This Sunday April 28, Mel Cooke interviews Jah9 and Rory Stone Love about their new record, New Name. Listen to The Listening Party interview at 10am on Newstalk 93 FM (Jamaica) and 4pm on WXGR 101.5 FM (New England).

http://www.facebook.com/jah9online
http://www.facebook.com/NewsTalk93FM
http://www.facebook.com/wxgrfm

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See the photos from the interview below….

l-r. Rory, Jah9 and Mel Cooke in the NewsTalk 93 studio.

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l-r. Rory, Jah9, Mel Cooke

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Reanno Gordon, aka Busy Signal, submitted himself to the intense scrutiny of The Listening Party’s Joshua Chamberlain for an in depth conversation about the new album, Reggae Music Again (VP), his views on dancehall versus reggae, the role of Rasta beliefs in the culture today and more.

TLP 023 originally aired on The Listening Party May 20, 2012.

Find Busy Signal’s album ‘Reggae Music Again’ on

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EVERY SUNDAY
4pm EST WXGR 101.5 FM wxgrfm.org (USA)
10am EST NewsTalk 93.5 FM newstalk.com.jm (Jamaica)
8pm EST WAVS 1170 wavs1170.com
5am/7am/5pm/7pm EST BigUpRadio.com (Web)

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From Denham Town, West Kingston to Hollywood, California, Ken Boothe has stories for days. The Listening Party’s Joshua Chamberlain not only sat down with the venerable Jamaican singer but was also given a tour of Boothe’s personal gallery/museum of photos, awards and paintings that adorn the walls of his home in Kingston. On TLP 022 take the listening tour and get the insight as well as the history straight from Mr Boothe at his yard in Jamaica.

Find more music from Ken Boothe on

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EVERY SUNDAY
4pm EST WXGR 101.5 FM wxgrfm.org (USA)
10am EST NewsTalk 93.5 FM newstalk.com.jm (Jamaica)
8pm EST WAVS 1170 wavs1170.com
5am/7am/5pm/7pm EST BigUpRadio.com (Web)

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What happens on The Listening Party 021 stays on The Listening Party. Well, not exactly, but Clifford Smith, aka Mr Vegas, is in the spotlight on TLP 021. Vegas has a new album on the road called Sweet Jamiaca which he hopes will put his career on firmer footing than he says it has been despite international hits like Heads High, which peaked at #69 on the US R&B chart and earned him a MOBO award in the UK. Subsequent hits like I am Blessed, Take Weh Yuhself, Hot Wuk, and most recently, Bruk It Down, would suggest Vegas has a lot to be happy about. But he tested retirement in 2008 and in a recent radio interview just a few weeks ago called dancehall “a hustle” and “a daily job that I have to do”. Find out what he meant and why the new album reflects his new long term outlook all while we party to the reggae side of the double disc album, Sweet Jamaica.

Preview “Sweet Jamaica” on

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EVERY SUNDAY
4pm EST WXGR 101.5 FM wxgrfm.org (USA)
10am EST NewsTalk 93.5 FM newstalk.com.jm (Jamaica)
8pm EST WAVS 1170 wavs1170.com
5am/7am/5pm/7pm EST BigUpRadio.com (Web)

The Listening Party

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TLP 018 welcomes Richard Stephenson and Tilmann Otto. Best known as Richie Stephens and Gentleman, their performance last August at the Woodstock Music Festival in Poland set in motion a chain of events that have yet to end. Gentleman brought Richie to Poland for the festival and Richie returned the favor by inviting Gentleman to join him at Jamaica Jazz and Blues in late January of this year, a signature concert event throughout the region and the world. Following Jazz and Blues they spent a couple weeks recording more tunes, two music videos and responding to seemingly unending media requests. Richie Stephens and Gentleman have recorded many songs together, so why such intense interest now? Basically it comes down to numbers. Listen for yourself and get a preview of music yet to be released. And at the end of the show don’t miss the new Song of the Week from The 45 Shootout.

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4pm EST WXGR 101.5 FM wxgrfm.org (USA)
10am EST NewsTalk 93.5 FM newstalk.com.jm (Jamaica)
5am/7am/5pm/7pm EST BigUpRadio.com (Web)

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See the story on LargeUp > here <

Listen to TLP 016: Sizzla Kalonji In August Town

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Originally broadcast 04 Dec, 4pm EST WXGR 101.5 FM wxgrfm.org

Join Miguel Collins, aka Sizzla Kalonji, on The Listening Party for a one of a kind radio program as we catch up with Sizzla at Judgement Yard in August Town and chat about his album with John John as well as the recovery process following a traumatic motorbike accident just a short while ago. Party with Sizzla Kalonji on TLP at 4pm EST on WXGR 101.5 FM and wxgrfm.org.

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Purchase The Scriptures on

Scriptures Tracklist

01. World Cry
02. The World Is Watching feat. Peter Jackson
03. In Jamaica
04. Cleanse My Soul
05. Let It Be
06. Jah Is My Shield
07. Scriptures
08. What A Whoa
09. God Bless You Mama
10. Jump For Joy
11. I Love You
12. Happy Birthday
13. Music in My Soul

Sizzla‘s last two albums for Greensleeves, the Firehouse Crew backed Ghetto Youthology and the Homer Harris compilation Crucial Times have been fairly rootsy affairs. You might think, then, that leaving Greensleeves might send… read more here on Reggaeville.com

Vaughn Benjamin (L) and Andrew ‘Bassie’ Campbell (R)
From National Public Radio (NPR): click here

October 23, 2011: Most people associate roots reggae with Bob Marley, which makes sense: No other 20th-century artist so dominated an entire genre. The drawback of Marley’s ubiquity is that roots reggae can feel like a fossilized sound that peaked in the late 1970s and disappeared with Marley in 1981. The subsequent rise of Jamaican dancehall and digital production didn’t help its case for modernity, nor did its Rastafarian wariness of Western culture, a.k.a. Babylon.

But roots reggae’s pulse never died out. It slowed, there’s no doubt about that, but like the British in 1939, it kept calm and carried on. For the past 15 years, its most distinct torchbearer has been Vaughn Benjamin, leader of St. Croix’s Midnite. Benjamin is Rastafari through and through, and seems less concerned with pop hits than with spreading messages of peace and unity. On paper, that sincerity and devotion can feel quaint, but like all things zen, you need to meet it halfway to truly appreciate it. Once you do, Benjamin’s incantations are captivating. keep reading

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On Wednesday, October 19th (8:30pm PST), Mutabaruka, host of IRIEfm’s The Cutting Edge radio program will be speaking with Vaughn Benjamin, lead singer of the pioneering St Croix reggae band, Midnite. Mutabaruka will showcase the new Midnite album, Kings Bell, the first album Midnite has made with a Jamaican producer (Andrew ‘Bassie’ Campbell). Tune in on the radio or online (iriefm.net) to hear the music and the conversation.

KINGS BELL IS ONLINE AND IN STORES NOVEMBER 1

>> CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER ON ITUNES << $$$$ >> CLICK HERE TO PREVIEW <<

click on the image to preview