Pam Hall launches Songs In The Key Of Dancehall PDF Print E-mail
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Key Of Dancehall By Basil Walters Observer staff reporter This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Friday, March 09, 2007 One of the most admired doyennes of Jamaican music, Pam Hall, has entered the dancehall genre in her own inimitable fashion with the release of her latest album, Songs In The Key Of Dancehall. The title of this, her eleventh set, is self-explanatory. But as the old adage goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The content speaks eloquently of her kaleidoscopic approach to the art form in which she has distinguished herself. Not to mention her musical fluidity and adaptability. Pam Hall, who launched her latest CD, Songs In The Key Of Dancehall at The Office on Tuesday, greets Nadine Sutherland. The album, which was formally introduced to the public on Tuesday evening at the Office (no, not the Stadium, but the new joint on Knutsford Boulevard in New Kingston), could have easily been called Songs Tafari's Rude Boy Warning/Bad Bad Bad released Pam Hall launches Songs In The Key Of Dancehall Get past the subtitles 1 of 3 Pam Hall launches Songs In The Key Of Dancehall - JAMAICAOBSE... http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/html/20070308T210000-050... 3/9/2007 7:36 PM In The Key Of Pam Hall. With cuts like Doris Troy's gem, Please Little Angel (written by Carroll Payne and Ashford and Simpson), Sarah Vaughan's timeless Broken Hearted Melody (written by Hal David and Sherman Edwards,) Bono's hit with the group U2, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, featuring the queen of raunch herself, Lady Saw, Gamble and Huff's Touch Me featuring Frankie Paul, Ashanti's hit Rain On Me, and among others like Moonlight Lover, the material chosen on the 15-song package tells it all. "It (the album) is saying that dancehall is not one-dimensional, it doesn't just have to be about the Glock and under the frock," Hall told Splash. It can be about nice melodies, creative music, widening the range. That's the idea," she said. "We had intended for it to be a purely cover album, but a few originals sneaked their way unto the project," she explained, via the CD's liner notes. The grande dame of reggae music was showered with accolades by her peers in the music fraternity, beginning with president of the Jamaica Federation of Musicians Desmond Young who urged media to pay more attention to this veteran performer who he said "decorated the music of numerous artistes but has not been given the recognition she deserves". The JFM president's call was endorsed by singer Nadine Sutherland, who described her senior colleague as "one of the greatest musicians coming out of Jamaica. I could not understand how this great singer is sitting here beside me and the world doesn't know about her. I'm happy that Desi (Young) mentioned that we need to support Pam right now with this album...the world needs to see her, the world needs to hear her." Keyboardist extraordinaire, Charmaine Bowman, who is among the slew of instrumentalists on the project, (including Leebert 'Gibby' Morrison, Jon Williams, Sly Dunbar, Lloyd 'Obeah' Denton, Derrick Barnett to mention a few), hailed Pam Hall as a real motivator. Veteran crooner Boris Gardner drew rousing applause when he pointed out that "Others always said she (Pam Hall) nearly sounded like Dionne Warwick, but to me, if Dionne Warwick and Pam were in the same era, we wouldn't have heard of Dionne Warwick." And Lovindeer admitted: "Pam Hall is the genius who performed on many of my albums." When asked by Splash for his opinion, Winston Blake of Merritone fame, said, "Pam is an artiste I respect a 2 of 3 Pam Hall launches Songs In The Key Of Dancehall - JAMAICAOBSE... http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/html/20070308T210000-050... 3/9/2007 7:36 PM lot and I really share the sentiment expressed here that for some reason she has not really got the reward for which she really worked hard in the industry. For the amount of work she has done and the amount of albums, she is a case study. Because she has everything, she has a great voice and she has lasted for over 30 years, and for her to be still there and launching an album at this time shows longevity."
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