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Machel Mantanon -- Splash the World with Soca
They caused quite a stir at Reggae on the River's 20th anniversary celebration:
On Aug. 2, young soca king Machel Montano and his 14-member band Xtatik 5.0
turned the concert site at Camp Piercy, CA into a Trinidadian-style carnival
with their ballistic, sexually charged blend of soca, dancehall and hip-hop.
Playing on the theme of his latest cd, The Xtatik Circus (JW/Mad Bull Music),
Montano's show was a visual delight, featuring fire-eaters, stilt walkers and
two callipygian female dancers, the Powder Puff Girls, who performed wild
movements usually seen in strip clubs...
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Oliver Mtukudzi -- Key to the Promised Land
Back in the 1970s when Thomas Mapfumo and Oliver Mtukudzi formed the Wagon Wheels
and began incorporating traditional and folk elements of Shona music into an
electrified urban popular music style (in particular the thousand-year old song
traditions associated with the mbira), there were tremendous objections
raised, even as they enjoyed tremendous success...
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Irving Burgie -- The Father of Modern Calypso
How many of you, nationals or foreign-born, have reached Sangster Airport in
Montego Bay, Jamaica to be serenaded by folk singers with songs like "Island
in the Sun" and "Kingston Market"? Moany of these classics were written by
Irving Burgie, long considered one of the greatest composers of Caribbean music,
whose songs have sold over 100 million records by artists throughout the world...
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Carlinhos Brown -- aka Carlito Marrón
Who is Carlito Marrón? Antonio Carlos Santos de Freitas, better known
as Carlinhos Brown, is the creator of the Timbalada drum brigade and one-third
of Tribalistas, the biggest recent success in MPB (música popular brasileira).
So what's up with this Marrón thing?
The Spanish pseudonym is a code name created by Brown in the contest of his
vigorous new album, Carlinhos Brown é Carlito Marrón (BMG Spain).
Made for the international market, already a success in Spain and France, the record
has only just been issued in Brazil, and awaits a US release...
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Nasio Fontaine -- Rastaman Come Again
An unheralded rastaman hailing from the Caribbean island of Dominica who just
happens to write and perform some of the most crucial sounds ever, Nasio Fontaine,
in my opinion is one of the most talented reggae artists on the planet.
In 1992, he traveled to Jamaica to record his outstanding debut, Reggae Power,
which was finally released two years later. Another five years passed before his
sophomore effort, Revolution, was unleashed to the public, and it was proof
positive that Nasio was an up-and-coming star...
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