Vasilis’ portrait of Queen Nanny of the Maroons is a powerful celebration of all the cultural warriors of Jamaica, like Michael ‘Freestylee’ Thompson, who are committed to fighting for freedom from oppression in all its forms.
I wonder why out-of-order sceptics have such an investment in stopping others from wearing a mask. Could it be that they are masking their own anxiety about the risks of not wearing a mask?
There’s another queen in the news. Not one imposed on us from abroad. She’s royalty born and bred a yard.
Miss Pat book pretty-pretty cyaan done. A Maria Papaefstathiou, one graphic artist from Greece, design it./Miss Pat buk priti-priti kyaahn don. A Maria Papaefstathiou, wan grafik aatis fram Griis, dizain it./Miss Pat's book is absolutely beautiful. It was designed by Maria Papaefstathiou, a graphic artist from Greece.
Politicians must concede that if the Jamaican language is an appropriate tool of communication for election campaigns, it should also be recognised as appropriate for the business of Parliament.
Fi di lickin a di spoon, nuff Jamaican artist a go lose di spoonful./ Fi di likin a di spuun, nof Jamiekan aatis a go luuz di spuunful./ For the licking of the spoon, many Jamaican artists are going to lose the spoonful.
It was not only the gender barrier that Miss Pat levelled. When she moved to New York she was taken under the wings of her much-admired Aunt Edna, “a courageous woman who had left Jamaica in her thirties to break the shop cycle.” Miss Pat alludes to the fact that shopkeeping was the destiny of many Chinese families in Jamaica.
Two Fridays ago, I celebrated my 70th birthday. Well, that’s merely my chronological age. I’d like to believe that my biological age is much, much younger. Fun and joke aside, I’ve been reflecting on some of the lessons I’ve learned over the last seventy years that are particularly relevant in these dread times.
The Bob Marley Estate cannot possibly police the use of the reggae icon’s image across the globe without retaining a veritable army of intellectual property lawyers.
We don't seem to realise just how far Jamaican popular music has spread. We take our creativity for granted and we rarely stop to think about why so many people from such diverse cultures are attracted to the music produced on this little rock. And it's not just the beat and the lyrics that fascinate foreigners. It's also the academic value of the music.
Jamaica Woman Tongue 