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Bluenote

Melissa Cohen

Reggae is the music truest to my heart and where I find solace in any situation.I fell in love with reggae when I was a kid. When UB40 was topping the charts worldwide and Eric Clapton’s version of ‘I Shot the Sheriff’ was still popular amongst our parents. A time long before I was aware of its history, catalog or that these radio friendly artists were playing reggae influenced music at all. As a young teen I discovered reggae rhythms being used by the punk bands I loved like Bad Brains and Operation Ivy. These bands lead me to the Jazz influenced Ska sounds coming out of Jamaica from the 50’s and 60’s and beyond.  The Story of Jamaican music is much greater than the stereotypical version we see out on the streets and in clubs, and is a seemingly endless breadth of work. Over the last 30 years since I unknowingly fell in love with Reggae Music I have gone down many musical rabbit holes, but the masterful art that comes from this tiny island will always be top ranking.