HOLIDAY YEAR END EDITION 2008
Vol.6, No. 4
December 2008
KINGSTON, JA (JA OBSERVER- 4/11/08)- The mother of reggae
icon Bob Marley has died at her home in So. Miami, Florida. She
was 82 years old. The matriarch of the Marley family passed away
peacefully in her sleep. She left behind other children, one of whom
is Pearl Livingston, half-sister to Bunny Wailer(Livingston) and Bob
Marley, as well as numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Mother Booker or Mother B as she was affectionately called, was a
singer and songwriter in her own right as well as an author. She was
born Cedella Malcolm on July 23, 1926. She married Norval Marley,
a white Jamaican of English ancestry, when she was 18. Bob was
10 years old when his father died of a heart attack in 1955. Cedella
and Bob moved to Trench Town, a tenement community in Kingston
where Bob's music career began. She later remarried and moved to
Delaware in the U.S.
Mrs. Booker authored 2 books, "Bob Marley, My Son" and "Bob
Marley: An Intimate Portrait By His Mother". She recorded 4 albums
"Smilin' Island Of Song", "You Gotta Move", Awake Zion" and
"Mother Don't Cry".
ROSEAU, DOMINICA (BBC/CARIBBEAN- 9/21/08)- In May this
year, the chief of an ancient Caribbean people came up with a
drastic solution to protect their heritage- and their future. Chief
Charles Williams of the Carib- or Kalinago- people of Dominica said
they should not marry non-Kalinago people.
"The impact of colonisation has been so strong on us that if we do
not take steps to protect the race, it will soon be extinct.", he said.
Extinct is a word that the academics who study this people would
never use, but Chief Williams has little doubt that the Kalinago could
be in danger of disappearing altogether.
There are now about 3,000 tribal members left among Dominica's
total population of 70,000 and the chief's radical views have found
support amongst other leaders. Miranda Langlais, the Kalinago's
Cultural Queen, thinks that the Kalinago women hold the key and
are to some extent to blame for the tribe's woes. "You have to stick
to your people...to your traditions and that's the only way.", she
said.
However, in a globalised world, where even the most unspoilt of
Caribbean islands is feeling increasing influence from the outside,
the survival of the Kalinago has divided the tribe. Minister for Carib
Affairs Kelly Graneau describes himself as an internationalist and is
encouraging younger tribal members to leave the island to be edu-
cated.
He stated: "I never pick a fight with my chief in public. [However], if
we were to legislate and say a Carib man must marry a Carib wo-
man, it means that the race will eventually finish, because your
stocks will get thinner and thinner." Graneau is putting his faith in
those youth who will then return to the Carib territory, bringing with
them ideas and a real sense of hope for the future.
Getting the few tourists who do visit Dominica to make the Carib
territory their first port of call is essential and the key to that lays
with the tribe's next generation. There is a generation gap here and
while the elders suggestion that Kalinago's marry only each other
has not gone down well with many younger members, there are now
those who are going to university and returning to their heartland
full of ideas and enthusiasm.
The Kalinago tribe have lived through colonisation, disease and
slavery and it is a miracle that they have survived to this day. As for
the idea of legislating inter-marriage, that doesn't look likely. As
several Kalinago citizens said: "You can't tell someone who they
should or shouldn't love."
ST. THOMAS, US VIRGIN ISLANDS (VI DAILY NEWS-10/16/08)-
The Virgin Islands- and the rest of the Caribbean- dodged a bullet
named Omar. The eye of the Cat. 3 storm, projected to make a
direct hit on St. Croix, just brushed the eastern end of the island. As
the storm moved off to the northeast, its eye passed between the
British Virgin Islands and St. Maarten, without making landfall.
Maximum sustained winds on St. Thomas reached 33 mph with
gusts up to 49 mph. On St. Croix, sustained winds were 48 mph,
with gusts as high as 62 mph. Rains were not as heavy as expected
due to Omar's rapid movement eastward into the Atlantic Ocean.
KINGSTON, JA (BBC/CARIBBEAN- 12/5/08)- In January, staff from
Jamaica's Public Broadcasting Corp. made a shocking discovery.
One of the country's most important music collections, including
original recordings by Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, had been
ransacked. Thousands of vinyl records and CD's were gone.
Nearly one year later, not a single record has been recovered, but
officials are hoping an appeal to music fans will help replace the
collection built up over the years by the JBC.
Created in 1961, the JBC followed a model similar to the BBC: a
public service to inform, educate and entertain. The radio station
was there at the birth of Jamaica's music business when all kinds
of music burst forth on the island. Its music library had everything-
from mento to ska, rocksteady to reggae.
In 1997, the government sold off parts of the JBC. Under the deal,
the library of historic film and video footage, plus the reels of tapes
and records would be kept as part of the national archive. The
collection was stored at the old JBC headquarters in Half Way Tree.
There it lay for more than a decade.
When workers discovered the loss in January, it was estimated that
80% of the collection had been stolen. The true scale of the loss is
difficult to calculate as no accurate records were kept.
Hopes of rebuilding what was the most comprehensive music
collection in Jamaica may rest on artists and collectors helping to
create a new archive. Since the idea was put forward for fans to
donate records, there has been a good response.
ST. JOHN, USVI (VI DAILY NEWS- 12/13/08)-The St. John Coastal
Zone Management agreed to a beach enhancement plan for the
$100 million Pond Bay Club development. The committee revised
one of the conditions laid out in the major CZM permit that stated
"no beach nourishment activities" can take place.
The beach enhancement plan proposed by the developers would
create a protected swim area and dinghy channel, remove debris
and redistribute dredged sand back onto the beach. The most
controversial condition of the plan is to "implement a turtle lighting
plan and education programs".
CZM member Gerald Hills was critical of the plan, calling the
sudden concern for sea turtles "disingenous". Hills argued that
local species of sea turtles do not nest on the beach at Chocolate
Hole and the developers representation that the beach enhance-
ment is to protect turtles is misleading. He stated that cleaning up
the beach will not help endangered animals in any way and may in
fact damage the balanced ecosystem.
Although Hills voted against the revision, 2 members voted in favor
with one member absent. When a permit holder seeks modification
there is no public hearing. CZM can go straight to a decision meet-
ing. CZM received written statements from local residents and
groups opposing the modification, there was no public testimony.
CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND (BBC/CARIBBEAN- 12/8/08) -
Editor's note: The following was written by Sir Ronald Sanders- a
former Caribbean diplomat and is edited for space.
For several years at the International Whaling Commission(IWC),
the 6 countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
(OECS) and Suriname have supported Japan's yen for killing en-
dangered whales. But last June, the Prime Minister of Dominica,
Roosevelt Skerritt, boldly broke ranks and announced that Dominica
would abstain on a vote for 'the sustainable use of marine resources'
which really means killing whales.
It now seems that his principled position should have been adopted
by the other Caribbean countries. The Japanese are working out an
unsavoury deal with the outgoing Bush Administration of the US that
might not only give them what they want, but also shed them of any
need for Caribbean support.
I should make it clear that I am opposed to the killing of whales.
Equally, I am opposed to unilateral rules on taxation and financial
services made by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development(OECD) that are imposed on small jurisdictions such
as those in the Caribbean which, since 1998, have severely dam-
aged the offshore financial services of many Caribbean countries.
The larger Caribbean countries- Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad &
Tobago, etc.- are not members of the IWC. They look after their
marine interests in other organisations such as the Western Cen-
tral Atlantic Fishery Commission.
Suffering repeated failures to block the IWC from establishing whale
sanctuaries and to lift restrictions on whale hunting, Japan actively
recruited countries to join the IWC. Among those recruits are the 6
small Caribbean countries. Many international organisations have
accused the Japanese of 'buying' the votes of the countries.
A closed door meeting of 24 members of IWC's 81-member states
is being held in Cambridge. Three Caribbean countries- Antigua/
Barbuda, St. Kitts/Nevis and St. Lucia- are listed among the 24. The
meeting is being organised by IWC Chair and US Commissioner Dr.
William Hogarth, an appointee of the Bush administration. Hogarth
has indicated that he is working on a compromise package that
would satisfy the Japanese.
Sources have indicated that the package would legitimize Japan's
'scientific' whaling and give it a new right to kill whales in coastal
waters. Japan seems certain of the compromise because in mid-
November its whaling fleet set sail for Antarctica to hunt around 850
whales including 50 endangered Fin whales.
Other countries at the Cambridge meeting will work to stop the
'compromise package'. Caribbean countries may find themselves in
an adversarial position with the Japanese on an issue of far greater
importance to them than the pitiful benefits some of them get from
supporting whaling. As Co-chair of the OECD's Global Forum on
Taxation, Japan issued a letter on Nov. 26th with new criteria for
deciding whether so-called 'safe havens' should be penalised.
Caribbean countries, which were blacklisted in 1998, will be among
those under scrutiny.
KINGSTON, JA (JA OBSERVER- 12/12/08)- A landmark ruling
transferred the lyrical copyright of the song "Hooligans" from Bob
Marley and Studio One to Shirley Burke, who took on 2 of the
biggest names in Reggae and won. "It sets a precedent for a lot of
writers whose songs were simply taken from them", Burke said.
Burke can now claim royalties from 2002 continuing for 50 years
after her death.
Shirley Burke is an award-winning journalist and artist. Her son
Paul is a politician and member of the People's National Party. She
said, "Somewhere in the '60's there was a 'rude boy' phenomena
and I was then a member of the Jamaican Federation of Women.
They wanted me to do a television discussion on the subject. I told
them we really needed to get a voice that the masses would hear.
Why don't I write a song for Marley and the Wailers? I wrote the
lyrics, took them to Stephen Dodd. The song was recorded, I got 6
copies."
Memorable lines in the song include:
"Don't bray like a donkey if you really a man.
Hooligans, hooligans make up your minds.
Hooligans, Hooligans this is the time."
KINGSTON, JAMAICA (JA OBSERVER- 12/19/08)- Singer Tarrus
Riley's newest album, scheduled for release in March 2009, will
feature collaborations with Junior Gong, Demarco, Allison Hinds and
Etana. It's Riley's first album in 3 years and is being recorded at
Grafton Studios in Kingston.
The Riley team wants a Grammy with this one. "We hope that come
2009 we will definitely be there", said Producer/Manager Dean
Fraser. Riley's last album "Parables"(2006) was not an instant hit,
but snowballed with some of the biggest reggae tunes of 2007, in-
cluding "She's Royal". This year VP Records re-issued Tarrus' 1st
album "Challenges"(2004).
The album will have mostly original tracks and utilise local music-
ians. Frase said, "We have to keep the music rich and rolling and of
course, we have the support of the Jamaican musicians".
ST. JOHN, USVI (ARAWAKROOTS NEWS- 12/25/08)- Who would
have thought that our own 'King of the Condiments'- Trinidad Charlie-
would make a name for himself in Country&Western music. St.
John's part-time resident Kenny Chesney met Charlie in a east-end
bar during a break from his 2006 tour and was so inspired by that
meeting that he penned the song "Nowhere To Go, Nowhere To Be"
which became the inspiration for Chesney's latest release "Lucky
Old Sun". Described as his "boat album", the release went to #1 in
Oct. of this year.
Charlie himself had to have his memory jogged a bit to remember
their chance meeting. He stated: "I had no idea who Kenny
Chesney was. Alot of famous people come to St. John. I don't
always keep up. Do you think I should send him a T-shirt?"
Since the albums release, a number of interviews have been done
and many times the question has been asked, "Who is this Trinidad
Charlie and how did you meet?" Charlie says interest in his hot
pepper sauce and eco-cottage rentals has spiked a bit and just
prays he can keep his life in control.
The best online articles about the album are at:CMT's web-site,
www.caribbeantravelmag.com and www.stjohntradewinds.com .
