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The Majestic at The Queens Hotel Southsea

/ By Freya Devlin
The Majestic at The Queens Hotel Southsea

COMPETITION TIME

WIN FREE ACCESS FOR A GROUP OF 6 

The Queens Hotel Southsea Sunday 13th June 2021.

The Majestic is a Roots Rock Reggae band hailing from London. Taking some of the liveliest parts of reggae, from an eclectic set of influences, and with a diversity of origin comes an infectious blend of British and Jamaican music.

Formed in the early 1980s by band leader Baba Ras, with its initial success leading to a tour supporting Misty in Roots, and culminating in the Stonehenge Festival of ‘83 alongside Hawkwind. The band then went on hiatus until 2011, when they returned to the UK scene for a second time, racking up an impressive three hundred-plus shows in their first three years. Bit by bit, a gradual change in line up culminated in the six-piece performing today. With a traditional riddim section mixed with rocky guitar leads and saxophone hooks, the Majestic promise a wild spectacle.

Whilst a regular at Boomtown and Falmouth Reggae Festival, the band are a familiar face on the wider UK festival circuit, and is intimate with venues such as Brixton’s Hootananny, Brixton Jamm and The Fox And Firkin, frequently playing reggae hotbeds in London and beyond. Currently, the final touches on the band’s second album, Roots and Reality, are being made, being released for summer 2020.

The Majestic can now usually be found touring the length and breadth of the UK and further, sharing its own diverse brand of reggae and bringing party vibes everywhere they go. Love, peace and a message of compassion and unity is what The Majestic spread! Uniting their fellow humans through music is an absolute must!

Additionally, The Majestic will be performing at the Summer Garden Party hosted at The Queens Hotel Southsea along with Emiliyah and the MightyZ Allstars, Sunday 13th June 2021.

How to win: All you have to do is like and share this blog post and we will enter you into the draw to be announced Saturday Night 12 June 2021 at 8pm. 

Full Details of event can be found at:

https://book.events/queensgardenparty/2021-06-13/30015

#funky #upbeat #uplifting #themajestic #blogs #reggaemusic #band #livemusic #jamacianmusic #guitar #saxophone

05
Jun

Live Life Fully and Mindfully — Things Change Quickly

by Kelli Richards Jeeni MD USA Most of us coast along in life day-to-day, and we don’t always think and act mindfully in the moment. There are many reasons why it’s important to practice doing so most of the time, but perhaps the biggest one is that things change quickly in life — and often unexpectedly. When you’re mindful, you have fewer regrets when they do. Here are a couple of examples that have happened to me recently. Many of you are aware that I’ve been in the music/tech space as a veteran for most of my career, since the dawn of the digital music revolution. I’m proud not only of having been a pioneer steeped in co-creating many of the key milestones that have impacted the evolution along the way, BUT also in having shared those experiences with a cadre of cherished colleagues alongside — many of them for over 25 years now. One off those fellow visionaries was Jay Frank. Jay was instrumental in envisioning the future of streaming driven by user-influenced playlists years before that took off. Feel free to review more about Jay in this obituary on Billboard. He was only 47 when he passed of cancer; he hadn’t told many of us about it — and his loss was a real shock. He certainly accomplished a lot in his years on the planet and left a lasting and palpable legacy. I hadn’t been in as active touch with him during the past couple of years, which I regret, but he knew how much I respected him. I’m proud to be on the advisory council of Harvest Summit, an annual ‘field trip’ gathering of successful high achievers from different industries who come together in wine country to embrace innovation. Each year we feature a powerful keynote speaker to wrap up the event, and at this year’s event just a few weeks ago in mid-October we were fortunate enough to have Bernard Tyson join us. Bernard was the beloved CEO of Kaiser Permanente, the huge healthcare system, and he was responsible for creating some of Kaiser’s most progressive and innovative efforts during his nearly three decades with the company. He was someone who made a real impact & a lasting legacy. At Harvest Summit he was inspiring and infectious. And when I approached him afterwards, we had a brief chat and he was very warm and gracious. Just a few weeks later, Bernard passed suddenly at 60. His wife is a colleague of mine, and I’d heard about how wonderful he was for quite some time. I was so pleased I had the opportunity to connect with him and got to experience his presence firsthand. Finally, I’m enamored of wine country and Sonoma County at large; so much so that I intend to re-locate there in the coming years. I’ve built a large community of people I care about greatly in that region. Two years ago, over 5000 homes were lost to the devastating Tubbs Fire there. The week after I was at Harvest Summit in mid-October — right in that same location — the unthinkable happened in that the Kincade Fire took off like crazy with flames fanned by strong Santa Ana-like winds in that same general region causing widespread evacuation, power outages and unrest in that same region for over a week. Some homes were lost again, but owing to the brave firefighters who were determined to save lives and properties (and with some support from winds dying down), the fire was brought under control at last. This has all reinforced for me just how important it is to be prepared for natural disasters — I’ll be putting together an emergency “go bag/kit” shortly as a result. I guess in summary, the common thread here is that’s important to be present and mindful in all our interactions with others, and not take anyone or anything for granted. Because life is truly fragile, and what we’re privileged to enjoy today could be taken away without warning tomorrow. Be here now. Click HERE to visit or return to jeeni.com

10
Mar

Artist Focus: DarkStarGraver – Rapper, Singer, Poet

While DarkStarGraver has a Zambian heritage, he lived in South Africa until he was two at which point, he bounced around the UK from Birmingham, to London, to Scotland and finally at ten years old, found where he identifies most, in Portsmouth. This is where Graver found his passion and drive as a rapper and has “been a Pompey lad ever since.”  With innovative wordplay and masterful creative insight, DarkStarGraver is making an exciting splash in the UK hiphop scene, particularly with last year’s ‘Burning Bridges’, a dark, and impressive debut EP that expertly showcases his range as a rapper, singer and producer. Criminally underrated and unexplored, it’s only a matter of time before DSG blows up.  Like all great artists, Graver grew up surrounded by iconic and memorable music. Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and Sade all combined to create a powerful and soulful pool of inspirations for a young DarkStarGraver. Inspirations of the past collided with the then-current music landscape of garage and grime as the final push to convince him to start creating his own brand of the music that he loves.  Graver found a particular success with a cut from his Burning Bridges EP, ‘CodeRED’ which holds the key components of a modern hiphop hit; A hard-hitting, adaptive beat, a catchy sung chorus and pure skill on the mic. Graver's 'CodeRed' was last year, a long time on from his first ever beat, ‘Dark Stars’ which kicked off his journey and brand as an artist.  More than just a creative outlet, DarkStarGraver is inspired by artists like Tyler, The Creator and Kendrick for their tendencies towards lyrics deeper than just the surface. “Music is how I vent my most intimate thoughts and feelings, it’s therapeutic to me so I'm typically drawn to music that does the same”.  From Graver’s, ‘Nivana Over DIGITS’ video, it comes as no surprise that earlier this year, Graver was nominated for ‘Music Video of The Year’ by LMSUK’s Portsmouth Radar. DarkStarGraver’s vision is realised vibrantly and clearly in his visuals. Watch now on Jeeni: https://jeeni.com/bcewhactsrxr/  Last year, Respect Magazine said, “DarkStarGraver is one of the most exciting new acts on the UK rap scene” and they couldn’t be more accurate. Graver’s mindset is fresh, focused and inspiring and we can’t wait to hear his next project.  Check out DarkStarGraver’s Jeeni page: https://jeeni.com/?s=DarkStarGraver  How can Jeeni support artists like DarkStarGraver?   JEENI is a multi-channel platform for original entertainment on demand. We’re a direct service between creatives and the global audience.   • We give creatives, independent artists and performers a showcase for their talent and services. And they keep 100% of everything they make.  • We empower our audience and reward them every step of the way.  • We promise to treat our members ethically, fairly, honestly and with respect.  • Access to artist liaison and a supportive marketing team 

10
Jun

Global Music Match unites 14 Music Export Programs for a world first!

96 artists from 14 countries are taking part in what could be the largest online matchmaking of musicians ever undertaken. Created in a world first collaboration between founding partners Sounds Australia, Showcase Scotland Expo and Canada’s East Coast Music Association (ECMA), along with 11 other export organisations and showcase events from around the world, Global Music Match is a pilot initiative created to continue raising the profile of local artists in international music markets within the challenging parameters of the COVID-19 pandemic. The program is a unique response to the limitations imposed on the music industry, that makes use of one of the only available platforms – social media and peer-to-peer collaboration – to increase networks and exposure for export-ready artists internationally. Breaking artists into a new territory or country is a challenging process, exacerbated by the pandemic as traditional international showcasing opportunities reduce. This programme aims to develop new audience bases for artists in a range of international locations, providing a groundwork for future international touring development. The programme will also support participating artists to upskill their social media activity, as well as encourage cross border artist collaboration by connecting musicians from around the world. Each week, one band/musician from each country will ‘introduce’ another artist from a different country, engaging with them on social media to cross promote to their audiences. This is reciprocated for everyone involved, meaning that participating artists will be presented via social networks across a range of participating international artist’s online audiences. For the pilot edition of Global Music Match, artists are steeped in the acoustic, folk, roots, traditional and world music genres. Lisa Whytock of Showcase Scotland Expo, one of the founding organisations said: “The idea came about on a zoom call between myself and Millie Millgate of Sounds Australia several months ago. We have since seen it grow to include so many export organisations and all of us have been meeting regularly to develop the initiative. It's great that we can all still connect through social media and we are really looking forward to seeing how all the artists work together. Most of them will never have met and many never have toured in the other countries, so it really is going to establish new international connections”. Search for the hashtag #globalmusicmatch to see some of the examples of the content each act shared during the pilot initiative – or head to globalmusicmatch.com to learn more and see examples. Global Music Match is supported by the following export organisations: Catalan Arts (Spain), East Coast Music Association, ECMA (Canada), English Folk Expo, FOCUS Wales, Folk Alliance International, Iceland Music, LUCfest Taiwan, Music Estonia, Music Finland, Music Norway, Puglia Sounds (Italy), Showcase Scotland Expo, Sounds Australia and Spectacle vivant Bretagne (Brittany, France). --END OF RELEASE--For more details, please contact your local export organisation listed above, or reach outto info@globalmusicmatch.com