(no subject)
Downtown music tour launch tomorrow
Monday, February 19, 2007
The official launch of the Downtown Kingston Reggae Music Heritage Tour will take place on Tuesday, February 20 at 4:00 pm at the Kaieteure Restaurant at the Jamaica Conference Centre, 14 Port Royal Street.
The Heritage Tour of Downtown Kingston encompasses recording studios, stores and dancehalls along Orange Street, King Street, north Parade and North Street that gave birth to Jamaica's music industry and had its heyday in the 1960s and '70s. Visitors will see such sites as Forrester's Hall, Liberty Hall, and Jubilee Tile Garden where the sound systems like Duke Reid the Trojan, Sir Coxsone's Downbeat, Prince Buster the Voice of the People, and King Edward the Giant reigned.
Technique's Record Store, which sells vintage records, Big Yard where Dennis Brown was born and nurtured, Randy's Records and Studio, Joe Gibbs Records and Studio, Nanny's Corner at Beeston Street and Love Lane where Studio One Records was born, 129 King Street where Times Records founded by Ken Khouri operated one of the first recording studios in Jamaica, and the site at Chancery Lane and Beeston Street where Bob Marley and the Wailers operated Tuff Gong are some of the other highlights of the tour. Visitors will also have the opportunity to record demos at Leggo's Recording Studio, purchase vintage record at Rocker's International Records, shop at the Kingston Craft Market and lunch at the Kaieteure Restaurant.
The four-hour tour will be offered on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and leave from the Courtleigh Hotel and Suites on Knutsford Boulevard at 10:30 am. Reggae Vacations are the tour operators.
The tour is one of the events that comprise the Celebration of 50 Years of the Jamaican Recorded Music Industry: A Celebration of Kingston as the Cultural Centre of Jamaica organised by Sounds & Pressure, which began last year and will culminate later this year with a gala affair honouring those who have contributed to this great Jamaican industry. The Jamaican recorded music industry which created Jamaica's world-renowned reggae music was established in 1956 into 1957.
And among the earliest recording artistes were Bunny and Skully, Laurel Aitkens, Owen Grey, Bunny and Skitter, and the Jiving Juniors. Among the pioneers of the industry were Stanley Motta, Ken Khouri, "Dada" Tewari, Vere Johns, Leroy Riley, Roy White, and Jack Taylor. An abbreviated version of the tour will be offered at the launch on Tuesday.
"The objectives are to add a stimulus to Kingston as a tourist destination by bringing attention to downtown Kingston from which our internationally popular reggae music industry evolved, to encourage the restoration of properties in the area, to use the strengths of the community to provide more opportunities for its constituents, and to honour the singers, musicians, composers, producers, engineers and promoters who have created and sustained this very important industry," stated Julian "Jingles" Reynolds, chairman of Sounds & Pressure Committee.
Sounds & Pressure, with responsibility for the entertainment cultural component, is partnering with the Kingston City Centre Improvement Company that has the ultimate responsibility for the revitalisation of downtown Kingston.
Monday, February 19, 2007
The official launch of the Downtown Kingston Reggae Music Heritage Tour will take place on Tuesday, February 20 at 4:00 pm at the Kaieteure Restaurant at the Jamaica Conference Centre, 14 Port Royal Street.
The Heritage Tour of Downtown Kingston encompasses recording studios, stores and dancehalls along Orange Street, King Street, north Parade and North Street that gave birth to Jamaica's music industry and had its heyday in the 1960s and '70s. Visitors will see such sites as Forrester's Hall, Liberty Hall, and Jubilee Tile Garden where the sound systems like Duke Reid the Trojan, Sir Coxsone's Downbeat, Prince Buster the Voice of the People, and King Edward the Giant reigned.
Technique's Record Store, which sells vintage records, Big Yard where Dennis Brown was born and nurtured, Randy's Records and Studio, Joe Gibbs Records and Studio, Nanny's Corner at Beeston Street and Love Lane where Studio One Records was born, 129 King Street where Times Records founded by Ken Khouri operated one of the first recording studios in Jamaica, and the site at Chancery Lane and Beeston Street where Bob Marley and the Wailers operated Tuff Gong are some of the other highlights of the tour. Visitors will also have the opportunity to record demos at Leggo's Recording Studio, purchase vintage record at Rocker's International Records, shop at the Kingston Craft Market and lunch at the Kaieteure Restaurant.
The four-hour tour will be offered on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and leave from the Courtleigh Hotel and Suites on Knutsford Boulevard at 10:30 am. Reggae Vacations are the tour operators.
The tour is one of the events that comprise the Celebration of 50 Years of the Jamaican Recorded Music Industry: A Celebration of Kingston as the Cultural Centre of Jamaica organised by Sounds & Pressure, which began last year and will culminate later this year with a gala affair honouring those who have contributed to this great Jamaican industry. The Jamaican recorded music industry which created Jamaica's world-renowned reggae music was established in 1956 into 1957.
And among the earliest recording artistes were Bunny and Skully, Laurel Aitkens, Owen Grey, Bunny and Skitter, and the Jiving Juniors. Among the pioneers of the industry were Stanley Motta, Ken Khouri, "Dada" Tewari, Vere Johns, Leroy Riley, Roy White, and Jack Taylor. An abbreviated version of the tour will be offered at the launch on Tuesday.
"The objectives are to add a stimulus to Kingston as a tourist destination by bringing attention to downtown Kingston from which our internationally popular reggae music industry evolved, to encourage the restoration of properties in the area, to use the strengths of the community to provide more opportunities for its constituents, and to honour the singers, musicians, composers, producers, engineers and promoters who have created and sustained this very important industry," stated Julian "Jingles" Reynolds, chairman of Sounds & Pressure Committee.
Sounds & Pressure, with responsibility for the entertainment cultural component, is partnering with the Kingston City Centre Improvement Company that has the ultimate responsibility for the revitalisation of downtown Kingston.