Following the overwhelming success of the first inaugural reggae festival Raggamuffin, fans will be delighted to hear it’s happening all over again with Raggamuffin 2009 announced.
Ziggy Marley, Eddy Grant, Ali Campbell, Shaggy, Arrested Development and Inner Circle will join Kiwi bands Kora, Unity Pacific and Three Houses Down.
Raggamuffin played a sold out show to more than 30,000 ecstatic fans in February this year, emphatically proving that reggae is alive and well in Aotearoa! Next year’s event offers another musical feast of the world’s best reggae artists, with a healthy dose of funk, dub, hip hop and soul. It will be the first ever visit to New Zealand by both Eddy Grant and Stephen Marley.
Headlining Raggamuffin 2009 is reggae icon, Bob Marley’s eldest son ZIGGY MARLEY. Known from a young age with his siblings in the Melody Makers, Ziggy enjoyed two decades of successful touring, recording and acclaim, netting three Grammy Awards.
Most recently his solo career has garnered similar acclaim, with his second solo album Love Is My Religion winning the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album (his first solo win following three previous Grammy’s with the Melody Makers); while the concert DVD filmed during the Love Is My Religion world tour and released earlier this year has been acclaimed as one of the genre’s best.
Ziggy was also the voice of Bernie the Rasta jellyfish in the movie Shark Tale and is known for his extensive charity work. He founded U.R.G.E. (Unlimited Resources Giving Enlightenment), a non-profit organization that benefits a wide range of charitable children's causes in Jamaica, Ethiopia and other developing nations.
Ziggy’s set includes songs from the Melody Makers, his solo arsenal and a few of his father’s classics. Ziggy is currently serving as Executive Producer of a documentary film about his father’s life, produced by Jonathan Demme (who recently shot Neil Young’s Heart Of Gold) , which will be released on Feb 6 2010 on the 65th anniversary of Bob’s birth.
EDDY GRANT has been a hugely influential artist across four decades. His first #1 record was with Baby Come Back in the late 60s courtesy of the multi-racial group The Equals. As a solo artist songs like Electric Avenue and I Don’t Wanna Dance were worldwide number one pop
hits, but others like Jo’hanna, a thinly veiled attack on the apartheid regime in South Africa (Johannesburg) showed his music could also be politically charged.
Due to illness, Eddy left England for Barbados where he spent many years founding a new form of music called ‘soca’. It combines the influences of early pop and soul with the calypso music of the Caribbean and the African rhythms of his childhood. His album Hello Africa is recognized as the very first ‘soca’ album and his record label Ice Records and studio Blue Wave is recognized internationally as being at the forefront of recording and promoting calypso and soca music.
On 27 June 2008, Eddy starred at Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday concert in London, performing amongst other songs his anti-Apartheid anthem Jo’hanna, an experience he cites as the highlight of his career.
As lead singer with the world-renowned group UB40, Ali Campbell sold over 60 million records worldwide, has toured across the globe, notched up four number 1 world-wide singles, over 40 Top 40 UK singles, released 24 albums and received an Ivor Novello Award for International Achievement. A whole generation has grown up listening to Ali’s infectious vocals on classics like One in Ten, Red Red Wine, Don’t Break My Heart and Can’t Help Falling In Love. Running Free, released in October 2007, features guest artists including Smokey Robinson, Mick Hucknall and Sly & Robbie. The album went top ten in the UK, and attained gold status. In January this year, Ali announced his departure from UB40, after 28 years with the band, due to management and business disputes, which are part of an ongoing investigation.
Ali and the Dep band have toured solidly this year visiting countries from Russia to Africa to Europe. He is currently working on his next solo album Flying High due for release next year. Whether as part of UB40 or in his solo career, Ali has always stayed true to his love of reggae and its ongoing capacity for innovation, the music that first inspired him and continues to do so, to this day.
The ska classic Oh Carolina introduced the world to SHAGGY and hits like It Wasn’t Me and Angel from his juggernaut album Hotshot consolidated him as one of Jamaica’s finest musical exports – and that’s saying something!
He has since had 20 million album sales, 11 worldwide Top Ten singles (16 in NZ with 9 being Top Ten!), and a Grammy award.
Shaggy’s 2008 album Intoxication features Bonafida Girl with Rik Rok, What’s Love with Akon and has this dancehall master back at his best.
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT lit up audiences everywhere as part of the first Raggamuffin event, and we knew we just had to have them back! The eight-piece band's music shook the hearts, minds and souls of fans, with gorgeous grooves like Mr Wendal, Everyday People and Tennessee. Led by the indefatigable Speech, Arrested Development sees themselves as warriors of rhythm and storytellers of dignity.
Formed in Jamaica in the late 70s, INNER CIRCLE was one of the first reggae bands to be signed by Chris Blackwell’s famous Island Records which led to widespread international success. After the tragic loss of lead vocalist Jacob Miller in a car crash, the band withdrew from the scene. New success came a decade later with the gritty anthem to the FOX TV series and later the Will Smith movie Bad Boys hitting #1 all over the world, closely followed by the irresistible Sweat (A La La La La Long) which topped charts.
Inner Circle’s special brand of pop-oriented Jamaican beats and energy-filled live performances have allowed them to transcend the traditional reggae niche and enjoy widespread crossover appeal for nearly 30 years.
KORA hail from Wellington and Whakatane Aotearoa and are a five-piece band, four of which are the Kora brothers, Laughton, Francis, Stuart and Brad plus Dan McGruer. In 2006 they won a bNet Award for the release Flow and their EP Volume reached Platinum status in NZ and subsequently they were picked up by Shock Records in Australia and Shiva Records in the UK. Kora’s debut self-titled album released in NZ in 2007 and the UK in 2008 shot straight to the #1 on the official NZ charts, has reached Platinum sales and is still in the top 40 after 42 weeks! The band enjoys a busy touring schedule which includes shows in Australia and the UK.
One of New Zealand’s finest reggae bands, UNITY PACIFIC is lead by Tigilau Ness, father of Che Fu, long time musician, poet and committed Rastafarian. Their recent album Into the Dread and critically acclaimed 2003 album From Street to Sky, tells his story as a first-generation Pacific Islander in Aotearoa and recounts experiences drawn from his long and interesting life - before he became a Rastafarian, Ness was a member of the radical Polynesian Panthers and active in the anti-Springbok tour movement in ’81. His story is also recounted through a documentary commissioned by Maori TV and first shown at theatres in July 2008 as part of the NZ International Film Festival. Like the album, the film From Street to Sky further details how this humble man of Nuiean descent helped shape the relationship between Maori and peoples of the Pacific through his music and his physical actions..
12-piece from Otara Auckland, THREE HOUSES DOWN developed their Pacific flavored reggae sound with horn laden harmonies and plenty of groove. Their debut album Dreadtown was released in Hawaii and the US through Pacific Hawaiian Distribution; the label that took Katchafire to the world. They won this year’s People’s Choice Award at the 2008 NZ Pacific Music Awards and Raggamuffin is lucky to have them hot on the back of performances in Australia, Los Angeles and Utah.
