In 1991, inspired by the rhythms of traditional Jamaican music and the largely improvisational nature of jazz, original Jazz Warrior, and veteran jazz double bassist, Gary Crosby turned a musical concept into a joyful reality. Gary
The Abyssinians are a Jamaican roots reggae group, famous for their close harmonies and promotion of the Rastafari movement in their lyrics. The vocal trio was originally formed in 1969 by Bernard Collins, Donald Manning and Linford Manning. Their most famous songs are "Satta Massagana" and "Y Mas Gan", both of which are delivered partially in the Ethiopian language of Amharic. Another crucial track is "Declaration of Rights", whose riddim has been reprised many times during the years by many other roots reggae artists.
Freddie McGregor was born on June 27, 1956 in Clarendon, Jamaica. He is a singer, musician and producer. McGregor's career began at the age of seven. In 1963 he joined with Ernest Wilson and Peter Austin to form The Clarendonians, and began to record for the legendary Studio One label. Freddie worked with producer Niney the Observer during the late 1970s and early 1980s. His popularity soared in the early 1980s with the release of "Bobby Babylon".
Hailing from the Isle of Wight on England's sunny south coast, The Ohmz was formed in early 2010 by a group of friends. Taking their cues from the likes of Toots & The Maytals, Groundation and Frank Zappa, the band are known for their energetic live performances.
The White Album is a Danish band from Copenhagen consisting of three very good friends with big beards and very big hearts.
Rooted in folk and indie rock, they make music that trascends structural boundaries of both practical and musical nature. Everybody is a frontman in this band as each distinct voice and composition finds its place in a soulful conglomerate of well-seasoned musical spirits.
Just as the original White Album, there
Jah Shaka is one of the most important roots reggae and dub artists. He's a composer, musician, singer, mixing engineer, producer, record label owner, and the operator of the heaviest roots/dub sound system in the world!
His name is an amalgamation of the rastafarian term for God and that of a zulu warrior. Jah Shaka has been operating his roots reggae soundsystem since the early 1970s. Shaka is perhaps best known for sticking to his rastafarian beliefs in the 1980s whilst other soundsystems followed the Jamaican trend towards playing "slack" dancehall music.
The Gladiators were a Jamaican reggae band formed in 1967 in Kingston by four friends from the same neighborhood: Albert Griffiths, Clinton Fearon, Errol Grandison, and David Webber. In 1968, Griffiths and Webber joined forces with Errol Grandison, to form the Gladiators. The band soon topped the Jamaican charts with "Hello Carol" in late 1968. However not long after their first chart success David Webber started to show signs of serious mental illness. The decline in Webber's mental health meant that he was eventually replaced in the band by Clinton Fearon.
Carmen Pacheco Rodríguez, born in Linares (Jaén) in 1951, is without doubt a fundamental pillar of all current flamenco singing, she masters a vast repertoire of flamenco styles due to her long experience. Her enormous versatility has allowed her to take part in zarzuelas (a Spanish form of musical drama), plays and several projects involving classical musicians and musicans from the world of jazz. Out of her works, the recording of an anthology of female flamenco singing is the one which stands out.
Brown Bird is an American acoustic band. Pulling from the influences of the blues, outlaw country, roots rock, early American folk, Gypsy and Eastern European music, Brown Bird offers harmonized voices, haunting lyrics and diverse rhythm and instrumentation, which surges in waves that often swell into high-spirited, foot-stomping madness. Brown Bird began in 2003, and has since toured extensively, including a European stint supporting RI-based band The Low Anthem. The band went through several line-up changes before settling on it's current form as a duo: