Smiley Culture's fans,friends demand justice

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

British police have maintained that deejay Smiley Culture died from a self-inflicted stab wound, despite calls by his family for a full investigation.

Police had gone to Culture's home in Surrey, south England, on March 15 when the fatal incident took place. Culture (given name David Emmanuel) was scheduled to appear in court six days later to face cocaine-related charges.

A post mortem report, released two days after the deejay's death, confirmed that he died from a self-inflicted wound to the heart.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission, who have been assigned to investigate Smiley Culture's death, told a public meeting in London last week that there was "more to this than meets the eye".

Merlin Emmanuel, who attended the meeting with more than 600 fans and friends, told Britain's The Standard newspaper:

"We came here today because we want to get to the bottom of what happened to David.

Born in London in February 1963 to a Jamaican father and Guyanese mother, Smiley Culture was one of several British reggae acts who emerged during the early and mid-1980s. His best known song in Jamaica was Cockney Translation which was released in 1984.

The song featured his trademark rapid-fire delivery and was a favourite locally, particularly on the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation.

Smiley Culture performed on Reggae Sunsplash at Jarrett Park in 1985.

Interestingly, his biggest hit was Police Officer, about a run-in with law enforcement.

It made the Top 20 of the British national chart in 1985. He was arrested for supplying cocaine in July last year.

Sean Paul heads to UCLA

Sean Paul and rapper Lupe Fiasco are the big names for the UCLA Jazz/Reggae Festival from May 29-30 at the college's campus.

Fiasco is best known for his 2006 debut album, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor, which contained the hit songs I Gotcha and Daydreamin'. The latter was done with Jill Scott.

It will be the first high-profile performance by Sean Paul this year. He had cancelled appearances on the Ragamuffin Festival in Australia in January.

The University of California at Los Angeles first staged what has become an annual event in 2006. Several big names in reggae and dancehall have performed there, including Barrington Levy, Cherine Anderson, Stephen Marley, Damian 'Junior Gong' Marley, Cherine Anderson, Mavado and Etana.

The show is promoted and produced by students.

Big names for Bajan reggae fest

Wyclef Jean is headliner for this year's Barbados Reggae Festival which takes place April 25-May 1 in that country. The hip-hop superstar is scheduled to perform at Reggae On The Hill, at picturesque Farley Hill, on closing day.

Gyptian, Queen Ifrica, Sizzla and Junior Kelly are some of the other big names expected to perform at Farley Hill, the Barbados Tourism Authority announced last week.

The show, which was first held in 2004, gets going with its traditional beach party which features big dancehall acts like Beenie Man and Lady Saw. Ken Boothe, Eric Donaldson, Boris Gardiner and Barrington Levy are the main acts for Vintage Night.

Homegrown acts including Kirk Brown will be featured on Barbados Reggae Night.