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Words by Jesse Serwer—
We weren’t always fully on board with Romain Virgo but then the young crooner came and dropped one of the best reggae LPs of the year, The System (No. 6 on LargeUp’s Toppa Top 10 albums of 2012). Now, we’re almost ready to start calling him the next Sanchez, especially if he keeps making tunes like “Fired Up Inside,” one of the clear-cut highlights from The System.
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Words by Jesse Serwer—
Established by Protoje and Jason Panton of clothing brand I&I and Jamaican streetwear shop Base Kingston with the goal of initiating a live reggae revival in JA, Live from Kingston is a new, free music showcase spotlighting young and emerging Jamaican music talent. “It’s not a hype thing, it’s a music thing,” Jason tells us of the series, which launched in November with performances from Chronixx, Iba Mahr, Keida and Blu Kid. Performances are largely acoustic, with musicians such as Zinc Fence backing up performers.
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Words, Photos and Video by Martei Korley
Country star Larry Gatlin with Romain Virgo
On a hot, sticky day at the end of August, we traveled to Jamaica’s Breezes Negril resort to witness a unique intermingling of the country and reggae music worlds. If such an exchange strikes you as unusual, well then you’ve got a lot to learn about Jamaica, where country music has been a part of the nation’s cultural fabric since it made its way there through the radio back in 1950. (For more on the extent of its influence, see this primer). As reggae artists Freddie McGregor, Busy Signal, Duane Stephenson and L.U.S.T. (the quartet of veteran singers Lukie D, Thrilla U, Singing Melody and Tony Curtis) tell us in our latest LargeUp TV exclusive, country enjoys a place among their earliest musical memories.
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Words by Jesse Serwer
The great Beres Hammond is commanding our full attention today. Just moments after posting our own Top 10 favorite Beres Hammond tunes, our friends at VP Records passed us two copies of their new CD Our Favorite Beres Hammond Songs, featuring covers of Beres classics by Jah Cure, Busy Signal (whose version of “Tempted to Touch” we featured in our Valentine’s Day Lovers Rock post back in February), Tarrus Riley, Marcia Griffiths, Romain Virgo and more. All of the good vibes from these Beres tunes (not to mention the sudden, long-awaited arrival of sunshine in NYC) has us feeling generous, so we’re giving away the discs to the next two people who follow @Largeupdotcom on Twitter. Just send us a direct message (DM) with your address after the follow, and we’ll send you the groovy little thing in the mail. And, while you’re waiting, you can check out Tarrus Riley’s cover of “Groovy Little Thing” (and the album’s second single) right here:
