Busy Signal’s festive message

By Gabriel_Heatwave |
Wednesday 31 December 2008 |
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I was going to include these two Busy Signal tracks in the post on Caribbean Christmas carols but I thought they deserved their own shine. Also, neither track makes explicit reference to Christmas - though the chimes, accordion and vocal lament of Nine Night are all pretty Christmassy:

MP3: Busy Signal - Nine Night

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Done Wid Di War features a festive glockenspiel and a seasonal message of goodwill, as well as being the kind of song you'd expect to hear blasting out over the PA at an outdoor ice rink:

MP3: Busy Signal - Done Wid Di War

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Lyrically, like the Delly Ranx and Assassin tunes featured last week, both of these songs are all about peace over war. Or, er, glockenspiel over Glock. Which seems like a good sentiment with which to end the year.

And what a year it's been for Busy Signal - even though Vybz Kartel was crowned DJ (MC) of the year, Busy has got to be my pick for Jamaican artist of 2008.

He's been prolific but also consistent, putting out hit after hit with nary a miss or a turkey between them. Unlike Kartel, he hasn't got involved in the war business and also unlike Kartel, he's got a fine singing voice with or without autotune assistance.

Busy's second long-player, Loaded, is certainly loaded with big tunes and is sufficiently varied - both musically and lyrically - to really work as an album. And he dropped one of the most hype and interesting tracks of the year, Get Bright, which for some reason I still haven't featured on this blog. I guess there's a first resolution to be getting on with for the new year...