Friday, September 13, 2024

34 THE WEEKEND STAR ENTERTAINMENT • September 13 - 15, 2024 @JamaicaStar www.facebook.com/JamaicaStar • www.jamaica-star.com D ancehall goes to the town of Ajax in Ontario, Canada, on September 21 with the inau- gural staging of Yaad Fest, which features several veteran Jamaican artistes, as well as a number of Canadian acts. Niyah, a spokesperson for the promoters Yaad Fest Inc, said an event of this nature is new to Ajax, which is 20 minutes drive from Scarborough, a district which is traditionally home to a large West Indian community. “It’s being held in an area that normally doesn’t do reggae, so the show promises to be exciting,” she said. Tanto Metro and Devonte, best known for the 1997 hit single Everyone Falls in Love , are headliners for Yaad Fest. The line-up also includes Nadine Sutherland, who is celebrating her 45th year in the music business, and dancehall veterans Courtney Melody and Jigsy King. The line-up is completed by homegrown hip-hop acts Burgz and Jellytoofly, Afrobeats singer Bugatti Bonsu, and Patexx, a Jamaican dancehall deejay based in Atlanta. According to Niyah, the number of seasoned artistes adds to the family flavour of Yaad Fest, which is being held in the last week of the Canadian summer. The daughter of Jamaican parents, Niyah was born in Canada. She has promoted several live events in the Greater Toronto Area and the Beach O Rama series in downtown Kingston. TANTO METRO, DEVONTE HEADLINE CANADA SHOW Tanto Metro (left) and Devonte. C ontributed ReniGAD C ontributed ReniGAD drops ‘Freedom Street’ as a tribute to Kartel A fter returning home from a successful European tour, which saw him making stops in Greece, Sweden, Finland and France, dancehall artiste and producer ReniGAD has returned to the local space with his single titled Freedom Street . The track, which is produced by ReniGAD’s own GAD People Productions label, has already been getting rave reviews from the dancing fraternity and the dancehall space in general since its pre-release a few days ago. Inspired by dancehall dancers and Vybz Kartel’s recent release after more than a decade behind bars, ReniGAD felt the moment required a theme song. “While touring Europe, mi link up with mi dancer friends Cojo Hotfoot and Dansa Bling, who were also on tour. Then I returned to Jamaica to see Vybz Kartel freed and the dancehall fraternity a celebrate. So I decided mi want make an anthem for this occasion,” ReniGAD explained. The track is not inspired by any specific dance move, but simply inspires movement and fun on the dancefloor. “Do what you feel like; any dance, any style, just nuh stand up one place. Once you hear the beat, you will want to move still, and that’s what’s been happening since me send the track to the streets; the grung a run wid it,” ReniGAD added. The artiste is putting all the energy behind the track even though he has had remarkable solo success recently with other singles. His marijuana-inspired track with artiste Astyle Alive, titled Blaze Up, ignited the Apple Music worldwide charts at the number one spot earlier this summer. ReniGAD is also preparing to release his debut solo album later this year with the first release, Judas , also gaining traction and worldwide mainstream airplay.