Press for “Dominica Tenement Yard” (CD/Mp3)


STRICTLY ISLAND VIBES, September 14, 2007 4.0 out of 5 stars

By Locks Lion (Blue Mountain Peak)

DOMINICA TENEMENT YARD: This is a great selection of reggae music recorded by Boom Shaka’s Trevy Felix at a “tiny beach house” in his native Dominica, showcasing six of the island nation’s most promising talents, none well known abroad, but all deserving of a wider audience across the Caribbean and beyond.

Kicking off with Prass’s ganja anthem, ONE DRAW (“If I didn’t take a draw from my spliff, I would a lose my mind and soul in Babylon”), TENEMENT YARD delivers some of the dubbiest, bubbliest rootswise reggae rhythms I’ve heard in quite a while. Prass returns with an additional pair, the praiseful JAH FOR ME, and the excellent sufferer’s anthem ILLEGAL POLITICIANS. Jah Roots, singing in both English and Creole, contributes the fine and mellow ZION and LIBERTE, and island favourite, Nelly Stharre – whose SOUL COUNTRY LP is also worth hearing – keeps the sunshine vibes coming with REVOLUTION and MAMA NATURE. Singer Silk joins the party with his appropriately upbeat HAPPINESS, definitely one of my top picks here, and producer and project coordinator Trevy Felix provides a couple of vocals with the outstanding RASTA BOSS and his tribute to the great black leaders of modern history, DEM FORGOT. Finally, chanter Ras Herbly offers the nice NUFF A DEM, which changes up the vibes with a Casio-style hip hop rhythm.

This is simple, soulful reggae music with a sound that’s both modern and at the same time pleasingly old-fashioned, taking in all the usual lyrical themes – Jah Rastafari, politricks, ganja smoking, and so on – and delivering a distinctly Dominican, distinctly island-style vibes. No doubt, given a bigger budget and better facilities, these classic reggae rhythms would sound better played by a full band rather than relying so much on synthesizers and computer applications, but the small-scale, do-it-yourself production values work out well for the most part.

Dominica’s biggest reggae export to date is undoubtedly the very talented and very popular pop-reggae singer Nasio Fontaine, but don’t overlook Paul St. Hilaire, a.k.a. Tikiman – his most recent release, A DIVINE STATE OF MIND is a little bit out-there, but definitely worth a listen – or St. Thomas-based Niyorah, who is more closely associated with the Virgin Islands scene with his excellent I Grade LPs, A DIFFERENT AGE and PURIFICATION SESSION. Look out for these, but definitely pick up DOMINICA TENEMENT YARD as well.

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