Buju’s family happy for his return
PREPARATIONS WERE in high gear yesterday for the return of dancehall and reggae artiste Buju Banton at his Gargamel Recording Studio, which is located off Red Hills Road in St Andrew.
A woman was seen busily wiping down the walls, while technicians were installing the Internet and security cameras.
“Wi done clean up and ting. A just tru some dust blow over from the hardware wi just a see that everything copacetic,” Michael ‘Tita’ Dixon, who is the overseer at the property, told The Gleaner.
Banton, whose real name is Mark Myrie, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in June 2011 after he was convicted of conspiracy to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute.
He was released from Georgia’s McRae Correctional institution yesterday. He returned to the island last night at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston and was secretly whisked away, much to the disappointment of his fans, who had gathered outside of the airport.
“Everybody want give a hand cause a God-bless yute a come, enuh. All him old man glad fi see him. Mr Myrie long fi see him son. All him pickney dem, too – Marcus, Jahzeil – di whole a dem feel happy fi know say dem fada a come. All Mama Strawn feel happy fi know say him a come home,” Dixon said.
PREPARATIONS WERE in high gear for the return of Buju Banton at Gargamel Recording Studio, which is located off Red Hills Road in St Andrew, yesterday. A woman was seen busy wiping down the walls, while technicians were installing Internet and security cameras. “Wi done clean up and thing – a just tru some dust blow over from the hardware wi just a see that everything copasetic,” Michael ‘Tita’ Dixon, who is the overseer at the property, told The Gleaner.
Buju, whose real name is Mark Myrie, was released from Georgia’s McRae Correctional Facility yesterday, and arrived in the island last night.
“Everybody want give a hand ‘cause a Godbless yute a come enuh, all him old man glad fi see him,” Dixon said, adding, “Mr Myrie long fi see him son, all him pickney dem too, Marcus, Jahzeil, di wul a dem feel happy fi know say dem father a come – all Mama Strachan feel happy fi know say him a come home,” he said.
But Dixon says there will be no grand celebration for the entertainer at the studio, that many are hoping for.
NO GRAND CELEBRATIONS
“Right now him tell wi say him coming and him want see di place cool and calm — him nuh want nuh excitement, ‘cause him woulda prefer deal wid those things when him deh pon di ground,” Dixon said.
“Mi figure sey when him reach a di airport, him a guh divert and go someweh else,” Dixon says. But he says that he expects Buju to record multiple albums in the studio over the next few months, having penned numerous lyrics while serving his prison sentence.
In 2011, Banton was found guilty on drug trafficking charges, and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
“As him cool off, him haffi do couple album well ‘cause him say him nuh want nuh old chune weh him leave yah, bare brand new chune him a guh leggo,” he said.
Dixon said that as early as eight months ago, the property has been on lockdown for renovations to take place.
“Tile tek out and change and him say fi gi poor people all furniture in deh, and mi gi poor people everything — stove, fridge, pot, everything mi gi to poor people, suh a bare brand new thing come and deh deh cause him send a container full a furniture,” he explained.
Ecstatic to see the entertainer as a free man, Dixon said, “Is a joy fi know say him a come, all the flowers and the trees feel good.
“The world waiting on him and it’s a joy fi know say him coming home because is a great man weh help out everybody — the blind, the dumb,” he said.
“Since him gone away, some a dem feel a way, and some dem dead and gone, ‘cause dem nuh have nuh body fi help dem. Mi have all bredrin name Garnett, tek it to heart from Buju gone and all sick out,” he went on.
always need a big band. Sometimes we go as a quartet or strip down with just a piano. It can work – that’s what’s great about jazz. With jazz you don’t need lots of instruments, so I can come over here, find a Jamaican guy, give him the songs to learn and we do it,” she gushed.
“He’s very good. He’s brilliant,” she said of Shirley. “It was wonderful. The audience was amazing. I had a great time,” Paris added.
But, it was doing a performance for charity which would benefit many of the less fortunate, that the 49-year-old mother of two was most happy about.
“It is always fantastic because you know it’s not just another show. There is a reason for it – that’s powerful in itself,” she said.
A well-known television and radio presenter, Paris has appeared in several television shows including Miss Naked Beauty, CelebAir and The Sounds of Musical. Mica Paris is one of the UK’s most respected and finest female singers, with a career full of hits such as; I Never Felt Like This Before, Baby Come Back Now and My One Temptation.
“I have been doing Ella show now for the last year, celebrating her life. Because as you know, I have got my old hits and everything, but I decided to do a jazz record for Ella Fitzgerald, and just to celebrate her life because she was such an amazing icon, and everyone is asking for her all the time,” Paris said in explaining the theme of the show. For event host Theresa Roberts, it was her utmost pleasure to once again stage the annual fundraiser. “I knew we were gonna love it because her voice is so special, and I know about her Jamaican heritage and her grandparents, so I knew it was gonna be good, so I was glad when she said yes.”