It’s that time again, Carnival season is upon us. Well…not US being that we’re in New York, but just about everywhere else in the world is partying it up. Hot off the heels of my post of Jose’s photos from DR, the crew at The Big PIcture have put together a great gallery of celebrations all over the world, including Trinidad, Brazil, Nice, Venice and more. Check out a few of the best shots below….

Once more, it is Carnival Season in many countries around the world with a Roman Catholic heritage. Celebrations and parades are put on just prior to the observance of Lent. Over the past few weeks parades and celebrations have taken place throughout Europe, the Caribbean and South America. An estimated 730,000 foreign tourists, many fleeing snowy winter conditions in Europe and the United States, traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for this year’s celebrations. Collected here are a handful of images from some of the elaborate celebrations of this Carnival season.

For the full gallery of 39 photos, click here: The Big Picture: Carnival 2010.

I posted the audio for this a few months back. Just came across the video today and figured I’d share. Check it out below…

…via Ian’s Kitchen.

Cynthia Oliver/COCo Dance Theatre’s Rigidigidim De Bamba De: Ruptured Calypso takes calypso in and out of the carnival context and layers it with mythology, hertory, and dance. Six women from the Caribbean diaspora explore “rupture,” or break, and discover a shared Caribbean identity across geographical, cultural and aesthetic borders. Through vibrant movement, sound and text, the performers negotiate their individual identities and cut through calypso’s melodious innuendo to reveal its political subversive truth-telling and rawness then delivers it in raucous and downright unrespectable levels….

The shows last performance is tonight. For more info and to purchase tickets, click here: Rigidigidim De Bamba De: Ruptured Calypso.

“In front of Me” was a big carnival tune from Umi Marcano, here is the video which was recently released.

A friend put me on to Theophilus London’s stuff a few months ago, soon after that I ran into him in Union Square where he passed me his mixtape. I’m genuinely feeling his sound so its only right I show love, that’s the Burden way. Check the video for Enjoy the Sun.

This Friday, the folks up at the Bronx Museum are representing for Caribbean culture. Check out the info below and after the jump…

Join The Bronx Museum for an exciting First Fridays! program featuring special live performances covering music from the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica. Music by DJ Revolution (Soca, Calypso & Reggae).

Shouts to Asho for passing this info on, once again. Check out more info after the jump….

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Kenwyn Jones was on his game yesterday when he put in 2 goals for Sunderland against Blackburn. I really like how the big man did it.

I’ve literally watched this kid grow up over the years, so it’s only right I lend my hand to support what he’s doing with his music.

Brooklyn MC D. Julien has just released his latest mixtape, Live, Love, Learn, produced entirely by up-and-coming producer Soulful. For a sample of what to expect, check out “Absolute Perfection” below….

Download Live, Love, Learn after the jump…

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Dom beat me to the punch on putting together a reggae-flavored MJ retrospective. Even still, I wanted to have my say and add a little more to the conversation.

When a person who’s accomplished as much as Michael Jackson dies, it’s hard for me to really feel sad, only because the legacy that they’ve left behind, in this case MIchael’s music, keeps them alive forever. I felt this way when Isaac Hayes passed, when Ray Charles left us, and, again, I do now.

That said, the influence he had on the world of music was beyond monumental. Who would think that a guy from Gary, Indiana would influence music being made in Jamaica and throughout the Caribbean? But so was the case with Michael Joseph Jackson. Celebrate the life of a giant with the reggae-flavored covers and interpolations of his music below…

Links to download the music are after the jump…

Image via 5theyev2 on Flickr.

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Made In Queens is a documentary the appeared in that Edinburgh International Film Festival back in ‘08. It’s about some kids from Queens who created portable sound systems on their bikes. I’m surprised I didn’t catch wind of this earlier, anyway check the trailer and see if it gets you interested.