On Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, BBC 1Xtra headed down to St. Thomas, JA to docuemnt the event that was Sting 2009. The all-day affair included performances from Bounty, Vybz, Mavado, Kiprich and many more. For a taste of what went down, check out the gallery below….
1Xtra was at Sting 2009, bringing you all the best of the on-stage and backstage action.
An incredible line-up, electric atmosphere, amazing performances and a few on-stage clashes. One night that can make or break your career - it’s that important.
And be sure to check Robbo Ranx’s recap of the event on BBC 1Xtra tomorrow morning from 8-10AM EST and on BBC’s streaming audio thereafter. Click here to stream the show.
Interesting article from the BBC on the recent G20 Conference in Copenhagen and how the decisions made there affect Caribbean nations. Check out an excerpt below…
The message from small island states in the Caribbean was so simple, it could be reduced to song lyric form.
“1.5 to stay alive” was the song written and performed by Barbadian performance poet Adisa “AJA” Andwele.
AJA is also the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Spokesperson for Peace and Poverty Eradication for Barbados and the Organisation of Eeastern Caribbean States (OECS).
The theme of the song refers to the centigrade degree limit to which global surface temperatures can rise before Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are severely compromised in their ability to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
But, with world leaders failing to provide a binding solution to climate change at their just-concluded summit in Copenhagen, small states such as those in the Caribbean are left to assess where this leaves them….
BBC has always been great with their photography and we’ve highlighted some of the their work around the Caribbean before. Now comes a new photo-essay highlighting the fight to end hunger in Haiti, after the string of natural disasters this year. Check out the details below…
A year after a series of natural disasters and civil unrest rooted in increasing food prices ravaged Haiti, people there are still struggling to recover. A third of the population - 1.9 million people - still do not have a guaranteed supply of food.
BBCCaribbean.com has put together a nice summary of the dominance of Caribbean teams at this year’s Track & Field championships. Check out an excerpt below…
…The peerless Bolt, who turned 23 years old on Friday, broke both his individual world records - in the 100 and 200 metres - and left the world grasping and gasping for superlatives as attention turned rightly to Jamaican performances on the track and field.
But this was no one man-show as, after six days of this nine-day event, Jamaica led the gold-medal count with five.
That was one more than the United States, two of whose winners have come from Caribbean-born athletes…
Through the music blog Ears Of Green, I stumbled on this video documenting the history of reggae music. Check out part one of this 5+ hour documentary, “Revival,” below…
‘Revival’ is the first episode of the six part series ‘Deep Roots Music’ - 1982. All of the episodes are narrated by Mikey Dread and are focused on the history and culture of reggae music. ‘Revival’ contains extremely rare footage of Toots and The Maytals, Count Ossie and The Skatalites. There also are some interviews with cultural historians which make it more interesting.
Check out the rest of the episode after the jump. For the full documentary, with all six episodes, click here.
The BBC did a series of interviews with Usain Bolt and his family to get a sense of the athletes life off the track.
These videos show the other side of the world class runner. Check’em out…
It seems like the ice is melting a bit when it comes to Cuba, with the US and other nations recently easing back on some of the restrictions that have existed for decades. That being the case, the BBC sat down with a few Cubans and Cuban-Americans to discuss both the past and future of the island.
Interesting article from the BBC on the 30th Anniversary of Grenada’s revolution, led by Maurice Bishop, and the aftermath it left behind. You might remember me mentioning this a while back….
Soft reggae music - known as “lovers rock” - hangs in the air piped gently through the public address system of the main hospital in Grenada’s hilly capital, St George’s.
The tranquil mood is in stark contrast to the events of 1983 when the nearby fort, which overlooks the General Hospital, was the scene for serious violence that left the prime minister, Maurice Bishop, dead.
Now the last of the “Grenada 17″ jailed for his murder look set to be released.
Mr Bishop had come to power 30 years ago on a heady day - 13 March - when his youthful revolutionaries overthrew the autocratic elected leader, Sir Eric Gairy….
