In mid-July Jamaica’s buzzing songbird, Natel, left on tour with Mr. Vegas and Latty J for his first Festival Tour in Europe. Still enjoying the buzz from his appearance at the PanAm games in Toronto, Natel left for Europe confident and ready to take on the world.

The team hit Europe’s hottest summer Reggae Festivals which included Venice’s “One Love Festival”, Spain’s “Lagatavajunto”, Germany’s “Reggae Jam Festival”, Rome’s “Roma Red Hot Festival”, Augsburg’s “Reggae In Wulf Festival”, Plullendorf’s “Keep It Real Jam Festival”, Netherland’s “Antilliansee Festival: and finishing the tour off at France’s “Reggae Sun Ska Festival”.

Natel made sure he kept his fans, better known as “#TelloGang” engaged throughout the trip via Social Media. He shared backstage experiences and various videos taken at the airports.

While in Europe his summer reggae releases “Only for You” and “Paradise” have been receiving strong radio rotation across the globe, with other singles also growing in popularity. Not to mention, the artist has been creating waves in EDM world, featured yet again on another edition of DJ Chuckie and Childplay’s “Traphall E.P”.

He continues on, enjoying the success of his summer hit “Only For You”.

While Natel takes a little break from the studio, sharing his music with the world he assures his fans that there is much more to come. Natel has his “Only For You” mixtape releasing shortly and mentions an upcoming music video release. Settling back in Jamaica later this week, the artist will be busy again in the studio only to head out on tour again in September, this time hitting venues across the U.S.

Everton Blender & Likkle Lightning

Likkle Lightning is in Jamaica working on the last six tracks needed to complete his debut album. Though they are a bit behind schedule, from a production view point, the artist and his team are still hopeful that the project will be ready for the initially announced release date of September 2015.

After reaching out to several mixing engineers and not being able to find the right one that compliments Lightning’s style, he has decided to go back to Tuff Gong which is where he did all his earlier production.

The king of lovers-rock, Beres Hammond, is still making people fall in love to the sweet sounds of Reggae music. He is on the road with his Harmony House Band doing the ‘Beres Hammond One Love One Life Tour.’ The Tour is presented by Harmony House Production and thus far they have made stops in Europe, U.S.A and are now setting their sights on Canada after which they will head back to the U.S.A.

Florida residents will have the opportunity to experience ‘what one dance can do’ as Beres and company will be performing at the Au-Rene Theatre in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Sunday August 23^rd (201 SW 5th Ave). DJ Inferno will also be on this event. For tickets visit http://browardcenter.org/events/detail/beres-hammond-one-love-one-life-tour-2015

Inner Circle ft. Kabaka Pyramid “WE THE PEOPLE” video premiere party happens tonight at COYO Dub Lounge | 2300 NW 2 Ave, Miami, FL (10pm – 2am)

This Summer, Kabaka Pyramid joined Inner Circle along with a variety of people, all from different ethnicities. The lengthy but painless day of shooting started off in Wynwood, with a wicked scene of about 50 youth walking behind Inner Circle, as if Inner Circle was leading them to freedom. Later, everyone reunited at Circle Village where the Jamaican vibes were felt best. With a Rastafarian theme, everything from the the stage, to the tables were painted red, gold and green. The Ital food was perfectly spiced, and the smiles on the guests were everlasting. It’s safe to say this video shoot enlightened and lifted people’s spirits. The video was directed by Young Chang from Krime Scene films in association with Abebe Lewis Marketing & Branding as well as Circle House Films.

Since its July 10 release, Jah Cure’s new album The Cure (VP Records) holds strong at #1 on the U.S. Billboard Reggae Album Chart. The acclaimed Jamaican singer is the only solo artist this year to land this coveted chart position for three consecutive weeks.

Jah Cure expresses his enthusiam. “I put my heart and soul into this album and it is always nice to know it is well recieved. I give thanks to Jah and my fans for their ongoing support. Bless.”

Critics call The Cure “musical therapy to your ears…poetic messages of empowerment and love”  (Associated Press), “another classic…raises the bar of what reggae music can and should be” (Frank 151) and “one of Jah Cure’s most personal records to date…spans a rich, sonic palette, coupled with a wide-range of themes” (MTV Iggy).

In support of his new album, Jah Cure is currently touring Europe until end of August – closing at Spain’s renowned Rototom Festival. U.S. fans can catch him aboard the Welcome To Jamrock Reggae Cruise, leaving twice this year either on November 30 or December 5 from Miami, FL.

With his beguiling vocals and soulful conviction, Jah Cure effortlessly blends street poetry and sufferer’s tales with beautiful love ballads into his new album The Cure. The 13-track set is a return to roots reggae and lover’s rock with R&B and pop-fused elements. Jah Cure co-produced the entire album with the help of reggae producers like Christopher “Sketch” Carey, Clive Hunt, Llamar “Riff Raff” Brown, Justin “Jus Bus” Nation and Trevor “Baby G” James.

The Cure features recent hits like his #1 reggae chart-topping John Legend cover “All of Me” (which received over 5 million YouTube views), “Rasta,” “That Girl” and “Life We Live” as well as brand new singles including “Show Love,” “No Friend of Mine,” “Made In California,” “I Surrender” and more. Jah Cure’s multi-faceted story of struggle and love is intertwined into The Cure. “My struggles made me who I am today. That’s why I sing with feelings, it comes from my heart cause I feel the pain. Who feels it knows it,” he states.

Purchase The Cure on iTunes now: http://smarturl.it/JCTheCure

Don Carlos

The organizers for the Cali Roots Festival present a new two-day Northern California-based event for 2015, the Dry Diggings Festival.  Situated in historic gold mining country in Placerville, California  a locale which once held the name Dry Diggings in the El Dorado county region outside of Sacramento, the event billed as a music, camping and beer festival, has a variety of  activities to close out the 2015 festival season.

Music groups are selected by event organizers California Roots Presents and reflect the unique nature of the West Coast reggae style music genre that has attracted capacity crowds at their sister Cali Roots festival event held in Monterey, California each May for the past 6 years. The lineup includes Tribal Seeds, Collie Buddz, Nahko and Medicine for the People, JBoog, Don Carlos, Zion I, Through the Roots, Josh Heinrichs, Hirie, Makua Rothman, Seedless, Thrive, Inna Vision, Leilani Wolfgramm, Mystic Roots, Arise Roots, Skanks Roots Project, Brodi Nicholas with more artists to be announced in August. 

The Dry Diggings festival will be held at the 6,000 capacity El Dorado County Fairgrounds in the scenic Sierra Nevada mountain range foothills.  As to the motivation behind this inaugural event, California Roots Presents co-producer Dan Sheehan explains, “The idea of going to a new market to do a new show that included camping was the driving force for us, as we don’t have camping on site at Monterey.  Doing a camping festival for both Jeff (Monser co-producer of Cali Roots Festival) and I was something that was desirable and to include all the bands that we love and include beer, it was a win-win.  The foothills are a special place and Placerville is a really cool town with a strong history.  The name of the event is a play on the gold rush history of the town.” 

Zion I

Attendees have the option of camping on site by purchasing the Full Festival Experience or Full Festival Experience VIP passes.  These include a 2 day festival and camping pass.  Festival attendees have the option to park and attend the festival without camping as well, and single day tickets will be on sale closer to the event in September.

The event will feature 30 different vendors and a beer garden.  Four premier breweries; Sierra Nevada Brewing, Lagunitas Brewing, Altamont and Firestone Walker  will all feature a wide variety of beers.   

Ticket holders that choose to purchase the VIP Festival experience pass will have access to a VIP lounge with light snacks, side stage viewing, a VIP bar and select sponsor gifts.

Sponsors for the first annual Dry Diggings Festival include Trip Zero, an organization that initiates carbon offsets to minimize the environmental impact the festival goer makes by creating options that diminish emissions and replace high impact activities with more sustainable options in terms of accommodations, transportation and waste management. 

The setting at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds  with the backdrop of the Sierra Nevada mountains will be enhanced with special lighting and art murals throughout to create a festive atmosphere. The Dry Diggings festival will prove to be the regional highlight of the 2015 summer festival season as it concludes.   To purchase tickets visit the festival website www.drydiggingsfestival.com.