On August 29, 2013, at around 1841 hours,
Gramps Morgan wrote on his official facebook wall that it’s official: “We are
coming to Africa, the dates have been cut out any ‘Experienced Promoter’ can
link us or if you know ‘the best promoter’ in your country have them contact us
Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe.”
I have no problems with other countries
because such musicians of repute visit and perform in those countries times
without number. But I have a problem with how the local entertainment industry
is going to handle this offer.
It’s a challenge that will speak volumes of
how organised or mediocre our entertainment industry is. For someone who has
been writing about music since 1993, I find it sad that if Gramps Morgan were
to contact me to find him the best promoter in the country, surely I would not
point at anyone.
I know another musical star, the Jazz connoisseur
Earl Klugh, will be visiting Malawi soon, but it will be courtesy of the
Standard Bank’s ‘Joy of Jazz’ project.
Well, I might assume too much that each and
everyone here knows who Gramps Morgan - or The Morgan Heritage - is.
Denroy
Morgan is the patriarchal genesis of the Morgan Heritage. He fathered 17 sons
and 12 daughters. Denroy is famed as a Jamaican reggae artist who was born in May Pen in Clarendon,
but left Jamaica in 1965 at
the age of 19 and travelled to the United States
He
was part of the formation the Black Eagles, a New York City reggae band, in the
1970s before launching a prosperous solo career in the 1980s onwards.
With
his Black Eagles, Denroy won the New York Reggae Music Festival in 1977 which
set of his rise to fame which continued into the early 1980s. His most
successful release "I'll Do Anything for You" in 1981 reinforced his
fame as it peaked at Number 9 on the American soul chart. It
also peaked at Number 7 on the dance charts and these successes helped to
launch his solo reggae career.
His
29 children were all musical growing up and have since formed two separate
bands; The Morgan Heritage and LMS.
Morgan
Heritage is reggae band initially started as an octet featuring eight of
Morgan's 29 children. Morgan Heritage began recording with their father in the
early '90s.
Their
father produced their debut single, ‘Wonderful World’, in 1991 followed shortly
after by an album, ‘Growing Up’. Morgan Heritage’s first break came the
following year when they performed at the Reggae Sunsplash.
Morgan
Heritage is known globally as the “Royal Family of Reggae” and the “Rolling
Stones of Reggae” owing to their electric stage antics.
Now
the reggae band is made up of Peetah Morgan, Una Morgan, Roy
Now
After recording several successful albums that included
‘Full Cycle’ and ‘Three in One’ among others, Morgan Heritage took a five-year
break but this year they have they have released their latest studio album ‘Here
Come The Kings’.
Now if you look at the resume of Morgan
Heritage - or better still Gramps Morgan - you will realise that they are not a
small music unit.
And their expressed interest to perform in Malawi
Now I am not aware of how this is going to
work out. If you must know, apart from Standard Bank, the other firms that have
brought artists to the country include the telecommunication company Access
which brought South African’s Freshly Grounds to Music Lake of Stars festival
in Mangochi.
There was also Total Malawi that used to
bring Western African stars like Salif Keita, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Angelique Kidjo,
Ismael Lo among others with their collaboration with the defunct French
Cultural Centre.
Now considering that these are not promoters
but were only doing so with an interest to promote their business profiles, I
am still left with the question: if Morgan Heritage wants an ‘experienced promoter’
or Malawi’s ‘best promoter’ to link them with their tour if they have to
perform in the country, are we really going to get the better end of the stick
in this deal?
Feedback:drummingpen@columnist.com
No comments:
Post a Comment