05.26.06 (AP) DESMOND DEKKER, who brought the sound of Jamaican Ska music to the world with songs such as 'Israelites,' has died, his manager said Friday. He was 64. Dekker, who lived in England, collapsed from an apparent heart attack at his home on Thursday, manager Delroy Williams said. "It is such a shock, I don't think I will ever get over this," Williams said. Dekker's 1969 song 'Israelites' -- a Top 10 single in both Britain and the United States -- was one of the first international hits produced by Jamaica's vibrant music scene. With its haunting vocals and irresistible rhythm, it introduced the world to Ska, a precursor to Reggae. "Desmond was the first legend, believe it or not," Williams said. "When he released 'Israelites,' nobody had heard of Bob Marley - he paved the way for all of them." Born Desmond Adolphus Dacres in in Kingston, Jamaica in 1941, Dekker -- who was orphaned as a teenager -- worked as a welder in Kingston before signing with Leslie Kong's Beverley's Records label and releasing his first single, 'Honour Your Father And Your Mother,' in 1963. It was followed by Jamaican hits including 'King Of Ska,' a rowdy and jubilant song on which Dekker was backed by The Cherrypies (also known as The Maytals). Some of his most popular songs celebrated the culture of violent street toughs, or "rude boys" - 'Rude Boy Train,' 'Rudie Got Soul' and '007 (Shanty Town),' which was was a Top 15 hit in the UK and was also featured on the soundtrack to the seminal Jamaican film "The Harder They Come." He also had a hit with 'You Can Get It If You Really Want,' written by his labelmate Jimmy Cliff. The songs made Dekker a hero to a new generation of British "mods," and he moved to that country in the 1970s - towards the end of which he signed with Stiff Records, a pioneering Punk label linked with the Two-Tone movement - a fusion of Punk and Ska. He recorded an album entitled "Black & Dekker," which featured his previous hits backed by The Rumour, Graham Parker's backing band. However, Dekker's career still suffered somewhat after the 1971 death of his mentor Kong, and in the early 80s -- as the Two Tone movement died out -- he saw his fortunes dwindle, and declared bankruptcy in 1984. However, Desmond Dekker retained a strong British following until his death and performed regularly. Dekker had been due to play across Europe over the Summer, including dates in Ireland, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Dekker, who was divorced, is survived by a son and a daughter. Funeral details were not immediately available.

05.19.06 (MusicPortal.com) From Tricky to Franz Ferdinand, from Cat Power to The Rakes, from Placebo to Michael Stipe, from Portishead to Marianne Faithfull and from Jarvis Cocker to The Kills, "Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited" (to be released in June) is the latest compilation from Verve Forecast featuring the aforementioned artists. In the past few years, a new name, albeit an unpronounceable one, has appeared on the lips of English-speaking musicians - SERGE GAINSBOURG. The singer/songwriter/Pygmalion actor/filmmaker/author/entertainer/agitator/gambler/ladies' man is an individual whose many facets reflect in each other to form one of the most dazzling prisms in twentieth-century French culture, and whose sparkle now spreads well beyond both France and the century. A few years ago both Madonna and the underground prophet John Zorn declared their admiration for Gainsbourg - separately, but with the same zeal. The English group Portishead lifted the heady atmosphere of Cargo culte from the Melody Nelson album for their stunning remix of Massive Attack's "Karmacoma." De La Soul sampled Gainsbourg, Beck borrowed wholesale ('Paper Tiger'), and countless artists cover his songs. In France and worldwide (from Air to Sonic Youth) artists by the dozens claim him as an influence, to the point that the first proper Gainsbourg biography in English, A fistful of Gitanes by the journalist Sylvie Simmons ended up establishing Gainsbourg on the international scene both as a musician and cultural icon. Yet for a long time, all the British knew about Serge Gainsbourg was his romp on vinyl with Jane Birkin on 'Je T'aime Moi Non Plus,' a single banned by the BBC, condemned by the Vatican, and yet which topped British charts in 1969. They also knew that he got Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Adjani and Vanessa Paradis -- four landmarks of the French feminine ideal seen from outside France -- to sing, and that he shocked Whitney Houston on live television. He is therefore widely remembered in Britain as a sex maniac with -- as his album title says -- a cabbage for a head. But those used to pacing the avenues and alleys of his expansive repertoire know very well that Gainsbourg cannot be summed up in a bit of famous heaving and panting. In fact, Gainsbourg cannot be summed up at all - he is enlarged and appreciated from various angles with the helpless realization that none of... [full story]
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05.01.06 (MusicPortal.com) THE DUHKS proudly accepted a 2006 Juno Award for their self-titled album in the "Roots & Traditional Album Of The Year - Group" category at a recent ceremony in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The band will put the finishing touches on the follow-up to their breakthrough, self-titled album in Nashville after their appearance at Merlefest 2006. The group recorded the album with acoustic icon Tim O'Brien and engineer/co-producer Gary Paczosa, which is slated for release sometime in the Fall. The five practiced, risk-taking twenty-something musicians and singers who make up this singular new band out of Winnipeg, Manitoba will, if asked, good-naturedly toss out some of the attempts at labels astonished listeners have turned to... In the two years that they've been a unit, many have tried to describe The Duhks' music - "contemporary acoustic," "progressive soul-grass," and "kick-ass rock/folk fusion" being just a few of the attempts to classify the group. There are elements appropriated from Irish fiddle tunes, Canadian French and Scottish/Maritime Folk, and Appalachian Old Time string band in their high-energy music--but from the first sight of The Duhks (pronounced "The Ducks"), you know that no stab in the classifying dark can quite capture the synthesis and musical attack of this crew. That phrase "contemporary acoustic" doesn't readily suggest -- until the moment you see The Duhks enter and go at it live -- a drummer (Scott Senior) pounding dance rhythms, even graceful salsa polyrhythms, on a handmade cajon drum right out of Havana, or a striking, soulful singer up front (Jessee Havey) awash in tattoos, cooing, crying and shouting like a Punk-era Gladys Knight or India.Arie. That their Salsa and Soul regularly intertwine with turns on banjo (Leonard Podolak), fiddle (Tania Elizabeth) and guitar (Jordan McConnell) out of traditional instrumental Folk music only underscores that this band is essentially something else again, with sounds of their own making, working a potent new North American vein of World Music. Festival fans have been found dancing and banging on the front of the stage during their sets, in spontaneous full-on, working mosh pits. For all of the delicacy that The Duhks bring to their quieter... [full story]
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[Ethnic News: April 2006]
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