A Look Back

Blogging about Caribbean events has been a interesting journey for me. I began as just a commentator and by the end I was promoting Caribbean events myself. Writing this blog made me realized that I was actually a niche member in the niche audience I was trying to reach. I also enjoyed sharing my thoughts on my culture and the culture of other Caribbean islands. This blog also illustrates that Caribbean culture is prevalent all over the world and touches people from all walks of life.

I interviewed Caribbean students in the area to get their opinion of events in the area. I also interviewed DJs in the area.

The Caribbean scene in Baltimore is more geared to patrons 21 and older but they are a few that are held for college age students. Most of events are held closer to the city or in the Park Heights area.

I think that this scene is constantly getting bigger with more events being planned and organized.

Lengendary Stone Love Grew in Baltimore

Blood Tear Promotions presents The Annual History on Saturday June 20. 2009.
This party features two sounds directly from Jamaica. Stone Love is the most recognized DJ crew in the island and been so for more than two decades. The other grew is called Bass Odyssey. Three Djs that have been mentioned in previous post will also be playing at this party. High Rollaz, Upsetta and Raw Deal will be in the building.

The flyer does not give a lot of information so I can not provide anymore.

Dancehall artist: Sean Paul

Sean Paul is on of the top dance hall artist and is one of more recognizable Caribbean artist in America. He is responsible for top charting hits like "Jus give the light," "We be Burning," and "Get Busy."
Sean Paul stands out in the dance hall scene because he is an uptown boy(middle class), while the majority of dance hall artist are from downtown(poor areas). Sean is also a mixture of Chinese, Black and Portuguese which contradicts the stereotype that believes all Jamaicans are blakc and have dread locks.

Sean Paul's fist hit was Infiltrate this song was hot for over two years in Jamaica and still gets ratings whenever it is played in parties. This song was his launching pad into star down and he did not turn back. Sean Paul is now the top selling dance hall artist of all time with two multi- platinum albums, Trinity and Dutty Rock.

Sean is one of my favorite artist because I am also an uptown boy and I think he does a great job of promoting a positive image of dance hall music. Sean's lyrics are also great to sing and dance to with girls, that boy could sweet talk any girl in my opinion and girls love dancing to Sean Paul Songs.

Baltimore's Own Dance Hall Queen Compettion

Zodiak Promotions, Ricky Chin and High Rollaz Booking Agency presents Baltimore's 4th annual Dance Hall competition on June Friday 12, 2009.
The dance hall queen is a dance competition that originated in Jamaica. It is a dance off where women do all kinds of scandalous dance moves. This is definitely an adult event and is rated R. To give a mental picture it is like being at a strip club but the girls keep their clothes on and men are not throwing money at them. When I was a child growing up in Jamaica my mom banned me from watching the dance hall videos my friend had.

With the warning out the way, I think this would be great event to attend to get a first hand experience of an authentic dance hall tradition.
Ladies if you are trying to win some money and a trip to Jamaica this competition is for you. The winner's prize is $1500 and a trip to Jamaica, 2nd place gets $1000 and 3rd gets $500. The promoters will also will be giving away a I POD Touch as a gate prize.

Event Details:

When: Friday June 12 2009

Where: Sankofa Center for Cultural Enrichment.

Cost: $20

Music:High Rollaz, Upsetta and Raw Deal





View Larger Map

Ragga Showdown

I found this event on Facebook while going through all the events that I have been invited to. It caught my eye because my boy DJ Lawless will be playing there. Lawless has played for events that I have planned and attended, he one of the hottest dance hall DJs in the college party scene.
The party is being hosted my North Face Entertainment. I have not heard of this group before, but if they have booked Lawless I know they have good taste in music, at least. This party is also an 18 and older event so this party is definitely for you college students out there.

Party Details

When: Friday May 15th 2009

Where: Bobby's Lounge 8200 Pulaski Highway, Baltimore Md.

Cost: Ladies Free before 11 p.m. Gentlemen $10 before midnight.

Dress Code: Ladies; Fly and Sexy. Gentlemen; Casual

DJs: Lawless and Raymond


View Larger Map

Caribbean Dance: World Dance

World Dance is another dance created legendary Jamaican dancer Bogle. The dance looks gooffy but is really fun to do, and once you got the move down its an easy but cool dance to know. World famous dance hall artist Beenie Man sang the song and the video features Bogle doing the dance in an Jamaican neighborhood.

I decided to share this dance with you guys because this was my first favorite dance hall dance. I remember watching the music video for the dance and mimicking what I saw. My maid would critique me until I could do just like Bogle did in the video. The dance was popular for three years straight. There were teachers at my prep school that even knew the dance(yea, it was that popular.

The dance is easy to learn, just watch the video and focus on the movements of the legs and the arms. Once you got that down all you got to do is learn the rhythm of the dance.

Caribbean Night each and every Saturday

Caribbean Nights goes down every Saturday at the Windsor Inn and is hosted by Celebrity Entertainment and Golden Touch Productions.

The promoters are marketing this party as playing the best in Caribbean music. If they are right this event should be a priority to attend for lovers of Caribbean music. Three Djs will be mixing DJ Smally, DJ Signal and DJ Acid who actually are the members of Golden Touch Productions.


For more information contact Tony at (410)-336-3814.



View Larger Map

Caribbean Dance: No Linga

The dancehall dance, No Linga, looks to be the next hott dancehall dance, and could eventually taker over the Willy bounce's reign as the most generic dancehall dance style. The dance was created by Jamaican dancer/artiste, Ova-Marz,of the Ravers Clavers dance crew, which is the biggest and most respected dance grew in Jamaica. Members of Ravers Clavers are students of dance king Bogle.
Elephant Man making a song for No Linga gave it a stamp of approval in the dancehall scenne. Elephant Man has done videos for classics like Willie Bounce, Scobby Doo, and "rude boys'" favorite Gully Crepper.




I was introduced to the dance in December 2008 by my cousin-in-law in Toronto, while we were talking about new dancehall dances. I have yet to master it, so I will not be in this instructional video. However I have embedded the a video of Ova Marz doing the dance, linked the music video for the song by Elephant Man, plus an instructional video I found of YouTube(I wanted to embed this one but the option was disabled on the site)

DJ Ablaze 3rd Annual Birthday Bash

This event is being hosted by Gansta Marv and Kanaris and is celebrating the birthday of DJ Ablaze.
I picked this party from the yahsomideh website because I know about DJ Ablaze.
Someone gave me one of his mixtape CDs after leaving a club and it was really good. My friend, Mathais, and I played it in my car for a month straight. I also met someone from Jamaica who is personal friends with DJ Ablaze. Ablaze lives in Maryland.


I think this party could be pretty good because it is a birthday party for one of the more popular dance hall DJs in the Baltimore area. There will also be a live video recording that will be seen on Reggae Unplugged T.V. So with that said dress to impress!

Here are the Details.

When: Saturday May 9th 2009

Where: The Rio Bravo, 2031 University Blvd. Hyattsville Md.

Music: Danger from Philly, Half Krazy, Amplex

Cost: $20 before 1 a.m.

View Larger Map

Niche Audience Member Interview: Roland Roberts

Roland is the co-president of Towson University's Caribbean Student Association. Roland is originally from Grenada, and grew up New York before moving to Baltimore to attend school.



Roland is musician at heart and plays the bass guitar. He also likes to attend concerts of a varied musical genres like reggae, rock, metal and alternative. I interviewed Roland because he knows about some of the DJs in the area, so I thought it would be interesting to have do a video interview for Blogival.

Noche Latina: Carnival

All of my previous blogs about Caribbean events in the Towson/Baltimore area have been from English speaking islands. However, there are Spanish speaking islands in the Caribbean as well; Cuba, Puerto Rico and The Dominican Republic. Blogival's purpose is to spread awareness off all Caribbean events, so I found an event with some Latin flavor.

Towson University's Latin American Student Association will be hosting Noche Latina(Latin night) on Friday May 8th. Carnival will be the theme for this semester's Noche Latina. With that theme in mind I definitely recommend wearing brightly colored attire.
LASO's night of cultural celebration will feature Latin cuisine, a Capoeira exhibition, a salsa performance and work shop, and carnival mask making.
Music genres from across the Caribbean will be played salsa, reggaeton, samba, reggae and merengue.

Details:
Where: Towson University's University Union, Susquehanna Terrace
When: 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. 5/8/2009
Price: FREE!!!!!

Niche Audience Member Interview: Greg Martin

Greg is a junior at Towson University and is from Brooklyn NY. His family is from Guyana which is in South America but is considered a Caribbean country. He is also a member of Towson University's Caribbean Student Association.



Greg has a love for Caribbean music, especially the old school stuff. Beres Hammond is his favorite artist. To put that into context for you, it is like having a college friend whose favorite singer is Smokey Robinson. Greg also hooks me up with hot new Caribbean songs on my ipod, for free I might add lol.

Yahsomideh Baltimore Caribbean Event website.

While searching the web for blogs related to Blogival's topic, I found a website that's a perfect resource for people interested in finding Caribbean events in the Baltimore, Towson area. I checked out the site and it is a credible source with many party listings. For example there is a picture on the homepage of DJ Sir Bingz, who is one of the top DJs in the area.TheYahsomideh also has other features like a photo gallery from past events, a forum and links to other related sites.

The name of the website clearly pays homage to Jamaican patoi(broken English). Yah so mi deh is roughly translated to "This is where I am,". This gives the site instant approval from Caribbean people because our accents are one of our most unique characteristics.

Definitely check out this website you will find something to attend, hear fresh music from the Caribbean and learn about people in the Baltimore Caribbean event scene.

Caribbean Party of the Week

I found the flyer for this party at the Blue Caribbean Lounge which is a Caribbean hot spot in the
Baltimore area. It features two DJs that were recommended by my friend DJ Sir Bingz, who is one of the best DJs in this area.

The name of the party is The Annual Girls Gone Wild and is being hosted by 2D Hardway Promotions.

When: Saturday April 25th 2009. 10:00 p.m.

Where: Sankofa Center for Cultural Enrichment. 2901 Druid Park Drive, Baltimore Md. 21215

How Much: $20 for Ladies and Gentlemen before 1 a.m.

Sounds: High Rollaz, Half Krazy, C4 and Kalico


View Larger Map

Rep Your Flag Party. Saturday

Wild Out Ent. and 4 My People Production presents Rep Your Flag, this Saturday, April 18th at Portofino Lounge.
Come represent your island, country, hood, suburb, school etc. at this party. Bring a Flag or wear something that symbolizes where your from. We want to see as many different places represented as possible. Help us bring the world to Towson. I myself will be proudly wearing blue and yellow(colors in Barbados' flag), and you will catch me waving my flag high in the air.

Here is the 411 for the Rep Your Flag.

When: 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.

How much: Ladies free before midnight,$5 after. Gentlemen $5 before 11 p.m., $12 after. 18 to enter 21 to drink.

DJs: DJ Lawless and DJ Jahstone

Niche Audience Member Interview: Melissa Hamm

Melissa is an International student at Towson University. She is a member of Towson's CSA and is from the island of Anguilla. Melissa is new to the Towson area, but because she is from the Caribbean she brings that unique island mentality about night life. That is why I interviewed her for Blogival. Melissa also contributed to the planning of the CSA's Island Fever earlier this semester. Island Fever turned out to be the best Caribbean house party this semester at Towson. Well it won by default because it was the only I knew about or attended, but it was difinately a raver.

Niche Audience Member Interview: Nefertede Sterling

Nefertede a member of Towson University's Caribbean Student Association, is someone that I have seen at many of the Caribbean events I have attended in my 3 years while at Towson. She has also attended parties I have planned.(Thanks for the support girl). I thought she would be a great person to interview for Blogival because she is a active niche member, which gives her some authority on the topic of my blog.

Nefertede has a Jamiacan parent and grew up in Bronx, NY. She is a senior Biology major.

International Fridays, April 10th

There was an observation from last Friday's Dancehall Fridays. The patrons were from countries from all over world Burma, Kenya,Mexico,Jamaica,Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Nigeria just to name a few. So with that in mind we made a little change.

The name of the party is now International Fridays. It will be held at the same place as last week's event, Portofino Lounge.

Sounds will be provided by DJ Lawless, DJ Jah Stone and for the first time DJ Spektakula. These DJs will definitely help you get your "freak on" on the dance floor lol.

Here are the party details.

When: 10:00p.m. to 4:00a.m. April 10th

Cost: Ladies $3 before 11:30, Fellas $7 before 11:30


Come and check out the new hot dance spot on a Friday night in the Towson area, You don't have to be International to party with us, we welcome everybody.

Caribbean Dance: Willie Bounce

The Willie Bounce is the most generic dancehall dance style, it even has its own music video. Mr. Bogle, the dancehall king, created Willie Bounce shortly before his death. This is the main reason why the dance became so popular because it will always remind dancehall lovers of Mr. Bogle and all his legendary moves. Willie Bounce is now three years old but has yet to go out of style, I personally think it never will. Any dancehall party you attend you will see at least one person Willie Bouncing, I guarantee you.

The Willie bounce is hard to describe with words, and must be seen to get a full grasp of the moves and rhythm of the dance. I will be doing an instructional video with one of my Jamaican friends that attends Towson University. I will also embed Sean Paul's video "We Be Burning", which features the Willie Bounce through out the entire video. Watch and learn so you can impress you friends with you correct Willie Bounce techniques.

Interesting fact; Michelle, the girl in the beginning of the linked Willie bounce video is a friend of Hnin, the Willie bounce instructor. What a small world. lol

DJ Jah Stone Interview

DJ Jah Stone is one of the main Djs for Dancehall Fridays. I did a video interview with him at the start of last night's party, to get his thoughts about the Caribbean scene in the Towson area. Jah Stone is from the island of Trinidad and Tobago.