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Saturday, December 03, 2005

Australia's Homebake Music Festival Celebrates 10th Party in 2005

Rolling Out The Red Carpet For Our Greatest..
Past, Present & Future

Ten years can virtually be regarded as a lifetime in any event lifecycle - and it's especially true when the focus is entirely based on local artistic talent alone. However, those ten years have witnessed major international success for many of our local (Australia & New Zealand) musicians (& actors).

So, in true celebratory style, Australia's most famous antipodean festival, Homebake, follows up on last year's sold out tenth birthday bash with a very special themed event this year, being HOMEBAKE 2005 - The Honours Year!

From its origins in a muddy, rain soaked paddock in Byron Bay in 1995 HOMEBAKE has steadily grown from being a music festival distinguished for its commitment to giving new Australian acts a chance, into a well known local music lovers ritual, and now into nothing less than a national Australian music institution with a unique reputation for cultivating the very best Australian (& New Zealand) musical talent on offer.

Entering maturity (and getting close to our 'teens') Homebake 2005 will both play host to and honour a selection of our most famous local artists - especially those past, present and future who have seemingly made a respected presence on international stages.

Despite the changing face of the world, we can all be proud of many within our entertainment industry for having placed international focus on the incredible talent right here in our own 'backyard' and for this very reason, Homebake 2005 will honour those appearing on our humble stages - as well as paying homage to the local entertainment industry as a whole.

With great pleasure and excitement, what better way for us to show our respect than to present one of the greatest (& most awesome) artist line-ups featuring an array stars presenting a variety of styles (pop, rock, dance, punk, hip hop, electronica etc) that will no doubt appeal to the most discerning of fans.

With an ever growing demographic, Homebake 2005 'stars' will place emphasis on stage presentation showing the rest of the world that we can deliver the goods just as good (if not better) than international counterparts. (Check artist page for full details)

Joining Homebake for our festivities this year will be wonderful organisation known as Beyond Blue. So please make sure to read about their initiative on the dedicated page.

Presented by Triple J, Channel V, Drum Media & Fasterlouder.com.au Homebake has a massive start to this honours year line-up - with a selection of some of some of the country's most highly acclaimed performers announced & with many more to come totalling some fifty combined artist and DJs.

HOMEBAKE 2005 - The Honours Year is destined to be one of the most exciting & finest music festivals of the summer period and will also feature a variety of extra activities and features including The HOMEBAKE Cinema Tent featuring short films by up coming Australian producers and directors and put together by producer/actor extraordinaire, Kieron Darcy Smith (of Two Hands & Cave fame), our famous international food fare, a plethora of market and information stalls, roving performers, surprises & much, much more + our special 'honours segments' broadcast on the big screen.

It's a full day packed to the brim with the hottest musical talent Australia (& NZ) has to offer and it's still the best value for money festival in town Note we provide this warning well in advance, HOMEBAKE 2004 did sell out well in advance, so please make sure to purchase tickets early to avoid disappointment (& hiked ebay prices!!).

Whilst the countdown is on to the big day, we ask you to stay tuned for all the honours news at the website, Homebake.com.au.


Acts Performing include:

THE FINN BROTHERS • THE LIVING END • SOMETHING FOR KATE • BEN LEE • WOLFMOTHER • THE CAT EMPIRE • CUT COPY • COG • THE SAINTS • THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS • DECODER RING • SARAH BLASKO • END OF FASHION • EVERMORE • THE GO-BETWEENS • PAUL MAC • THE DIRTY THREE • KATALYST & RU C.L • SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM • KISSCHASY • WOLF & CUB • THE ROGUE TRADERS • ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI • PNAU • ALEX LLOYD • THE MESS HALL • THE HERD • AMIEL • P-MONEY • THE PRESETS • THE MORNING AFTER GIRLS • THE GRATES • DJ PERIL + SUBURBAN INTELLECT • NFA • LOCAL KNOWLEDGE • DAPPLED CITIES FLY • BRITISH INDIA • EXPATRIATE • THE SCARE • THE HOT LIES • THE GOLDEN AGE • DIE! DIE! DIE! • BEAU YOUNG • POMOMOFO



Arts / Culture ads:

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Find songs from Blue Pie acts on the Hurricane Healing music for charity CD, to benefit the victims of the Katrina hurricane damage affecting Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and region:

HurricaneHealing.us


Blue Pie artist Yuya has 3 songs being featured in the Rock section of StayAround.com


StayAround.com Yuya Music


Hurricane Relief CD, Come Together Now

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Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Canadian Singer Yuya's DigiWorld Tour kicks off in Iceland Dec 1st

Yuya Digital Itinerary

Canadian singer Yuya announces December and January dates for digital world tour

Blue Pie recording artist Yuya is starting a Digital Music World Tour in December 2005. He will travel the world virtually, ansering your questions by email, chat and phone; please send interview requests to yuyajoseph@yahoo.ca . All interviews with recording artist Yuya will be linked up from this blog!!!

December itinerary:

2nd arrive in Reykjavik, Iceland

4 th fly to Dublin

7th to Manchester

8th Liverpool

9 th Birmingham

10th London

13th Paris

15th Amsterdam

17th Copenhagen

18th Munich

19th Frankfurt

20th Berlin

21st Edinburgh

22nd home to Toronto for Holy Days


December Week One Itinerary:

Dec. 2nd arrive in Reykjavik, Iceland

Dec. 4th fly to Dublin

Dec. 7th to Manchester



Dec. 2nd, Reykjavik, Iceland

Iceland Underground Music Scene – Indie Website links from the BBC, Click Here for Icelandic Music

Alex Ross of The New Yorker visits Iceland, full story at NewYorker.com

My first day in Iceland was a freezing horror. Every inch of Reykjavík was covered by a film of ice. I made the mistake of trying to walk from my hotel into the center of town, and after about a mile I felt as though I had been walking for days, like some beaten-down soul in the novels of Halldór Laxness. It seemed like a hallucination when I turned a corner and saw golden light streaming from the windows of a store called 12 Tonar, which is Icelandic for “twelve tones.” The moment I stumbled through the door, a smiling record clerk offered me a cup of espresso; within a few minutes, I was warming my ears with Icelandic music.

Iceland may have more musicians per capita than any country in the world. This nation of two hundred and ninety thousand people—roughly the same population as Cincinnati—has ninety music schools, about four hundred choirs, four hundred orchestras and marching bands, and some vast, unknown number of rock bands, jazz combos, and d.j.s. Before Björk ascended to world fame, in the early nineties, it never occurred to many outsiders that such a small country could have such an active music scene. Now Icelandic acts such as Sigur Rós and Múm have gained their own international followings, and the devilishly powerful works of Jón Leifs have begun to appear on orchestral programs around the world. When considered en masse, the music of Iceland is startlingly diverse, yet much of it reflects, in one way or another, what Glenn Gould once called the “idea of north.”

Björk began her recording career at the age of eleven. Her disco-, video-, and bibliography now include five major solo records (“Debut,” “Post,” “Homogenic,” “Vespertine,” and “Medúlla”), a soundtrack album (“Selmasongs: Dancer in the Dark”), a greatest-hits record, a remix record (“Telegram”), an album of jazz standards sung mostly in Icelandic (“Gling-Gló”), two box sets (“Family Tree” and “Live Box”), a Björk book (“Björk Book”), a DVD compilation of videos by Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, and other filmmakers (“Volumen”), and assorted other DVDs of live shows. She also made three records with the Sugarcubes and two records with the arty punk band Kukl; the Sugarcubes may have had the alternative-rock hits, but Kukl’s “Holidays in Europe” sounds better over time. It is difficult, if not impossible, to rank Björk’s solo records: each is indestructibly Björk-like, and if you love or hate any one of them you will probably love or hate them all.

“Vespertine” is perhaps her most unified album, a work of dazzling sonic design and almost claustrophobic emotional intimacy. “Medúlla,” despite its obsessive focus on the technical possibilities of the human voice, is earthier, more extroverted in tone—“folk music, but without any folk attached,” as Björk told me. “Greatest Hits” is probably the best place to start, with “Vespertine” and “Medúlla” as adventurous follow-ups.

Full story at NewYorker.com

Iceland Music, Arts and Culture Links

Yuya Joseph, Canadian singer, Blue Pie recording artist:




Iceland General Links


Icelandic Music CDs from NordicStore.net

Bjork speaks, from Bjork.com

Despite long lapses between her productions, creativity will always be the center of her life, she explains. “If I don’t write songs, then I’m fucked, you know?” Björk says. “I can’t just move to the Bahamas. I need that part of me for the rest of me to function.”

Instead of lounging on a sandy beach, Björk and Barney split their time between Iceland and New York, where Barney has an apartment downtown and Björk owns a house upstate “in the forest, with the Bambis.” It’s a bi-continental lifestyle that works nicely with Björk’s seasonal preferences. In December and January, she explains, “it’s colder in Manhattan than in Iceland, and the Christmasy thing is a bit insane! In Iceland, it’s like a winter wonderland, and there’s only light for one hour a day, it’s about family and drinking hot chocolate with cognac in it and cuddling.” (Summer in New York is also out: “I think it should be illegal to be in Manhattan in August.”)”

Read more of the interview in nymetro.com, where Björk talks about Drawing Restraint 9, from http://www.bjork.com/



Dec. 4th, Dublin, Eire


Ireland Entertainment links from VisitDublin.com


Irish Rock superstar group U2, via U2.com

Bono’s and Edge’s hotel in Dublin, Eire, The Clarence





Dec. 7th, Manchester, UK

TBA




January itinerary:

3rd Quebec

4th Halifax

6th Stockholm

7th Oslo

8th Brussels

9th Rome

12th Athens

14th Jerusalem

17th Cairo

19th Addis Ababa

24th Washington

25th New York

28th Detroit

29th Toronto

30th Montreal

31st Ottawa




February itinerary:

Vancouver Seattle Portland Chicago Phoenix Las Vegas Los Angeles San Francisco Honolulu Osaka Tokyo Hong Kong Singapore Sydney

Please email us with suggestions for rockin’ things to do and see alomng the way, great music websites, online rock magazines, reggae forums and wherever U believe Yuya’s music should be heard!!!

Peace and Blessings,

Yuya Joe

Monday, November 28, 2005

Black Sabbath, Miles Davis and the Sex Pistols to enter Rock Music Hall of Fame

Blondie, Lynyrd Skynyrd also make the cut for Cleveland shrine

Story from News.Yahoo.com

NEW YORK - Black Sabbath, Miles Davis and the Sex Pistols are among five musical legends to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation will hold its induction ceremony March 13 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, the organization announced Monday.

Also to be inducted into the class of 2006: 1980s New Wave band Blondie and Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, who founded A&M records in 1962, will receive a lifetime achievement award in the non-performer category.

Inductees into the side-men category will be announced at a later date.

Musicians, industry professionals and journalists vote on the nominations. Artists are eligible to be inducted into the Rock Hall after at least 25 years have passed since their first record was released.



More information: RockHall.com

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Yuya Digital World Tour Update: Iceland

December Week One Itinerary:

Dec. 2nd arrive in Reykjavik, Iceland

Dec. 4th fly to Dublin

Dec. 7th to Manchester



Dec. 2nd, Reykjavik, Iceland

Iceland Underground Music Scene – Indie Website links from the BBC, Click Here for Icelandic Music

Iceland Music, Arts and Culture Links

Yuya Joseph, Canadian singer, Blue Pie recording artist:




Iceland General Links




Bjork speaks, from Bjork.com

Despite long lapses between her productions, creativity will always be the center of her life, she explains. “If I don’t write songs, then I’m fucked, you know?” Björk says. “I can’t just move to the Bahamas. I need that part of me for the rest of me to function.”

Instead of lounging on a sandy beach, Björk and Barney split their time between Iceland and New York, where Barney has an apartment downtown and Björk owns a house upstate “in the forest, with the Bambis.” It’s a bi-continental lifestyle that works nicely with Björk’s seasonal preferences. In December and January, she explains, “it’s colder in Manhattan than in Iceland, and the Christmasy thing is a bit insane! In Iceland, it’s like a winter wonderland, and there’s only light for one hour a day, it’s about family and drinking hot chocolate with cognac in it and cuddling.” (Summer in New York is also out: “I think it should be illegal to be in Manhattan in August.”)”

Read more of the interview in nymetro.com, where Björk talks about Drawing Restraint 9, from http://www.bjork.com/



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Ugandan Women donate $900 to Katrina victims

KAMPALA, Uganda, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Some 200 Ugandan women who earn $1.20 per day breaking rocks into gravel in Kampala have donated $900 to the U.S. victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Rose Busingye, a 36-year-old Ugandan nurse, works with the women, many of whom have AIDS and work at a strip mine outside Kampala.

She said the women's hearts had been touched last year when they donated some of their earnings to victims of the tsunami in Southeast Asia. She told the New Orleans Times Picayune she didn't have the heart to ask for another effort, so she asked only that the women pray for Katrina's victims.

But at least 200 women began donating their mining wages, and money from selling bananas, necklaces and small chairs.

The women turned over their money to AVSI, a Catholic Italian aid organization in Kampala, which will forward it to an AVSI office in the United States.




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New song by Bob Marley highlight of Africa Unite: Singles Collection



Album Description:

In the year Bob Marley would have turned 60, the past, present, and future of his music are celebrated--not only with the first Bob Marley & the Wailers greatest-hits package to include both his early sides and his Island Records hits, but also a new recording and two new remixes. Along with 17 vintage tracks, Africa Unite: The Singles Collection spotlights "Slogans," the first new official Marley track released in more than a decade. It is believed Marley recorded the song in a Miami bedroom in 1979. The tapes were kept at Marley's mother's house and in 2004 the reggae legend's sons Stephen and Ziggy revisited the acoustic demo. In 2005, Stephen overdubbed the tracks with other instruments, including guitar by Eric Clapton. Stephen and Ziggy produced "Slogans" specifically for this release.


Another new recording is a remix of "Africa Unite," whose original was heard on the 1979 album Survival. The song is presented here in an anthemic remix by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, who was personally invited to create the remix by Rita Marley, Bob's wife. Also new is the Ashley Beedle remix of "Get Up, Stand Up vs. Jamrock," a mash-up of Bob's classic and "Welcome To Jamrock," the 2005 hit from youngest son Damian.

Africa Unite: The Singles Collection commemorates Marley's life on record just as the 2005 Africa Unite concert in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on his 60th birthday (February 6) commemorated it on stage.




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New Marley song "Slogans" highlights Africa Unite: Bob Marley Singles Collection CD

From UniversalMusic.com

In the year Bob Marley would have turned 60, the past, present and future of his music are celebrated not only with the first Bob Marley & The Wailers greatest hits package to include both his early sides and his Island Records hits but also a new recording and two new remixes. Along with 17 vintage tracks, Africa Unite: The Singles Collection (Island/Tuff Gong/Universal Music Canada), in stores November 15, 2005, spotlights "Slogans," the first new official Marley track released in more than a decade. It is believed Marley recorded the song "Slogans" in a Miami bedroom in 1979. The tapes were kept at Marley's mother's house and last year the reggae legend's sons Stephen and Ziggy revisited the acoustic demo.



In 2005, Stephen overdubbed the tracks with other instruments, including guitar by Eric Clapton. Stephen and Ziggy produced "Slogans" specifically for this release. Another new recording is a remix of "Africa Unite," whose original was heard on the 1979 album Survival. The song is presented here in an anthemic remix by will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas, who was personally invited to create the remix by Rita Marley, Bob's wife. Also new is the Ashley Beedle Remix of "Get Up, Stand Up Vs. Jamrock," a mash-up of Bob's classic and "Welcome To Jamrock," the 2005 hit from youngest son Damian. Africa Unite: The Singles Collection commemorates Marley's life on record just as the 2005 Africa Unite concert in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on his 60th birthday (February 6) commemorated it on stage. Africa Unite: The Singles Collection includes the early classics "Soul Rebel," "Lively Up Yourself," "Trenchtown Rock" and "Concrete Jungle" alongside the Island hits "I Shot The Sheriff," "Get Up, Stand Up," "No Woman, No Cry," "Exodus," "Jamming," "Could You Be Loved," "One Love/People Get Ready," "Roots, Rock, Reggae," "Waiting In Vain," "The Sun Is Shining," "Is This Love," "Three Little Birds" and "Buffalo Soldier." Marley's stature in music grows with each passing year. Africa Unite: The Singles Collection continues his legacy.


Bob Marley Background

Bob Marley has been called "the first Third World superstar", a visionary, a revolutionary and even a prophet. Certainly he was one of the most characteristic and challenging performers of this century. His timeless and evocative music continues to have an enormous impact on people of all races throughout the world. Like most popular artists, Marley wrote about love. But his music also reflected a militant spirituality, a blood-red hatred of racism and colonialism, and a deep yearning for personal, artistic, political and social freedom. It is important to consider the roots of this legend. All these themes reflected the experiences of a man of mixed racial heritage growing up in a poverty-stricken crown colony. Marley was the product of Jamaica, a country with a unique mixture of black pride and fundamentalist religions set against a background of extreme economic deprivation. Although there was clearly genius in his vocal abilities, in his on-stage charisma and in his vastly underrated guitar work, it was Marleys attitude and lyrics that made a lasting impact on listeners. He mined fresh artistic territory by reflecting the concerns of impoverished people everywhere. Marleys musical career stretched over twenty years. During that time his style reflected every new development in the rise of modern Jamaican music-from ska to contemporary "international" reggae. His first recordings were made as the beginning of the 1960s as a solo artist. In 1962 Marley auditioned for a local music entrepreneur named Leslie Kong. Impressed by the quality of Bobs vocals, Kong took the young singer into the studio. He cut three sides, the first of which, Judge Not, was his first release on Kongs Beverly label. Bob was tutored during these early years by Joe Higgs, an established singer from the area who held informal lessons for aspiring vocalists in the tenement yards of Trench Town, Kingston. It was here that Marley and his friend Bunny Livingston met Peter Macintosh and decided to form the Wailing Wailers. (Macintosh later shortened his name to Tosh, while Livingston became known as Bunny Wailer.)

The new group had a mentor, a Rastafarian hand drummer named Alvin Patterson who introduced the youths to Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, an important record produced in Kingston. In the summer of 1963 Dodd auditioned the Wailing Wailers and agreed to record them. It was in early 1964, as a founding member of the Wailing Wailers that Bob first hit the Jamaican charts. The record was Simmer Down, recorded in the last weeks of 1963 on Dodd?s Downbeat label. By January of 1964 it was number one. Simmer Down caused a sensation in Jamaica and the Wailers began recording regularly for Dodds Studio One company. This was the era of ska; a hot new music with a pronounced backbeat. Ska had its origins in the New Orleans rhythm & blues picked up from American radio stations and played at local "sound systems". Over the next few years the Wailers - a group that also included at various times Junior Braithwaite and the back-up singers Beverly Kelso and Cherry Smith - put out some 30 sides and established themselves as one of the hottest groups in Jamaica. Despite their popularity however, the economics of staying together proved too much and Braithwaite, Kelso, and Smith left the band. At roughly the same time Bob joined his mother in the United States. She had moved to Delaware and saved enough money to send him a ticket. Just before he moved he met young Rita Anderson, and on February 10, 1966, the two were married. Marleys stay in the US was short-lived. He worked just enough to finance his real ambition: music. He returned in October to Jamaica to join up again with Peter and Bunny and re-form the group, now simply known as the Wailers. It was during these years that Marley fully embraced Rastafari. One can not fully comprehend Marley or the Wailers music without reference to this movement. There is a mystery at the heart of every religion; Rastafaris main object of worship is the former Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie, who is seen as the personification of God on earth. Rastas acknowledge the origin of their religion in Christianity and Judaism while rejecting the "babylon hypocrisy" of the modern church. In addition to proclaiming the divinity of Salassie, worshippers yearn for a return to a homeland in Africa.

Jamaicans in general have managed to maintain many cultural connections to Africa. That African heritage was given serious political expression by Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican preacher and entrepreneur who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association. This organisation advocated the creation of a new black state in Africa, free from white domination. Garvey also predicted the crowning of a new black king. A few years later, in 1930, Ras Tafari Makonnen became Emperor of Ethiopia and had taken a new name, Haile Selassie. The Emperor claimed to be the 225th ruler in a line that stretched back to Menelik, the son of Solomon and Sheba. Garveys prediction inspired his followers to found the Rastafarian movement. Marleys conversion was part of a religious revival that had touched many other Jamaican artists, many of whom had begun writing songs about exile and return to Africa. Such songs as Maytals Six & Seven Books of Moses, Bob Andys Ive Got to Go Back Home, and Desmond Dekkers Israelites mark the early influences of the Rasta movement on reggae music. The Wailers growing commitment to Rastafari brought them into conflict with Clement Dodd. Determined to control their own destiny, they formed their own record label, Wailin N Soul. Despite a few early successes, the Wailers limited experience forced the label out of business in late 1967. The group survived, however, initially as songwriters for a company associated with the American singer Johnny Nash. The following decade Nash had an international hit with Marleys Stir It Up. The Wailers then joined forces with Lee "Scratch" Perry, the production genius who virtually re-invented the sound of Jamaican music. By the end of the Sixties, with Perry at the mixing desk, the Wailers were again back at the top in Jamaica. The combination of the Wailers and Perry resulted in some of the finest music the band ever made. Tracks like Soul Rebel, Duppy Conqueror, 400 Years, and Small Axe were classics that defined the future direction of reggae. By the late sixties the Wailers music reflected Marleys new beliefs. Gone were the rude boy anthems; in their place was a growing commitment to spiritual and social issues ? the cornerstone of his real legacy. With its emphasis on "getting yours here on earth" Rastfarian unabashedly mixes spirituality with social criticism. In 1970 Aston "Familyman" Barrett and his brother Carlton (bass and drums, respectively) joined the Wailers as musicians. The rhythm nucleus of Perrys studio band the Upsetters, they came to the Wailers unchallenged as Jamaica?s hardest rhythm section. With the addition of the Barrett brothers the Wailers reputation continued to grow throughout the Caribbean, though they remained essentially unknown internationally.

That same year Bob accepted an invitation from Johnny Nash to accompany him to Sweden, where the American singer had taken a film score commission. While in Europe Bob secures a recording contract with CBS, which was also Nashs company. By the autumn of 1971 the Wailers were in London, ostensibly promoting their CBS single Reggae on Broadway. Instead they found themselves stranded in Britain. In December Marley walked into Basing Street studio of Island Records and asked to see its founder, Chris Blackwell. Blackwell had launched Island in Jamaica in the late 1950s. By 1962 he realised that, by re-locating to London, he could represent all his Jamaican rivals in Britain. The company was re-born in May, 1962, selling initially to the Jamaican population, centred mostly in London and Birmingham. Blackwell then produced a worldwide smash with My Boy Lollipop, a pop/ ska tune by the young Jamaican singer Millie Small. Through the Sixties Island had grown to become the UKs prime source of Jamaican music, from ska through rock-steady and reggae. The company had also embraced white rock music, with such bands as Traffic, King crimson, Cat Stevens, Free and Fairport Convention. When Marley arrived at Island, it was the hottest independent in the world. Blackwell knew of Marleys Jamaican reputation. Island had released his first records in Britain. More importantly, Blackwell had also heard the groups recent demo tapes and had been impressed. He offered the group a deal unique for Jamaican music; the Wailers were advanced $8000 to make an album. The relationship that developed between Island and the Wailers was unprecedented. For the first time a reggae band had access to the best recording facilities and were treated in the same way as a rock group. Before the Wailers signed to Island, reggae had been sold only as singles and on cheaply produced compilations. The Wailers first album, Catch A Fire broke all the rules. Beautifully packaged and heavily promoted, its releases marked the start of Marleys long climb to international fame and recognition.

Years later the acclaimed reggae dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, commenting on Catch A Fire, wrote: " A whole new style of Jamaican music has come into being. It has a different character, a different sound what I can only describe as International Reggae. It incorporates elements from popular music: rock and soul, blues and funk. These elements facilitated a breakthrough on the international market." Island also decided The Wailers should tour both Britain and America, again a complete novelty for a reggae band. Marley and the band came to London in April 1973, embarking on a club tour, which sharpened them as a live group. After three months, however, the band returned to Jamaica and Bunny, disenchanted by life on the road, refused to do the American tour. His place was taken by Joe Higgs, the original teacher of the Wailers. The tour drew packed houses, including a weekend engagement playing support to a young Bruce Springsteen. Such was the demand for a group that and autumn tour was arranged, with 17 dates as support to Sly & The Family Stone, at that time the top band in Black American music. Four shows into the tour, however, the Wailers were taken off the bill. It seems they had been too good; support bands should never detract from the main attraction. The Wailers made their way to San Francisco where they broadcast a live concert for the pioneering rock station, KSAN. The bulk of that session was finally made available in February 1991, when Island releases the commemorative album Talkin Blues. Catch A Fire was followed a year later by Burnin, an LP that included remakes of some of the bands older songs such as Duppy Conqueror, Small Axe and Put It On, together with such stand out tracks as Get Up, Stand Up and I Shot The Sheriff (the latter recorded by Eric Clapton, who had a number one hit with the song in America). The following year Marley spent much of his time in the studio working on sessions that eventually provided Natty Dread, an album that included such fiercely committed songs as Talkin Blues, No Woman No Cry, So Jah Seh, revolution, and Them Belly Full (But We Hungry). By the start of the next year, however, Bunny and Peter had left the group. They were late to embark on solo careers while the band was re-named Bob Marley & the Wailers.

Natty Dread was released in February 1975. By the summer, the band was on the road again. Bunnys and Peters harmonies were replaced by the I-Threes, the female trio comprised of Rita with Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt. Among the concerns were two shows at the Lyceum Ballroom in London which, even now, are remembered as highlights of the decade. The shows were recorded and the subsequent Live! album, together with the single, No Woman No Cry, climbed into the UK charts. By November, when the Wailers returned to Jamaica to play a benefit concert with Stevie Wonder, they were without question the countrys biggest stars. Their next album, released in 1976, finally cracked the American charts. Rastaman Vibration was, for many, the clearest exposition yet of Marleys music and beliefs. It included such brilliant tracks as Crazy Baldhead, Johnny Was, Who the Cap Fit and, perhaps most significantly of all, War, the lyrics of which were taken from a speech by Haile Selassie. Rastaman Vibrations international success cemented Marleys growing political importance in Jamaica, where his strong Rastafarian stance had resonated with the ghetto youth. By way of thanking the people, Marley decided to play at a free concert at Kingston's National Heroes Park in December of 1976. The idea was to emphasize the need for peace in the slums of the city, were warring factions had brought turmoil and murder. Just after the concert was announced, the Government called an election for December 20th. The campaign was a signal for renewed ghetto fighting and, on the eve of the concert, gunmen broke into Marley's house and shot him. In the confusion the would-be assassins only wounded Marley, who was hastily taken to a safe haven in the hills surrounding Kingston. Rita Marley and Bobs then manager, Don Taylor, were also wounded. For a day he deliberated about playing the concert and then, on December 5, came on stage and played a brief set in defiance of the gunmen. It was to be Marleys last appearance in Jamaica for nearly eighteen months. Immediately after the show he left the country and, during early 1977, lived in London where he recorded his next album. In 1977 Exodus firmly established Marleys international superstar status. It remained in the British charts for 56 straight weeks, and netted three UK hit singles, Exodus, Waiting in Vain, and Jamming. The band also played a week of concerts at London's Rainbow Theatre, their last dates in the city during the Seventies. 1978s Kaya saw the band capitalise on their new international success. It hit number four on the UK charts the week of its release. The album saw Marley in a different mood Kaya was an album of love songs, and of course, homages to the power of ganga. There were several other events in 1978 which were of extraordinary significance to Marley. In April that year he returned to Jamaica to play the One Love Peace Concert in front of prime Minister Michael Manley, Opposition Leader Edward Seaga and a crowd of tens of thousands. And at the end of the year he visited Africa for the first time, initially going to Kenya and then on to Ethiopia, spiritual home of the Rastafarians. In the same year he received the United Nation?s Medal of Peace. That same year the band toured Europe and America, a series of shows that provided a second live album, Babylon By Bus. The Wailers also broke new ground by playing Australia, Japan and New Zealand.

In 1979 the Survival LP was released, Marleys ninth album for Island records. It included Zimbabwe, a stirring anthem for the soon-to-be liberated Rhodesia, together with So Much Trouble in the Night and the anthemic Africa Unite. As the sleeve design (comprising the flags of the independent nations) indicated, Survival was an album devoted to pan-African solidarity. At the start of the following year - a new decade ? Marley & the Wailers flew to Gabon to make their debut on the African continent. It was not the event that Marley had anticipated however as it quickly became evident that the band would be performing only for that country's elite. Marley returned to Africa in 1980 at the official initiation of the Government of Zimbabwe to play at that countrys independence Ceremony. It was perhaps the greatest honour ever afforded the band, and one which underlined the Wailers importance in the Third World. A European tour came the following year: the band broke festival records throughout the continent, including a 100,000 capacity show in Milan. His new Uprising album hit every chart in Europe. It was a period of maximum optimism and plans were being made for an American tour, including an opening slot for Stevie Wonder the following wither. At the end of the European tour, Marley went to America. He played two shows at Madison Square garden but immediately afterwards became seriously ill. Cancer was diagnosed. A melanoma on one of his toes had led to the spread of the disease throughout his body. Marley fought the disease for eight months. He then left Germany, where he was receiving treatment, for his home in Jamaica. Unable to complete the journey, he died in a Miami hospital May 11, 1981. Marley was given an official state funeral by the people of Jamaica. Following the funeral, his body was taken to his birthplace of Nine Miles in St. Anns Parish where it now rests in a mausoleum. Marley was just 36 years old. The Legend lives on. Marleys stature and popularity have continued to grow in the years since his passing, and today there are few places in the world that have not been touched by his music. The Legend compilation, released in 1984 and featuring some of his most popular songs, remains one of the best-selling catalogue albums on the Billboard charts. 1992s Songs of Freedom, a limited edition of one million four-CD boxed sets featuring rare and previously unreleased material, quickly sold out, and became a much sought after collectors item prior to its re-release.

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