| Calling Rastafari | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 24, 1999 | |||
| Recorded | 1999 | |||
| Studio | Grove Music Studio (Ocho Rios, Jamaica) | |||
| Genre | Roots reggae | |||
| Length | 54:24 | |||
| Label | Heartbeat Records | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Burning Spear chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Alternative cover | ||||
 | ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Exclaim! | N/A [2] [3] |
Calling Rastafari is a studio album by Jamaican reggae singer Burning Spear. It was released on August 24, 1999 through Heartbeat Records. Recording sessions took place at Grove Music Studio in Ocho Rios.
Jamaica is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi) in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 191 kilometres (119 mi) west of Hispaniola ; the British Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands lies some 215 kilometres (134 mi) to the north-west.
Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the word "reggae", effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. While sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican dance music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that was strongly influenced by traditional mento as well as American jazz and rhythm and blues, especially the New Orleans R&B practiced by Fats Domino and Allen Toussaint, and evolved out of the earlier genres ska and rocksteady. Reggae usually relates news, social gossip, and political comment. Reggae spread into a commercialized jazz field, being known first as "Rudie Blues", then "Ska", later "Blue Beat", and "Rock Steady". It is instantly recognizable from the counterpoint between the bass and drum downbeat, and the offbeat rhythm section. The immediate origins of reggae were in ska and rocksteady; from the latter, reggae took over the use of the bass as a percussion instrument.
Winston Rodney OD, better known by the stage name Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer-songwriter, vocalist and musician. Burning Spear is a Rastafarian and one of the most influential and long-standing roots artists to emerge from the 1970s.
Contents
The album peaked at number 9 on the Reggae Albums chart in the United States. It won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2000. [4] [5]
The Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1985 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works in the reggae music genre. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".
The 42nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2000 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1999. Santana was the main recipient with eight Grammys, tying Michael Jackson's record for most awards won in a single night. Santana's album Supernatural was awarded a total of nine awards. American teen singers Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were both nominated for Best New Artist, ultimately won by Aguilera.
