Queen Ifrica Hits U.S East Coast With 3 Live Performances

Today, Queen Ifrica is arguably the top female culture artist.

Nicknamed the "Fiyah Muma," Ifrica is performing for the first time in Hartford. (Also scheduled to perform on the bill is longtime reggae singer Winston Francis and Ras Ghandi. Francis has been performing since the early 1970s after becoming popular in the U.K. with his first album Mr. Fix It.)
Ifrica is the daughter of legendary ska and rocksteady singer Derrick Morgan. Her songs, like "Below the Waist" and "Randy," deal with love and relationships; "Born Free" and "Babylon Blunder" consider social issues; the taboo "Mi Nuh Rub" is about skin bleaching and "Daddy" plays on themes of incest.

When "Daddy" came out, it was immediately banned from Jamaican radio stations. The lyrics "Everyday I wonder why my daddy had to be the one to take away my innocence/Oh, sometimes I wanna die, feels like no one cares for me and it's evident," struck a nerve in Jamaican society and, at the same time, put the spotlight on a subject commonly left in the dark.

"'Daddy' is a song I've always wanted to write," she said. "When you go to the women's center in Jamaica, incest is a very big problem in our society. The problem is that it is swept under the carpet and nobody wants to talk about it, because where the act comes from is most unexpected. It affects the middle class in our society and they are ones who are predators in cases of incest. My thing is instead of pointing fingers at the problem we have to find out what is causing the problem."

Queen Ifrica will make her debut apperance at ReggaeFest 2008 Featuring Buju Banton, Tony Rebel, Winston Francis, Ras Ghandi and more. at the Oct. 18, 7 p.m., Connecticut Expo Center, 265 Reverend Moody Overpass, Hartford.


The Reggae News Agency

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