Etana – the soft-spoken singer songwriter with the room-shaking voice – had a promising start with albums The Strong One and Free Expressions. However, she really came into her own with Shane Brown produced third effort Better Tomorrow, where she reoriented her soul-reggae fusion towards fierier roots. It was a side to her always evidenced by moments on her earlier records such as Jah Chariot or War. And with fourth album I Rise she takes it even further: reflecting the shift in Jamaican reggae away from pop and R&B to the harder sounds of decades gone by (a change Etana often supported in interviews – asking why the foundation didn’t get more radio play). Project manager here is the great Clive Hunt – producer of the Abyssinians, multi-instrumentalist and horn arranger extraordinaire. A melismatic opening intro of Mortimer Planno/Artie Glen’s Selassie is the Chapel might suggest an hour of gospel balladry – … Read entire article »