Talent for this year’s event includes Freddie McGregor, Mykal Rose, Cocoa Tea, Don Carlos, Etana, Jah9, Hempress Sativa, Cham, The Late Ones and many more.
For 2019, the Austin Reggae Festival again helps the Central Texas Food Bank feed thousands and thousands of hungry families.
Your daily dose of international reggae news for Tuesday, March 26!
• Stonebwoy continues to pile up the awards
• Third World collaborates with Fiji on “Loving You is Easy”
• UB40’s Brian Travers is diagnosed with brain tumor
Mark your calendar for April 19-21, which are the dates for the 2019 Austin Reggae Festival.
The 2018 Austin Reggae Festival raised $129,543.14 to help feed hungry Central Texas families. Let’s do even better in April 2019!
The 2019 Austin Reggae Festival includes three days of outstanding music, a generous selection of international food options, plus an exciting array of arts & crafts vendors. Unfortunately, vendor spots for this year’s event are now completely sold out. If you are interested in applying for one of these arts & craft vendor spots for the April 2020 event, then please email pwccostigan at yahoo dot com.
Your daily dose of international reggae news for Monday, March 25!
• Burna Boy and Koffee collaboration coming soon?
• Stonebwoy wins 2019 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award
• T’Jean will not be silenced on his militant mission
Mark your calendar for April 19-21, which are the dates for the 2019 Austin Reggae Festival.
The 2018 Austin Reggae Festival raised $129,543.14 to help feed hungry Central Texas families. Let’s do even better in April 2019!
This week we return from our SXSW hiatus to catch up on a pile of new tracks that have dropped in the past week. Here are several that stood out to us right off the bat. You can listen to them all on our Austin Reggae Fest Playlist on Spotify.
Koffee – “Rapture”
Koffee is the biggest new star in the game and this week she released her long-awaited debut EP. Titled Rapture, it includes three previously-heard tunes–her breakthrough track “Ragamuffin” (which uses the classic Real Rock riddim) and recent singles “Throne” and “Toast”–as well as two new ones: “Blazin” (featuring Jane Macgizmo) and title track “Rapture.” The latter is being released simultaneously as the new single and it’s already burning up sound systems and radio playlists worldwide.
Timaya – “Pull Up” (featuring Burna Boy)
Nigerian-born Timaya is best known as the king of so-called “Afro-Soca” music and as founder of Dem Mama Soldiers. But he is no stranger to dancehall: You may recall his song “Bum Bum” with Sean Paul, which was a massive hit on sound systems a couple of years ago. The African stalwart returns this month with a new album, Chulo Vibes, and a terrific new single featuring one of our current favorites, Burna Boy.
Lisa Mercedez – “Talk To Mi Nice”
It’s been a slow climb for British-Jamaican MC Lisa Mercedez. Her earlier tracks leaned toward harder, carnival-style bangers, but over the last couple of years she’s softened her approach a little bit. A guest spot from Stylo G on 2018 single “What a Night” also helped raise her profile. “Talk To Mi Nice,” her first release of 2019, might be her most accessible track yet–and certainly one that we’ll be testing out on the ATX Sound System in the early part of the night.
Rygin King – “Monument”
Rising Montego Bay artist Rygin King went from “one to watch” to breakthrough star last year with his ubiquitous hit “Tuff” soundtracking every party and dance you walked into in 2018. His new single taps the ever-reliable Good Good Productions (you may recall we wrote about the Montego Bay duo–and their superb Carni-Afro-Jam riddim–last month) for another cracker, called “Monument.”
Cocoa Tea – “Things in Life”
One of the headliners of the 2019 Austin Reggae Fest, Cocoa Tea, sees a new anthology released this month, called Music Is Our Business. Featuring singles and unreleased tracks, it highlights the reggae icon’s work with producer Bobby Dixon (aka Bobby Digital) for the Digital B label between 1987-2003. Recognized as a period of particular quality for both artist and producer, the compilation also features some enjoyable covers, such as Bob Marley’s “Waiting in Vain” and a revelatory (and somehow previously-unreleased) version of Dennis Brown’s “Things In life.”
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Click here to hear all the dub sounds we have been listening to the last few days.
Your daily dose of international reggae news for Saturday, March 23!
• Jamaica Gleaner interviews promising singer-songwriter Yanah
• Mr Williamz releases his new single “Your Style”
• “Music is Our Business” is the new album from Cocoa Tea
Mark your calendar for April 19-21, which are the dates for the 2019 Austin Reggae Festival.
The 2018 Austin Reggae Festival raised $129,543.14 to help feed hungry Central Texas families. Let’s do even better in April 2019!
