And as we told you earlier, one of the most notable consequences of
the swine flu is the cancellation of what was billed as the biggest reggae concerts
of the year. Morgan Heritage arrived in Belize today and the buzz was high until
the World Health Organization increased its stage of alert to stage 5 and by
Ministry of Health directive the show was cancelled. It’s a real downer
for reggae fans who were looking forward to seeing one of the finest reggae
bands on the planet. And as we do with any artist, we spoke
with Heritage today. We’ll have that interview for you now because even
though Thursday’s show is cancelled - the children of the great Denroy
Morgan are still among the most important, relevant and listened to voices in
reggae music. Here’s what they told us about their brand of music.
Group Member #1,
“We’ve wanted to come back to Belize long long time but unfortunately,
we’ve been touring so many other places, the opportunity never arose but
now we are here and we are proud to be here. Since we’ve been here today
it has been a very comfortable vibe. The weather is nice and we’re good.”
Group Member #2,
“Well when you rockers, that is the movement of Morgan Heritage music
and it is reggae music with a edge, it is not just laid back, high up in the
air on a spliff kind of reggae cause you have that vibe that was rockers but
was r-o-c-k-e-r-s. But when you a-z that’s when you get that punk rock
element, you get that hip-hop element, that R&B element, so it is like reggae
music with that edge which just rock you, just knock you down and uplift your
spirits. So when we say rockers, it is like an energized, it is you know, it
is like I say Jah musically.”
Group Member #3,
“The reality is we were born in Brooklyn so growing up in America,
going back and forth between Springfield Massachusetts and Brooklyn New York,
we were listening to top 40 radio so it wasn’t really a thing that I had
to push. It was more a collective decision that we enjoy this music so we want
to incorporate it within our songs and it just came natural for all of us because
we all enjoy hip-hop music.”
Group Member #3,
“God bless reggae music, God bless reggae music because in this day
and time we are still able to uplift and be inspiration to people like yourself
and all the media and all the people of Belize. And as a woman in this, I mean
I have to give God thanks because there are not a lot of women in reggae, there
are not a lot of women in the music industry for that fact. So to have a group
of men around me, it is sort of protection because they treat me like their
little sister some time but its all good. But it is a great feeling, great feeling.”
The show’s promoters were meeting late this evening and would
only tell us that this is a postponement. They will announce future plans tomorrow. |