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• Przystanek Woodstock 2012 02.08.2012 - 04.08.2012

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Damian "Junior Gong" Marley (ur. 21 lipca 1978 w Kingston) - najmłodszy syn Boba Marleya, członek formacji Superheavy, zdobywca nagród Grammy, twórca takich hitów jak „Welcome To Jamrock” czy „Road To Zion”.

Damian Marley urodził się w Kingston w 1978 roku. Jest synem Miss Jamajki ’77 - Cindy Breakspeare oraz ikony reggae Bob’a Marleya. Swoją karierę muzyczną zaczął już w wieku 13 lat, kiedy razem z Shiah Coore (synem gitarzysty Third World) i Yashema Beth McGregor (córką Freddie McGregora i Judy Mowatt) założyli zespół The Shepherds. Debiutancki, solowy album Damiana Marleya „Mr Marley” wydany w 1996 roku został w całości wyprodukowany przez jego brata Stephena. Krążek szybko zdobył popularność w Stanach Zjednoczonych oraz na Jamajce, a młody Damian stał się jednym z ważniejszych wschodzących wówczas talentów. Kolejne albumy „Halfway Tree” z 2001 oraz „Welcome to Jamrock” z 2005 roku, również wyprodukowane przez Stephena, podbiły serca fanów i błyskawicznie wspięły się szczyty list sprzedaży. Obie płyty otrzymały nagrody Grammy w kategorii najlepszy album reggae i tym najmłodszy z Marleyów tylko ugruntował swoją silną pozycję na światowej scenie reggae.

Damian Marley pozostaje oddany filozofii Rastafari, czemu daje wyraz w swojej muzyce przepełnionej ideologią jednej miłości, jednej planety oraz wolności i równości dla wszystkich ludzi. Dodatkowo, w swój niepowtarzalny sposób, potrafi przedstawiać otaczającą go rzeczywistość, co udowadnia w swoich tekstach. Artysta ten jest niewątpliwie współczesnym ambasadorem reggae na świecie i jedną z najjaśniejszych gwiazd młodego pokolenia. Dzięki swoim studyjnym kooperacjom oraz wspólnym koncertom z tuzami hip-hopu, stał się też pomostem łączącym reggae i hip hop.

Po fantastycznie przyjętej płycie „Distant Relatives”, nagranej wspólnie z legendarnym nowojorskim raprerm Nasem oraz udziale w gwiazdorskim projekcie Superheavy, w skład którego weszli także Mick Jagger, Joss Stone i Dave Stewart, Damian Marley pracuje nad swoim czwartym solowym albumem, którego premiera planowana jest na rok 2012. Pomiędzy nagraniami artysta odwiedzi Polskę, aby zagrać po raz pierwszy w naszym kraju całkowicie solowy koncert.










WWW: www.damianmarleymusic.com / www.myspace.com/damianmarley / www.youtube.com/DamianMarleyVEVO

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Jr. Gong has been honing his skills not so quietly for some time. He made noise early on with the 1996 release of MR. MARLEY, and his major label debut HALFWAY TREE showcased a unique gift for blending hard-hitting reality rhymes and an uncommonly eclectic musicality; with a classic reggae sensibility at its core and run through with streams of hip-hop, r&b and dancehall, the album resonated with urban tastemakers and won a Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 2001 (..A Grammy in reggae is good.., he observes. ..But it will be great to see reggae win Album Of The Year. Its not about one man shut off from the rest of the crabs in the barrel..). So while slow-burners like ..It was Written.. and ..Educated Fools.. became club classics, Jr. Gong was laying the groundwork for the tracks that would become WELCOME TO JAMROCK an album that was ultimately several years in the making. Hear the album and you instantly understand it to be the work of a perfectionist; Jr. Gong is not focused on overnight success. Some songs just come. Jamrock was like that, he explains. But other songs take a lot longer. This is street music, and the streets have to feel it.

He can be sure the streets will. Following the path blazed by its title track, WELCOME TO JAMROCK opens with the devastating attack of ..Confrontation... This is Jr. Gong at his best, rhyming with the conviction of a street preacher and the intellect of a university economist. That essence is spread throughout the album, even when he switches pace and explores different riddims. It's like going to war. ..Sometimes you have to wear camouflage to really get in there.., says Jr. Gong of the diverse appeal of the album. ..Dancehall, r&b, hip-hop .. its more about feelings. We..re not just trying to do a segment of the mix. We..re trying to do the whole mix. This is that mix... Never content to deliver a straightforward reggae album, Jr. Gong touches on various sides or urban life as we live it today, from the smokey spiritual love ballad ..There For You.. to the nostalgic throwback jam ..The Master Has Come Back... Hip-hop fans will bump to ..Pimpas Paradise.. featuring Stephen Marley and Black Thought of the Roots as Nas rips his verse on ..Road to Zion.., while classic reggae heads will spark to the rugged sound of ..Khaki Suit.. which features the combo of Bounty Killer and Eek-A-Mouse. Taken together the songs on WELCOME TO JAMROCK convey a consciousness thats framed by the song ..For The Babies.., which Jr. Gong says was inspired by the idea that we raise our children with the same lies we were told.

From the first listen it is undeniable that Jr Gong detonates his lyrical gifts with force and precision, but it would be a mistake to think the man’s abilities begin and end in the recording booth. A quick scan of Welcome To Jamrock’s credits reveal that he co-produced all but three of the tracks with his brother Stephen (the two are the album’s executive producers)—so while the youngest Marley suggests his fiery vocal delivery is partly inspired by seeing fierce dancehall icons like Shabba Ranks, Ninjaman and Super Cat at Jamaica’s Reggae Sunsplash festival as a youth, his work at the boards show him to be a knowing student of the early ’80s digital roots sound of Sly and Robbie, a touch of Stephen’s other productions and the magic in his own father’s recordings. All told it’s the science behind Welcome To Jamrock’s instantly classic sound and an appropriate release on the family’s Tuff Gong/Ghetto Youths International label. “It reflects us,” Jr Gong says simply. “And I say us ‘cause it’s not just me that makes the album. We’re taking the baton from the elders who made rebel music—we’re new leaders of the old school.”

The response to the “Welcome To Jamrock” single heightened expectations for the record you’re holding in your hands, and its 14 songs—songs of both love and war—have a depth that surpasses what many might have expected, given the fear of creativity and strong beliefs that permeates the current pop climate and our daily lives in general. “These are difficult years…and this has been a year of signs and wonders and mystics. We’re in a mind opening time now—a lot of people don’t have material suffering, but spiritual suffering,” he offers. “Welcome To Jamrock is about hope, and there’s still more to share. I’m still very close to the beginning.”