BY TEINO EVANS, Staff Reporter
Veteran perfomer Burning Spear, with a microphone in hand unleashes one of his hits on the crowd at Rebel Salute 2006. Spear won the 1999 Reggae Grammy for 'Calling Rastafari'. - FILE
JAMAICAN ARTISTES WILL be among the featured acts at the 35th annual iFest (the Houston International Festival) this year, as they seek to focus on a country (Jamaica) whose music was built for a good time.
A release on the event's website www.ifest.org stated that legendary reggae acts Burning Spear and the Skatalites will be joined by Stephen Marley and Morgan Heritage at the 35th annual iFest set for the weekends of April 22-23 and April 29-30 in downtown Houston.
They headline a multicultural lineup that includes blues acts the Robert Cray Band and singer Bobby Bland and Texas alt-country icons Billy Joe Shaver and the Joe Ely Band.
The event, which has been in existence since 1971, will feature other acts like Tinariwen from the Tuareg-Sahara, the Gange Brass Band from Benin in West Africa and Canadian Celtic band La Bottine Souriante.
For Winston Rodney, more popularly known as Burning Spear, this is indeed another positive step for music coming out of Jamaica.
"It's a good thing and it's actually the second time that I'll be there. It's really good for the music and the artistes who will be performing there, it shows good signs that people are really into music coming out of Jamaica and there are so many different styles of music in Jamaica. But on the international level, people are more into the roots, culture music coming out of Jamaica," Burning Spear said.
Spear also added that, "it's the roots music bring our music to an international level, so that is why you find this preference," noting that he has been in the business since 1969 and could bear first-hand witness to this.
Ken Stewart of the Skatalites also shared similar sentiments. He says it only goes to show how popular Jamaican music has become.
"Jamaican music in all it's variations becomes more popular worldwide every day. Every country we visit there are musicians trying to copy what is coming, or has come out of Jamaica. We are happy to have played an important role in the evolution of Jamaican music and continue to travel to new places every year to spread the word, one love," he said.
This year's iFest will also host a Louisiana stage with performers such as the New Birth Brass Band, Lavelle White, Chris Ardoin and Double Clutchin', Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers and Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk. On the second weekend that stage will host Buckwheat Zydeco, Nathan Williams and the Zydeco Cha Chas, and Carol Fran with Marcia Ball.
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