Third World Is Off To Europe

With a recent tour in New Zealand with performances in Tauranga, Auckland, Wellington and Napier, Third World returns home to prepare for their 2011 European summer tour. The tour will begin on Saturday, June 25th with a performance at the Afro-Latino Festival in Belgium. On Sunday, June 26th the band will not only perform at the Afrique-Carib Festival in Almere, Netherlands but will participate in Holland's 2nd Steel Pan Panorama competition called, When Steel Talks. . .Everyone Listens - Junior Panorama Knock Out. Dean Pond, the band's sound engineer, and Stephen "Cat" Coore will be a part of the jury for the competition.

No strangers to Europe, the band regards it as "home away from home," they will continue to wind their way through Europe, performing and premiering singles from their 23rd album Patriots at festivals and clubs in Holland, Vienna, Italy, Spain and France. Richard Daley remarks, "Traveling to Europe every summer has become a tradition. Our fans look forward to seeing us every year. And having the opportunity year after year to perform at some of the biggest festivals is truly a honor. And with the release of Patriots, it allows us to give the fans something new - which will be very exciting for us."

Patriots, which was released on Jan 25, 2011, has been featured on CNN, Billboard charts, Billboard Biz, NY1, Jamaica Observer and The Gleaner, among others. Executive Produced by Third World Music Group and co-produced by Dean Pond of Rymshot Productions, the album features artists such as the late Gregory Isaacs, Marcia Griffiths, Tessanne Chin, Capleton, Stephen and Damian Marley. Patriots also features, Toots Hibbert, Sly Dumbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Dean Frazier, Tarrus Riley, Inner Circle, Mykal Rose, Jessica Yapp (on violin), and Junior Reid.

In addition to their performances, Third World has been invited by the "Soapbox" and "No Limit" organizations to conduct a workshop on June 30th. The organizations are comprised of youngsters from the black neighborhoods of the southeast part of Amsterdam called the Bijlmer, where most people living there have an African, Surinamese and/or Caribbean background.

Both organizations are involved with the Keti Koti Festival and usually arrange debates and seminars that focus on "black arts and culture" as well as "black" social and political issues. The organizations main focus is to invite those who they deem as positive role models for youths. Recently they had a workshop with the crew and cast of "Fela - The Musical" and they have organized a master class with the well-known Film Director and Producer, Spike Lee.

The band's summer schedule include the following performances:

Belgium - June 25, 2011: 13th Edition Afro Latino Festival

The Netherlands - June 26, 2011: Festival Afrique Carib

Amsterdam - July 1, 2011: The Keti Koti Festival

The Netherlands - July 2, 2011: THIRD WORLD Live at Bolwerk

Italy - July 3, 2011: Venice Sunsplash Chioggia

Spain - July 9, 2011: La Mar de Musicas

Holland - July 14, 2011: Metropool, Hengelo

Holland - July 17, 2011: Zwarte Cross Festival

France - July 29, 2011: Le Garance Reggae Festival

France - July 30, 2011: New Morning Café

The Netherlands - July 31, 2011: Amsterdam Reggae Festival

Vybz Kartel Takes On His Critics; Rolling Stone Interview

Look up "controversy" in the Jamaican dictionary and you might find a photo of Adidjah Palmer, a.k.a. dancehall star Vybz Kartel. The 35-year-old launched his career over a decade ago as a ghostwriter for Bounty Killer and has since dominated Jamaican airwaves with outré, tongue-twisting tunes about everything from X-rated antics to ghetto politics.

He's dominated gossip columns, too, whether for his much-hyped feud with fellow dancehall deejay Mavado, which ended in a meeting at the Prime Minister's office; the name of his crew – Gaza, a name he also bestowed on the neighborhood outside Kingston in which he grew up; or his chameleon-like appearance: Kartel's ever-lightening skin has generated plenty of angst about so-called "skin bleaching" in Jamaican culture.

On June 21st he releases Kingston Story (Mixpak Records), a collaboration with Brooklyn-based hip-hop/electro producer Dre Skull. The no-holds-barred artist talks music, business ventures and cultural politics with Rolling Stone.

How did you and Dre Skull come to record an album together?
A while back, he had a track sent to me, asking me to voice on it. And it was a bad dancehall track – authentic. I thought he must be a Jamaican living abroad. When I spoke to him and found out that it was a white man from New York, I couldn't believe it – I was awe-struck. The track became a single, "Yuh Love," and he offered to do an album together. So he flew into Jamaica several times and we recorded it. It's different from every other album I've done.

Because many of the tracks have as much a hip-hop feel as a dancehall one?
It's Dre's interpretation of dancehall music, so it has American influences – it's a fusion. And I love that fusion. It affected me lyrically – it opened up my vocabulary and made me want to say more than just gun lyrics or just talking about fuck[ing].

You're especially known for controversial tunes about that last topic.
Yes I am. But there is an art to the sex track: As raw as it is, I deliver it in such a way as to be palatable. Take, for example, [the Billboard-charting single] "Ramping Shop." The melody, the flow – it's smooth. The way I deliver the lyrics makes up for the rawness, the slackness, of what I'm talking about.

Thanks to songs like that, you're often criticized for having a negative influence on Jamaican society – for promoting sex and violence in a country with an extraordinarily high murder rate. In a third-world culture like Jamaica, crime and violence is rampant because of lack of social infrastructure for ghetto youth. There is corruption on all levels of society, from political corruption to corruption within the police force and the overall private sector, and all of that has led to the [decline] of society. Then society wants artists to take the blame, and be scapegoats labeled as role models? No, man, fuck that! I don't want that title.

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