Stories by Mel Cooke

As Tribute to the Greats is an awards show honouring Jamaica's often-unheralded music pioneers, it is expected that there will be a summary of their achievements leading up to the event and an in-depth...

It is normal - and even expected - for singers, deejays and poets to include their places of origin in their lyrics, as those early and enduring memories are part and parcel of their artistic development. There are those Jamaican performers who go a...

It is now so commonplace that the twinning of image and song in the music video is not only unremarkable, but expected. In Way Back, Tanya Stephens reminds us of a time when music wasn't sold off the video alone, and whether or not the moving images...

In painting an engaging canvas of sound, anything that can be recorded is fair game. While dub music is renowned for the range of its sonic scope, there are Jamaican songs which emphasise the vocals as much as the music, which include sounds meant...

It is with a sense of immense satisfaction that I have watched the spat over the rainbow flag being unfurled at the U.S. Embassy in Kingston unfold, without the accustomed anti-homosexual dancehall suspects being involved.As a recap, for those who...

The lady to whom I am married is heavily into track and field. I am heavily into the live performance of Jamaican popular music. However, she will go to Rebel Salute (2016) to see Beres Hammond, among other events, and I ended up at Saturday's...