Burning Spear Captures 2nd Grammy Award

At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Burning Spear walked away with the covetted music trophy for Best Reggae Album 'Jah Is Real' beating out dancehall heavyweights Shaggy, Elephant, Heavy D and reggae icons Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Sly and Robbie, which sent a clear message that reggae music is cemented in roots and culture, not the contemporary dancehall loaded with fatalistic gun and slackness lyrics.

It is Spear's second Grammy win. He also won in 1999, with Calling Rastafari.

Jah Is Real was released in August by Spear's Burning Music label and was largely distributed through the Internet and unknown to reggae fans in Jamaica. Music distribution over the internet is definitely a force to reckon with.

Born in St Ann, Burning Spear (real name Winston Rodney) is a reggae legend. Along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, he introduced roots-reggae to an international audience during the 1970s.

Like Marley, he first made a mark at producer Clement Dodd's Studio One studio. In the 1970s, Spear established himself with the landmark albums, Garvey's Ghost, Marcus Garvey and Man In The Hills.

Falana Fay
Is a freelance journalist, writer, music critic and publicist. Contributing-Writer-WhereItzat (NYC), ItzCaribbean (UK) and Viewpoint Columnist for Hofstra Chronicle.


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