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As we enter Black History Month for 2023, we continue to examine the evolution of popular music in Jamaica. In the last edition of The Community Contact, we looked...

In the last issue of The Montreal Community Contact, I examined the origins of Jamaica’s first popular music, Mento… The Calypso Of Yard, so to speak. It gives us...

When legendary crooner Harry Belafonte went into the studio to record his landmark multi-platinum selling RCA album “Calypso” in 1956, his goal was to introduce North-American audiences to Jamaican...

In 1982, hip-hop pioneer d.j. Afrika Bambaataa and his crew Soul Sonic Force released a seminal record in hip-hop called “Planet Rock”. More of an experiment in electro-funk than...

“That is insanity to me,” says Montreal soul singer Hanorah when I mentioned to her that local music writers were singing her praises very highly when she opened for...

The remix is an all too important element of the music industry when it comes to the commercial success of a single. Black producers have been at the forefront...

“Oscar Peterson, he is a local pianist, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of him”, joked Montreal pianist by way of East Orange, New Jersey when asked what...

When I say “punk rock”, the first thing that comes to mind are white bands from the U.S, and The U.K. with spikey hair, wearing bondage and leather clothing....

If putting out a new single for the summer as well as performing at Canadian Music Week and putting together a new band wasn’t enough, Montreal singer songwriter and...

Those reading my recent columns in The Community Contact may have noticed my recent quest to claims various forms of popular music in the name of Black music innovators....