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 Maroon
Town, a celebrated British band was in Chennai recently to perform
at The Other Festival and also to conduct a workshop at the
Vineyard Centre. The exciting nine piece band which combines
ska, rap, breakbeat and dub in a high energy musical fusion takes
its name from a remote upland community in Jamaica, formed by runaway
slaves.
The multiracial band Maroon Town started life in Brixton eleven
years ago and has released four critically acclaimed albums to world
success. Their inspiring live act has been performed at prestigious
venues and festivals all over the continent, from Scandanavia to
Spain.
 The
workshop at Vineyard Centre in itself was very different and interactive
all the way. In fact half way through the workshop, an all Chennai
band (formed on the spot) started playing ‘ska’ with the
Maroon Town band members
Maroon Town has toured Canada, Barbados, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, Brunei,
Indonesia Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan with British Council and has
developed these workshops, which have been delivered to a variety
of participants. The objective in these workshops is to create
a fun, spontaneous space where participants can express themselves
and participate in creating music. The keywords being fun and spontaneity
because the band believes that these elements underpin creativity,
co-operation and self-expression, which are the doors to music creation.
 After
a creative musical introduction of the band with each band members
displaying their proficiency with their instruments or their voices,
the band got down to the basics. The band provided insights into
the development of ska, reggae, rap and hip-hop, their influence
on contemporary British music as well as illustrations of how each
instrument fits with the rest of the group.
| The
Band |
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Lenval Brown, the passionate lyrical rappist
of the group joined Maroon Town in 1991.
Belinda James, aka 'Blue' and Sandra James
aka Sanjay are the female vocalists of the
band.
Martin Carling on the Drums is a professional
musician and has worked for various artists.
Simon Finch on the trumpet and Jamie Anderson
on the Saxophone make up the ‘brass section’
of the band.
Rajan Datar, who handles the keyboards and samples
is co-founder of Maroon Town and has been involved in
music for over 13 years now.
Michael Choi on the Bass guitar has studied
Advanced Jazz Bass under the tutelage of Joe Hubbard.
He has also worked and recorded with leading artists
like Madonna and so on.
Jim Wood on the keyboards also works up some
special effects and is the ‘noise doctor’
of the band.
Kerry Aldred Preacher is the sound engineer
of the band, who can teach a step or two of Jamican
dance.
Deuan German, Manager and Guitarist of the band
first picked up an instrument at the age of 20 and is
self-taught on the guitar. He co-founded Maroon Town
in 1987 with Rajan Datar. He also negotiated what is
perhaps the largest ever deal for an unsigned, independent
band from a major corporate sponsor - Dr Martens.
This unprecedented deal gave the band total control
over their artistic development.
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The Music
Ska is music you will love the first time you hear
it. Ska is a form of dance music that was popular in
Jamaica in the 1960s. American musical influences in
the 1950's and local folk forms combining mento and
calypso with the R&B, swing, boogie-woogie, early
rock and jazz made ska.
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Author :Joseph Pradeep Raj R
Photographs : V Ganesan |
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