Quickies - Talking Trees Fiesta warms the heart

Last Saturday was typically hot, but, happily, there was a pleasantly strong breeze which made the setting just right for the fair-sized audience which turned out for the first staging of the Talking Trees Literary Fiesta at Two Seasons Guest House, Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth.

One of the major events for the inaugural staging of the Tourism Enhancement Fund-sponsored three-day Bread Basket Festival, the event proved a pleasant experience for the tourists, residents and literary aficionados from Kingston, who turned out to hear and enjoy the works of some of Jamaica's best poets and writers.

Garfield Ellis set the tone, as he had the audience in stitches with excerpts from his book Till I'm Laid To Rest, which tells of the travails of a Jamaican household helper in the USA whose chores included brushing the teeth of the employer's dog. He was followed by publisher Ian Randle, Independent VoYces founder Judith Falloon-Reid and on-line publisher Tyrone Reid, who were panelists in an interesting discussion chaired by musician/author Joy Simons-Brown on the pros and cons of the various aspects of the publishing business.

Former head of the University Hospital's Paternity Testing Unit Sonia King scored big with excerpts from her titillating little book Jacket or Full Suit? Paternity Testing from a Jamaican Perspective, and short-story writer Veronica Blake-Carnegie presented Rain A Come, a chapter from her short story The Tie Came Back, while Jean Small did an extract from the biography of the late theatre icon Noel Vaz, which she is writing.

Actor/playwright Kieran King and three cast members read two acts from his upcoming musical Last Call, which opens in July at the UWI's Philip Sherlock Centre. Then came the 'Our Talk' segment, featuring Malachi Smith, Tomlin Ellis, Dr Nova Gordon-Bell and Pamela Marshall.

Washington-based Marshall introduced her newly-published book Barrel Child, the story of Jamaican children with overseas-based parents, while Gordon-Bell showed great promise with her offerings, including Son of Sand and the hilarious but soul-searching Chosen Few, a recital of the popular "us and them" Jamaican finger-pointing verandah talk, which earned her a standing ovation.

Loud applause

Ellis, a founding member of the Poetry Society of Jamaica who has returned to the literary circuit, had several offerings including the anti-drug piece Drop It, Dad Where Are You?, One Voice (a tribute to Bob Marley) and Word, Sound Have Power.

Flying in from Miami for his first local appearance in many years, Malachi Smith captured the audience and drew loud applause with his several offerings, including tributes to Rex Nettleford (Kumina King), Alton Ellis (Let Them Try), Bob Marley and Peter Tosh (Bob and Peter) and the poignant How Yuh Mek Har So Massa Gad.

Author and spoken word recording artiste Joan Andrea Hutchinson, a last-minute replacement for Nigerian writer Igoni Barrett, closed out an excellent programme in her inimitable style with tales of everyday life in Jamaica, as well as a dissertation on Jamaican proverbs.

Ziggi Recado to release third album

Dutch reggae artist Ziggi Recado's second Greensleeves/VP Records album is scheduled for release on June 7. The self-titled studio effort showcases 14 new songs, penned and mostly produced by the Holland-based artist.

Recado hails from St Eustatius, an island near St Maarten in the West Indies, and grew up in Holland. Now heralded as the Netherlands' top reggae act, he has recorded and toured with numerous Jamaican and European artistes, amassing a solid fan base over the  years.
Already an accomplished artist, Recado was the winner of the 2009
Zilveren Harp (Silver Harp) Award in The Netherlands, that country's
version of the Grammy.

He
sees growth as a musician with this third album, as he experiments with
sounds, sentiments and singers to create the collection, which includes
productions from Curtis Lynch, Rock 'N Vibes and Special Delivery and
features Etana, Maikal X, Tippa Irie, and Mr Probz, to name a few. He
also produced the majority of songs on this album, along with his
Renaissance Band.

The album presents a combination of traditional sounding reggae tracks such as Mary and Jah Alone, along with progressive sounding tunes like My Everything, Away From Home, Still Wandering and Pretender, which channel his more eclectic sound. On All My Life,
Recado teams up with reggae songbird Etana for a romantic ballad that
is sure to satisfy his female audience. His rock-flavored lead single Get Out
and its video are both currently bubbling on the charts in Europe and
spreading through the international network of reggae fans.

Barbee sweeps
through Jamaica

Singer
Barbee is currently in Jamaica on a promotional blitz that has seen her
getting connected with media and fans as she unveils her latest
offering, the completed video for Come See About Me, featuring US
rapper, Trina. Perhaps the one thing that is most striking about Barbee
is the fact that she has matured so much as an artiste and is totally
focused on her career and being a good role model. She is steadily
meeting her goals and the Come See About Me video is testament to this.

Shot
on location in Los Angeles, USA, the video is clean, full of energy and
overflowing with a glitzy wardrobe, beautiful bodies and a bit of
passion. "The video shoot was a lot of fun," Barbee recalled. "Trina was
just fabulous, the dancers strutted their stuff and the leading man was
a dream to work with. The video director is amazing and all the
elements combined to produce a quality video that we can all be proud
of."

Iba Mahr aims high

Young,
talented, conscious-minded singjay Iba Mahr is the newest
sensation to look out for on the music scene. Born Mario Greaves, he was
long recognised by friends as an Afrocentric person and given the
nickname 'Iba Mahr'. Raised in the community of Cheesefield by his
grandparents, Iba has their influence to credit for his love for older
music, having spent many days jamming to the songs that were his
grandparents' favourites.

It
was while at the University of Technology (UTech) that Iba's musical
side began to show. As he said, "I was always writing songs while in
high school, but it was while at UTech that my fellow students
encouraged me to perform some of my own stuff." It was from there that
he decided to link with Philip 'Fatis' Burrell of Xterminator
Productions.

In 2008, he released his first song, Had It And Lost It with Max Romeo on his Charmax Music label and then Where You Are for Burrell.

Since
then, he has been working with top-notch producers such as UIM Records,
Marlon McCubbin, Bizzarri Records, Jermaine 'Lenky' Edwards of Bornfree
Entertainment and more recently Roland 'Rollie' McDermot of Rollin's
Records.