Bob Marley–   Following the move by the Marleys, to reduce the price of Bob Marley’s iconic Legend album, which resulted in boosted sales, reggae artists are now evaluating the record-breaking business decision, some wondering if a price reduction, could be a probable solution for the generally poor record sales that has plagued the music industry in recent years. The digital version of the album (Legend), normally sells for US$8, however, as a part of the album’s 30th anniversary celebration, the price was reduced to a mere 99 cents, which saw the album climbing to the number five spot on Billboard, selling more than 41,000 copies in one week, making it Bob Marley and the Wailers’ highest charting album onBillboard. Several Jamaican artists have released albums in recent times, without the level of success they would have liked, as it relates to sales. Even … Read entire article »

 By Terron Dewar–  The country has just been able to export US$1.2 million to US$1.6 million worth of mangoes annually over the past decade. JAMAICA will be able to export mangoes to the US come January. The conditional approval, which was granted by the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, opens up a US$500 million market to local farmers. But the country has just been able to export US$1.2 million to US$1.6 million worth of mangoes annually over the past decade, even though global demand (around US$1.9 billion last year) has more than tripled since 2003. What’s more, ministry officials figure that Jamaica has the capacity to export just about 261,000 kilogrammes of mangoes to the US each year, or less than 0.1 per cent of total demand in the North American country. And while … Read entire article »

By Simone Morgan—  Top: Dance Xpressionz in performance. Bottom: Orville Hall CHOREOGRAPHER Orville Hall may have pulled off his best move to date. Come January, he will be conducting a course in dancehall dance at his alma mater Excelsior Community College in St Andrew. “I am just trying to preserve dancehall and wanted to show others that there are sections of dancehall that can be taught in school. People can get accredited and certified,” he told the Sunday Observer. According to the founder of the 14-year-old dance group Dance Xpressionz, he got the nod after submitting a layout course to the HEART Trust NTVET, months ago. Hall explained that while the three-month course will comprise mainly contemporary dancehall moves, students will also be exposed to elements of ska, revival, and kumina. Hall said like other genres, dancehall … Read entire article »

 By Donna Hussey-Whyte– Georgia and her proud dad George Lindsay at their New Forest home in Manchester last Friday.– A Manchester father, desperate to raise $1 million to send his daughter to medical school in China, has put his family house up for sale, saying that he would do anything to prevent her from experiencing the hardships he endured growing up. “Is because it never sell at the time why you come here and see it now,” George Lindsay told the Jamaica Observer on Friday. “I put up the sign out at the front of the road and quite a few people came and look at it. But I never had the registered title. If I had the registered title, I would be a happy man, because it would have been sold and her … Read entire article »