Interviews

  Read and listen on Reggaeville to part 2 [click here to read part 1] of our interview and music lesson with Chinna at his yard where he takes us from the end of the 1970s through to today.   When … Continue reading →

The lead guitar is not considered to be one of the core instruments of reggae. It rests gently like a garnish on top of the foundation of the drum and the bass. Yet guitarist Earl Chinna Smith is among the core … Continue reading →

Anthony Senior is the founder of Al.Ta.Fa.An Records – main producer of Luciano’s latest album Qabalah Man. Reggaeville met up with Senior at Luciano’s house in Kingston to tell us his story. How did you get into producing? I started out by sitting … Continue reading →

Life has thrown its fair share of challenges at Jacob Williams aka Gappy Ranks. Music lifted him from a onetime homeless youth from Harlesden, London, to a local success story. Then he had to fight for international acceptance while shouldering … Continue reading →

“As a kid I used to love singing more than deejaying” The last few years have been unusually quiet for stentorian voiced Bobo Ashanti deejay Capleton. His most recent two albums, distributed by VP – early precursors of the trend for … Continue reading →

Harmony is key to the story of the Mighty Diamonds. The harmony between three friends: Donald “Tabby” Shaw, Fitzroy “Bunny” Simpson and Lloyd “Judge” Ferguson who formed a trio in 1969 and have continued with the same line-up to this day. The … Continue reading →

“I was the first man who knew U Roy and Tubbys” Winston “Niney” Holness was in many ways the early 1970s’ quintessential reggae “personality producer”. He may not be as well recognised by the more general music dipper as his … Continue reading →

This is an old piece published in Woofah magazine issue 4 in 2010 but written in 2008 to mark 25 years since the death of Michael Smith. On Friday 19th August 1983, the Jamaican Daily Gleaner carried a report on … Continue reading →

Lutan Fyah has just released his tenth studio album Life Of A King. Combining roots reggae with conscious hip hop, gospel, rave music and rock, we think it’s one of the best of his career. Reggaeville spoke to Lutan and … Continue reading →

Bristol’s Talisman reformed in 2011 and have just released third studio album I-Surrection – their first since 1990. Produced by Rootikal’s Dave Hill for Mike Darby’s Sugar Shack Records it harks back to the sounds of the 1970s when they … Continue reading →