah Roots among my major inpirators," he says. Sure Dread makes his own music with the PC as central point in his set-up, although you can not hear that so good. Where most artists that create reggae music with computers dwell in the realm of dancehall, Sure Dread chooses a totally different way. You can hear Culture, Steel Pulse and Jah Roots in his original music. He works together with Messian Dread Jah Roots and in the Dubroom, their award-winning reggae site where they both publish their original music in midi-format. Where Messian puts a clear emphasis on dub, Sure Dread has a more musical approach of his music and his skillfull roots reggae sounds would serve very nicely as backing tracks for those Jamaican artists such as Culture and the Mighty Diamonds.

Link:  https://archive.org/details/suredread

Barry Brown (c. 1962, Jamaica — 29 May 2004) was a Jamaican reggae singer, initially coming to prominence in the 1970s with his work with Bunny Lee, but remaining popular throughout his career.

Barry Brown was one of a number of singers to find success in the 1970s under record producer Bunny Lee. After forming a short-lived group called The Aliens with Rod Taylor and Johnny Lee,[1] Brown went solo. Although his first release, "Girl You're Always On My Mind", had little impact, his vocal style soon found popularity, with his first hit single coming with 1979's "Step It Up Youthman", which led to an album of the same name on Paradise Records.[2] One of the most successful artists of the early dancehall era, Brown worked with some of Jamaica's top producers of the time, including Linval Thompson, Winston "Niney The Observer" Holness, Sugar Minott and Coxsone Dodd, as well as releasing self-produced material.[2] He recorded for Studio One in 1983, including "Far East".[2] After releasing eleven albums between 1979 and 1984, Brown's releases became more sporadic, although his work continued to feature prominently on sound systems such as those of Jah Shaka.

In the 1990s, Brown's health deteriorated, suffering with asthma and substance abuse problems, and he died in May 2004 in Sone Waves recording studio in Kingston, Jamaica, after falling and hitting his head.[3]

Barry Brown, a great Reggae Artist who passed on too soon.

Easy Star All-Stars is a favorite here at Big Reggae Mix

After their full coverage of classic albums from both Radiohead and Pink Floyd, the collective known as the Easy Star All-Stars go way back to the band and the album that pretty much changed everything. The accent, as always, is on the Easy part of the band's name, meaning this easy-skanking tribute to Sgt. Pepper's flows effortlessly, never getting caught up in overly ambitious detours or ridiculously huge arrangements. Tracks like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" with guest vocalistFrankie Paul and "Within You Without You" with natural mystic Matisyahu have slick studio touches, but the heavy lifting is left up to the performances, and both guest vocalists are perfect choices who simply nail it. Having been on the road frequently the previous two years pays off, as the players are suitably loose, creating grooves that feel natural and alive. The ever growing importance of the horn section comes to fruition as they shrink some of the original album's elaborate arrangements into smaller packages, ones that could be imagined in a live setting or -- in the case of Ranking Roger's "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" -- at some wicked ska-fueled pool party. The warm voice of Michael Rose closes the set on a dubby "A Day in the Life," a cover version drenched in reverb with a clever imitation of the locked groove gibberish found at the end of the original Pepper's LP.


Read the rest of what David Jeffries had to say: 
http://www.allmusic.com/album/easy-stars-lonely-hearts-dub-band-mw0000813322