Buju hopes for new day

Lawyer thinks Grammy nomination could be the start of redemption for reggae star

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Before The Dawn, the latest album by embattled singjay Buju Banton, is among the nominees in the Best Reggae Album category for next year's Grammy Awards. The nominations were announced on Wednesday by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS).

Buju, who is facing drug charges in the United States, was released on bail in November after almost a year of incarceration in a Florida jail. The artiste, whose given name is Mark Myrie, is scheduled to go on trial for a second time in that state in February.

The new trial was set after the initial case ended in a hung jury in late September.

"Buju is very excited about his Grammy nomination and we are all hopeful that this positive news is the start of a good 2011," the singer's lawyer, David Markus, told The Gleaner yesterday.

Before The Dawn was released by 37-year-old Myrie's Gargamel Music Inc just before the start of the trial. It is his fifth Grammy-nominated effort.

His previous nomination, for the 2009 release Rasta Got Soul, was strongly opposed by gay rights groups in the US. They claim Buju's music encourages violence against homosexuals.

Gregory Isaacs' Gregory Isaacs & King Isaacs; Revelation by Lee 'Scratch' Perry; Made in Jamaica by Bob Sinclair and Sly and Robbie; One Pop Reggae by Sly and Robbie and Legacy: An Acoustic Tribute to Peter Tosh by Andrew Tosh complete the 2011 Best Reggae Album category.

Past winners

Perry and Sly and Robbie are past winners of the category which was installed in 1984 by the NARAS. The 'Riddim Twins' won in 1999 for Friends while Perry walked away with the main prize in 2004.

Revelation was released in the summer and features guest appearances from big acts like guitarist Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.

It is the fourth nod for Isaacs who died in October at age 60. The 'Cool Ruler' was also in the running for the 2010 award which went to Stephen Marley's Mind Control Acoustic.

Legacy is the second nomination for Andrew Tosh, son of reggae great Peter Tosh. The album contains 11 acoustic interpretations of his father's songs.

True to form, the NARAS reggae Grammy selections are largely unknown.

Since reggae was granted Grammy status, many of the albums have been unfamiliar to Jamaicans.

Critics of the category claim that it has a distinct bias to family or associates of reggae legend Bob Marley. Three of his sons (Ziggy, Damian and Stephen) have won the category with solo albums while Ziggy and Stephen won three Grammys as members of Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers.

The 2011 Grammy Awards is scheduled for the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, in February.