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8x GRAMMY® Award-winning singer/songwriter/producer, Stephen Marley just released his new album Old Soul on September 15, 2023 - his first full-length project since 2016. Featuring a stellar line-up of special guests including Bob Weir, Eric Clapton, Jack Johnson, Ziggy Marley, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, Buju Banton, and Slightly Stoopid, the 14-track acoustic-inspired album is now available on all digital platforms via Tuff Gong Collective/UMe/Ghetto Youths International.  Limited-edition double LP vinyl in translucent yellow and green, CD, 2LP standard black vinyl and merch bundles are available for pre-order at stephenmarleymusic.com.  

Old Soul comes as a complete revelation. While grounded from the road during the COVID lockdown, Stephen set up a new studio on a remote family farm in the Florida countryside, holding nightly jam sessions in a converted garage. With a stripped-down ensemble comprising binghi drums, bass, acoustic guitar, and flute, Stephen played whatever he felt like — ranging from original compositions and reggae rarities with deep personal meaning to classics recorded by Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, and The Beatles. “Irie vibration,” Stephen says of the sounds made together on the farm. The lion’s share of Old Soul was recorded during these “unplugged” jam sessions.

Even as the album showcases Ragga’s versatility, the message within his music remains consistent. “We come to free the people’s minds,” says Stephen. “Only way you can free your soul is to free your mind. My father say, ‘No chains on my feet, but I’m not free.’ And then he come say, ‘Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.’ Anywhere the music calls us, we are going to be there to spread the message of love and unity.” 

Old Soul explores a musical palette that spans a variety of cultures and genres alike, with hand-selected special guests furthering the spiritual journey that encompasses the album. 

In celebration of the new album, Stephen has embarked on an ambitious Old Soul Tour Unplugged 2023 through the fall.

Ao longo do tempo, a banda Ponto de Equilibrio construiu uma legião de fãs que levaram muita energia positiva para grandes palcos nacionais e internacionais. Identificado por muitos como a principal representante do reggae brasileiro, a banda traz na história músicas gravadas com Don Carlos, The Congos, Groundation e Alborosie, ícones do Reggae internacional. Entre os artistas nacionais, a banda coleciona participações com nomes de peso: Ivete Sangalo, Emicida, Marcelo D2, Gabriel Pensador, Rael, Rincon Sapiência, Maneva, Natiruts entre outros.

Damian Robert Nesta Marley, also known around the world as “Junior Gong” and more recently as “Gongzilla” was born in 1978 to parents Bob Marley and Cindy Breakspeare, Miss World 1976.  As a young adult, he developed a passion and a gift to speak for those who cannot always speak for themselves. A self-proclaimed ‘Spiritual Revolutionary’, Damian has worked assiduously to carve his own niche in music history and to add a new perspective to the Marley legacy for the 21st century. 

At the age of 13, Damian began performing in a group called “The Shepherds” which comprised of Shiah Coore (son of Third World guitarist Cat Coore) and currently a member of his band, and Yashema Beth McGreggor, daughter of reggae singers Freddie Mcgreggor and Judy Mowatt and then began touring with his brothers, Stephen, Ky-mani, Julian and Ziggy. 

By 1996, Damian had already made his stamp as a different kind of Marley when he released his first solo album “Mr. Marley”, a heavily dancehall-influenced album produced by his brother Stephen Marley.  His second album “Halfway Tree” was released in 2001 by a major record label and showcased Damian’s unique gift for blending dancehall, reggae and hip-hop styles.  This album won Damian much recognition and remained on the Billboard Top Reggae Album Charts for 158 weeks and earned him his first Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 2002. 
While honored by this recognition by the global music fraternity, Damian continued to work in the studio, laying the groundwork for the tracks that would become his highly anticipated album, “Welcome To Jamrock”. The lyrics in this album presented Marley as a true spiritual revolutionary, as he used his talent to evoke a spiritual change while trying to enforce a better way of thinking.  He is described as “rhyming with the conviction of a street preacher with the intellect of a university economist”.  

Damian’s hit single “Welcome to Jamrock” was listed as one of the Top 100 Songs of the Decade by Rolling Stone, and at the 2006 Grammy Awards, he won Best Reggae Album and Best Urban/Alternative Performance for Welcome to Jamrock. Damian is the only Jamaican reggae artist in history to win two Grammy Awards on the same night. He is also the only reggae artist to win in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category at the Grammy Awards. The New York Times called Welcome to Jamrock the “best reggae song of the decade.” 
Welcome to Jamrock led the pathway to Damian’s critically acclaimed collaboration with Nas for 2010’s much lauded album “Distant Relatives” – a project which explored the relationships between reggae, hip-hop and Africa. The album title refers not only to the bond between the artists, but the connection to their African ancestry, which inspired the album both musically and lyrically. USA Today referred to the album as a “potent and often provocative collaboration” and by Rolling Stone as “an Afrocentric winner.” The album debuted at Number 5 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart and Number 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Rap Albums and Reggae Albums charts, with Billboard heralding the album as “a dynamic hybrid.”    

The Distant Relatives Tour kicked off in 2011 and saw Damian traveling and performing for thousands of fans all over the world, including South America, Europe, The United Kingdom, The Caribbean and North America.  

Damian continued to cross musical boundaries in 2012, as he went on to partner with Skrillex for their groundbreaking track “Make It Bun Dem”, which Rolling Stone called “a monster mash up of dubstep and dancehall” and has led to several remixes of the original version.  Damian recently released two other singles; “Set Up Shop” and  “Affairs of the Heart” which both received widespread airplay. 

Damian continues to tour with his band all over the world as a way of entertaining and healing as he continues to spread the message for those whose voices cannot be heard. He is working with his brothers Stephen and Julian under their Ghetto Youths International Label, to discover, develop and sign gifted artistes by applying their musical talent and vast experience to create new and different styles of music.  

Damian is currently in the studio working on his upcoming solo album.

Criolo; MC, singer, songwriter, released his album “Nó na Orelha” (Knot in the Ear) in May 2011. Produced by Daniel Ganjaman, known for his work with artists such as Nação Zumbi and the late Sabotage, and Marcelo Cabral, a pre-eminent musician of the new generation in Brazil, all tracks were composed and written by Criolo.

“Nó na Orelha” was initially available in Brazil as a free download and only commercially released on CD and vinyl in June 2012, when it also gained its first international exposure via the London-based label, Sterns Music.

Since the release of the album it has received over a dozen awards, both inside and outside of Brazil and Criolo has performed at over 200 shows within Brazil alone. In 2012 he toured internationally and visited 11 countries where his concerts were attended by crowds of all ages. These included the Roskilde Festival in Denmark and the Summer Stage Festival in New York’s Central Park.

The success of “Nó na Orelha” has led Criolo to share the stage with Caetano Veloso, Seu Jorge and the fado singer Ana Moura. In London he collaborated with the Ethio-Jazz icon Mulatu Astatke. Homage has been paid by Chico Buarque, and Criolo was interviewed by Spike Lee for the documentary “Go, Brazil, Go”. During one of the performances of “Nó na Orelha” in Rio de Janeiro, Ney Matogrosso took the stage to duet on the song “Freguês da Meia-Noite”, written by Criolo and to be recorded by Ney for his next album.

In 2013, his whole show “Nó na Orelha – Live at Circo Voador” was filmed in Rio de Janeiro and released as a ‘pay-as-you-like’ download. The DVD and CD “Criolo and Emicida – Live”, directed by Andrucha Waddington, Paula Lavigne and Ricardo Della Rosa, was also released in 2013.

In October 2013, the single “Duas de Cinco” was released digitally and on 12 inch vinyl in Brazil. It contains two new tracks, again produced by Daniel Ganjaman and Marcelo Cabral. A video featuring the lyrics of the first track “Duas de Cinco” has been produced by the project’s art director, Ricardo Fernandes, and is available on YouTube.

It’s classic rap over a sampled beat, with dense verses that feature a bold critique of contemporary Brazil. The chorus, taken from the song “Califórnia Azul” by Rodrigo Campos, a Brazilian artist of the same generation as Criolo, was the starting point for both lyrics and beats.

With the addition of Thomas Rohrer on the rabeca, the traditional violin from the north of Brazil, the B-side of the single, “Coccix-ência”, was recorded live in the El Rocha Studio by the superb musicians that have been Criolo’s backing band for the past two years. These two new songs, together with material from his 2006 release “Ainda Há Tempo” are now part of the repertoire of Criolo’s live shows.

On stage, Criolo performs alongside the producers Daniel Ganjaman (keyboards and electronic programming), who is also the musical director of the show, and Marcelo Cabral (acoustic and electric bass). The musicians Guilherme Held (guitar), Maurício Badé (percussion), Sérgio Machado (drums) and ‘loyal servant’ DJ Dan Dan (vocals and turntables) complete the line-up. - See more at: http://criolo.net

two high school friends making music

Management:
Björn Deparade (bjoern@wasted-talent.com)

gabiglopes is following