Reggae music!
Created in the God blessed "land of wood and water", Jamaica!
It has grown exponentially over the years to become an internationally celebrated event having now, its own day.
Creating CRW many moons ago, I was a disgruntled manager / fan not able to get the vibes of reggae music as consistently as I would have liked, as well as an attempt to bring the genre to the forefront where the artists had a place to expose / export their music to an appreciative buying audience, so I hosted events and did my best to promote this positive energy of reggae and Ras Tafari that I appreciloved. Back then I was basically the only reggae website in town.
A few years later TR busted onto the scene with their own style yet promoting the same positive energy. In a short time they have grown the listening and viewing reggae audience to the point where they are getting upwards of one million views monthly!
Jason and I speak often of the challenges and rewards of this genre and collaborate to promote artists, events, festivals and all things reggae.
We celebrate our first International / Canada / Reggae Day together by compiling this top 20 list.
TR & CRW collaborating our experiences in the Canadian reggae scene and or choices are based solely on the recognition of reggae contributions that we bring to Canadian reggae culture as we see it. This will be our first annual input to International Reggae Day going forward.
Happy International Reggae Day / Canada Day to all fans here at home as well as worldwide!
1. Special recognition to Chronixx who is a respected international reggae ambassador, living and performing in the vein of reggae freedom fighters like Marley, Tosh and Spear.
2. Exco Levi from Toronto, a four time, consecutive Juno Award winner!
3. Donna Makeda / ReggaeXclusive magazine as a champion of Canadian Reggae.
4. Politician Councillor Josh Colle for naming Reggae Lane and inspiring a global interest in reggae Canada.
5. Reggae Lane ~ Gets nominated because it is the first of its kind worldwide.
6. Recognition to Messenjah Band as well as Fujahtive for making successful comebacks and sounding as good if not better than their earlier selves.
7. Raspects to Tasman Jude for taking the Canadian reggae brand worldwide.
8. Carrie Mullings for creating and maintaining the Canadian Reggae Charts weekly, inspiring reggae artists to a place to showcase their talent with music.
9. Harbourfront and Roy Thompson Hall for their consistent contributions to reggae music internationally as well as locally.
10. The Chronicles Dub Trio playing live dub music.
11. Mike Tanner, city office getting involved with the Canadian reggae movement.
12. African Star top selecta of any style of reggae music and a talisman to other successes in the genre.
13. Reggaemania.com / Ron Nelson for supporting and promoting dancehall in Toronto for decades.
14. Toronto Deejays / Tygon Cowan for a visual look behind the dancehall scene.
15. Ras Digital videography, film and documentation of reggae performances.
16. Big raspect to the Redemption crew for all that they do.
17. Raspect to Jones and Jones, Phil Vassell (Irie Festival), Jamaica Day, Rastafest, Calgary Reggae Fest, Montreal Reggae Fest, Edmonton Reggae Fest, Victoria Reggae Fest, Guelph Reggae, Nanaimo Reggae crew, Xixgon Crew, African Star and now Saskatoon for successfully promoting international reggae music festivals annually.
18. Big raspect to Thymeless Reggae Bar for prompting reggae pretty much every day of the week.
19. Special mention to Sankofa on Eglinton west.
20. Cadillac Lounge, Lee’s Palace, Belleeny’s, Tranzac get the nod for venues supporting live reggae music.