For 40 years, Michael Rose has toured the globe, spreading the message of reggae and Rastafari. But the next time the legendary vocalist hits the road, he will be singing to a different beat.
Ska Ska Ska is the veteran artist’s latest album which was released on August 30 by InnerCat Records, an independent company based in Miami. InnerCat has strong ties to the Latin market.
The album is homage to the horn-hooked beat that originated in Jamaica during the early 1960’s. Ska Ska Ska is a departure from the music Rose made with Black Uhuru and in his solo career which he re-launched after leaving that Grammy-winning group in 1985.
He is excited about going out and promoting the 11-song set.
“Wi waan go out an’ tour an’ support the album, jus’ like the old days. Jus’ like when Bob (Marley) and Peter Tosh have a new album an’ go out an’ push it,” Rose said.
InnerCat has big plans for Ska Ska Ska. The company is scheduled to produce a video for Everybody Gwan Ska, the album’s lead single, which will be filmed in the Little Haiti community of Miami.
Rose started work on Ska Ska Ska last year with Dario Amarado, a musician from Venezuela he befriended several years ago while performing there. Primarily a guitarist, Amarado played all instruments on the project.
The 62 year-old Rose developed his distinctive yodeling style while growing up in Waterhouse, a tough working-class neighborhood in Kingston, Jamaica’s capital. His career began in the mid-1970s at the height of the roots-reggae revolution, but it was not until he joined Black Uhuru that it took off.
Along with founder Duckie Simpson and American singer/dancer Puma Jones, he helped establish the group in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s with songs like General Penitentiary, Plastic Smile, Sponji Reggae and Sinsemilla.
He left Black Uhuru in 1985, the year they won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Recording for Anthem. It was the first time reggae was represented at music’s biggest spectacle.
Ska Ska Ska has been named in the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences provisional list for Best Reggae Album at the 2020 Grammy Awards.
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