DancehallUsa Online Magazine Official Website

It would seem that the Reggae/Dancehall music fraternity is being hit by one blow after another. Top deejays have lost their US visas and work permits, and Buju Banton, Ninjaman and Flippa Mafia are off the scene — all facing criminal charges.

The big question now is, how will this impact the dancehall community at large. Already, the top annual reggae show in the United States — Irie Jamboree — has cancelled this year’s staging.

It would seem that the Reggae/Dancehall music fraternity is being hit by one blow after another. Top deejays have lost their US visas and work permits, and Buju Banton, Ninjaman and Flippa Mafia are off the scene — all facing criminal charges.

The big question now is, how will this impact the dancehall community at large. Already, the top annual reggae show in the United States — Irie Jamboree — has cancelled this year’s staging.

Irie-Jamboree vice-president Louis Grant told the Sunday Observer that visa cancellations, primarily regarding Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Busy Signal, Mavado, Vybz Kartel, Jah Cure and Sizzla, as well as a few other notables, coupled with the incarceration of top tier acts Buju Banton and Ninjaman, were the primary reasons the decision was taken not to host the show, one of North America’s premier reggae festivals.

“Not having access to this cluster of acts to factor into our line-up has adversely impacted us this year. At the very least, this situation is progressively becoming dire and needs to be strategically and properly addressed, via fair and prompt intervention, so that fair and prompt resolution can be achieved post haste,” Grant said.

For G City Entertainment promoter Casey Rankine, although many of the major acts are out of commission in the United States market, it is “business as usual”.

“It has not greatly affected my plans. The major challenge is the economy — weak audience turnout and poor ticket sales,” Rankine said.

In fact, according to him, the situation has now created an opportunity for other good artistes.

“There are other artistes who have done work for years, or upcoming talents, and this gives them the opportunity to be highlighted, so we are looking forward to working with them,” he said.

New York-based publicist Anthony Turner says the unavailability of the aforementioned artistes is not the greatest challenge for promoters in the US right now.

“Even if those artistes were available, it would not be a given that they could have brought in a full house or that the event would have been a guaranteed success,” he said.

Like, Rankine, Turner said one of the biggest challenge facing promoters now is the economic recession.

“There are other factors to take into consideration too, such as finding affordable venues and receiving quality sponsorships,” Turner shared, adding that unlike events in Jamaica, US sponsors do not give a lot of cash support, so promoters rely heavily on gate receipts.

But while some US promoters are experiencing challenges as it relates to the staging of reggae events, for Eddy Edwards of Riddim Marketing, it’s all about having the right packaging. Edwards, who has hosted plays, church festivals and other family-friendly events, says he walked away from “the whole dancehall mix up”.

“I lean to cultural and clean lyrics artistes, so as a result, I am not affected by what’s going on right now. If you notice, somehow, those are the ones not in trouble,” the promoter said.

He admits that the numbers have been down because of the recession, but says because of the nature of his events he has enjoyed enough support to make them viable — that plus the fact that the artistes with whom he has been working are “very reasonable”.

However, Irie Jamboree’s Grant is not swayed by the argument for cultural productions.

“Our very pervasive culture is so much a part of generations “X” and “Y”‘s pop culture, that these kids, primarily of Jamaican and a wider Caribbean descent, will just not allow that to happen,” Grant said.

He admits that growth may be stymied for several reasons, the main culprit being the lyrical content of some of the songs. But, he says recent steps by the Broadcasting Commission has helped to address, in a very profound way, guidelines that give “the stamp of approval to songs” which ultimately get played on the airwaves in Jamaica.

Grant believes that this move has helped to shape, and usher in a revolution of greater creativity in writing and consequently, many of the dancehall acts and music producers have made notable adjustments to their art.

“On a personal level, I am particularly happy for this advent, as the songs that get sent to us on a daily basis are better songs, if only by “air play” standards, which ultimately bodes well for the longevity and sustainability of the industry at large,” he said.

According to G-City’s Rankine, the solution going forward is for dancehall acts to “always keep it professional in terms of management, performance, public appearances, by keeping their artiste fees at a fair market value, and adjusting their attitude towards promoters, without (whom) they would have no shows, remembering at all times that it’s a business.”

DOWNLOAD: Buju Banton - Innocent (476)

Reggae star Buju Banton’s drug trial in Florida has been delayed again.

The Jamaican singer is accused of being involved in a conspiracy to traffic more than five kilograms of cocaine.

He had originally been scheduled to stand trial in Tampa on April 19. Days before trial was set to begin, United States District Judge James Moody rescheduled it for June 21.

On Friday, Moody moved the case to the September trial calendar. A trial date will be set at a hearing in August.

Banton’s attorney filed an objection, saying the change violates the federal Speedy Trial Act. That generally requires trial to begin within 70 days after a defendant is charged or makes a first court appearance.

Banton, born Mark Myrie, has been in federal custody since December.

TAMPA, Fla. (CBS/AP) Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton was set to go to trial on a federal drug charge next week, but a Tampa judge has postponed the controversial singer’s day in court for two months. The trial scheduled for April 19 is now not on the docket until June 21. U.S. District Judge James Moody gave no explanation for the change. Banton’s attorney said the Grammy-nominated singer, who has been behind bars since Dec. 2009, wants to go to trial as soon as possible.
Banton, born Mark Myrie, is accused of conspiracy to traffic more than five kilograms of cocaine. He recently argued unsuccessfully to be moved from the Pinellas County Jail because his vegetarian diet needs were not being met and he was losing weight.
www.cbs.com

A judge has ruled that he cannot interfere with jail house procedures in the case of reggae singer Buju Banton. U.S. Magistrate Anthony Porcelli made the ruling Friday morning at a hearing based on dietary concerns from the defense.  Porcelli said he would not interfere with operations of the Pinella County Jail and also said he would not order Banton`s release because he believes there`s a risk he could flee to his home country.

The ruling came after federal prosecutors defended a defense claim that The Grammy-nominated, Jamaican-born reggae singer is being treated inhumanely in jail while awaiting trial on drug charges.  These are `lies,` a federal prosecutor said today.

Defense attorney David Oscar Markus had filed a motion for the hearing Monday, claiming his client, born Mark Anthony Myrie, had lost 40 pounds because he was denied the vegetarian diet he requires according to his Rastafarian religion.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney James Preston denied the claim and presented evidence that Banton had in fact gained 11 pounds. A jail official also was called to testify in the hearing and he claimed Banton never asked the jail chaplain to could be placed on a vegetarian diet.

Instead, he said he reviewed records of Banton`s commissary transactions and found purchases of meat and fish, including chicken, tuna and mackerel.

Attorney Markus, however, said Banton gave other inmates the meat he bought in the commissary and argued that Banton told him he filed a diet request with the chaplain and also had a cleric phone the jail on his behalf.

He told the court that Banton`s `mental and physical health has been rapidly deteriorating,` and that it has hindered his ability to prepare for his April 19 trial.

Markus asked a federal judge to release Banton on bail so he can be transferred to an immigration detention facility. Failing that, Markus requested that Banton be moved to a `non-maximum security` wing.

But the judge denied his request.

Banton was arrested in Miami in December and transferred in January to the Pinellas jail, which holds federal prisoners awaiting trial. He is being held without bail on charges of conspiring to distribute cocaine and aiding and abetting his co-defendants in possessing a firearm during the course of cocaine distribution.

Citing health concerns, Buju Banton’s lawyer, David Markus, reportedly filed an emergency motion for bond (bail) with the federal courts earlier today. According to the motion, Banton has lost 40 pounds and has not been provided with a diet (vegetable and fruit-based) in accordance with his religious views. The bond hearing is set for this Friday (March 26) at 10 a.m. The motion also stated that on March 18 (last week Thursday), Banton was moved from the Pinellas County Jail’s general population area to a higher security section – a punishment for giving his food to another inmate – and that since this move, Banton’s “physical and mental health has been rapidly deteriorating.“

Banton has been in custody since his detention on Federal drug charges in Florida in December, 2009.

The defence team representing jailed entertainer Buju Banton says it has dug up more dirt on the informant who helped United States (US) federal agents build a drug case against the reggae artiste.

A report in the Tampa Tribune newspaper quotes Buju’s lawyers saying that the informant has been paid US$3.3 million for helping US law enforcement in numerous cases over several years.
Buju’s lawyers made the revelation in a Florida court on Thursday.

An attorney for the entertainer whose given name is Mark Myrie Buju Banton, whose real name is Mark Anthony Myrie, says he plans to argue that the singer was entrapped by the informant, who pestered him for months to join him in a cocaine deal.

Buju is being held without bail on charges of conspiring to distribute cocaine as well as aiding and abetting his co-defendants in possessing a firearm during the course of cocaine distribution.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has said in court filings that Banton contacted a confidential informant about a possible cocaine purchase.

The next day, Buju and other men met with the informant at a restaurant, where the DEA and local police had set up video and audio surveillance.

Defense attorney David Oscar Markus told U.S. Magistrate Thomas Wilson on Thursday that prosecutors have not provided enough information about the informant for him to be prepared to cross-examine him at Buju’s trial scheduled for April 19.

Mr. Markus outlined information that the government has given him about the informant that he was paid more than US$35,000 for his cooperation in the case against Buju Banton and is also paid on a contingency basis, receiving a portion of the money the judge orders the defendant to forfeit.

The informant was convicted in South Florida in 1993 of distributing cocaine in a case that brought a minimum mandatory prison sentence of 10 years.

He transported large amounts of cocaine and marijuana from 1984 to 1993 and is a legal, permanent resident of the US from Colombia.

It was also revealed that the informant is in involved in a tax dispute with the IRS.

He has also worked with the prosecutor in Myrie’s case for more than 10 years.

But Mr. Marcus says he needs more details, such as details about the tax case, information on other cases the informant has worked and specifics on his criminal history.

Things are heating up in Buju Banton’s conspiracy to distribute cocaine case. According to court papers that were filed Tuesday, January 26 in Tampa, Florida, The Reggae Star’s team of

lawyers may use an entrapment defense.

According to the federal court documents filed, Banton’s attorney David Markus, claims the government entrapped his client by using a paid informant to convince the reggae star to buy cocaine.

The defense is pushing to have the informant’s identity revealed.

“We want to know who this person was and why he was bringing this up with our client ,” said Banton’s attorney. “We want to know everything there is to know.”

The criminal complaint submitted by Drug Enforcement Administration agents against 36 year old Banton, whose real name is Mark Myrie, began on December 8 when the reggae artist met with a confidential source at an undercover, police-controlled warehouse in Sarasota and was presented with a brick of cocaine.

But Markus said his client’s contact with the informant began long before that incident.

According to the court documents filed Tuesday, January 26 by Markus, Banton met the informant aboard a flight from Madrid, Spain to Miami in July 2009.Banton didn’t know the man who sat next to him, but the informant began chatting with Banton during the long flight. Eventually, the conversation turned to the topic of drugs.

Over the next five months, the informant called Banton many times, according to court documents. Many of the conversations were taped.

The men met for lunch at a Fort Lauderdale restaurant on July 27, 2009 when the informant “brought up the subject of cocaine.”

When the informant called on August 4, Banton told him to call back later. When he called the next day, Banton told him he couldn’t meet because he had rehearsal with his band in New York.

The informant called Banton at least twice in September, and both times he dodged the calls. On October 14, the informant called asking for two tickets to Banton’s show and a backstage pass.

In early December, the informant told Banton that he needed to talk to him before an upcoming trip to Houston. Court records quotes the informant as saying: “So if you come it will be different, that will change a lot of things and start things.”

On December 8, Banton and an associate met with the man at an undercover warehouse in Sarasota where he was shown the brick of cocaine documented in the arrest report.

Over the next two days Banton’s associates allegedly brokered a deal with undercover agents to purchase five kilograms of cocaine for $125,000. The men were arrested on December 10 while attempting to finalize the deal. Banton was arrested at his Broward County home later that day. Batnon, is being held without bail at Pinellas County Jail.

To prove entrapment, Markus will have to show that Banton was not predisposed to engage in criminal behavior and that the government induced him.

“The fact that Mr. Myrie ultimately refused to participate in the conspiracy after the initial meeting further shows the viability of his entrapment defense,” Markus said.

Banton’s trial is expected to begin in March.

Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton has pleaded not guilty to a drug charge in a court in Florida.

Banton was arrested in December on a charge of conspiring to buy more than five kilograms of cocaine from an undercover law enforcement officer.

The 36-year-old singer – real name Mark Myrie – did not seek bail as, if released, he would be held by US immigration officials.

It is likely Grammy-nominated Myrie will miss the event on 31 January.

The dancehall singer has been nominated at the Grammys for his latest album, Rasta Got Soul.

Banton was arrested at his home in Tamarac, Florida in early December.

Authorities say he met with a confidential informant to discuss the drug purchase.

His lawyer, David Oscar Markus said Banton is innocent and was set up by “some evil people trying to take advantage of his trusting and honest character”.

He is best known for the track Bogle and the controversial single Boom Bye Bye.

In 2004, he was banned from performing at a gig in Manchester after protests about his allegedly homophobic lyrics, which are often used in the genre of dancehall music.