Global streaming giant TIDAL has tapped several Jamaican artists and music personalities as it prepares to celebrate International Reggae Day on July 1st.
In a release, the streaming service, which is now available in Caribbean countries like Jamaica, said that the platform is celebrating the legacy of Reggae with a flagship playlist of some of the greatest reggae hits in the world.
In addition to a flagship playlist celebrating the genre, TIDAL has also tapped iconic artists in the genre, including the legendary Sting, Shaggy, Sean Paul, and Jamaica’s ZJ Sparks, to curate exclusive playlists.
The playlists will be released this Friday and promise to bring “fascinating insights into each artist’s own unique taste in Reggae and Dancehall, ranging from classics and UK hits to cutting-edge dancehall,” TIDAL’s Reggae and Dancehall editor Reshma B said.
“The whole world loves the vibes of Jamaican music, which has spread all over the planet and impacted popular culture at every level. As the reggae & dancehall curator at TIDAL it’s important for me to celebrate all aspects of this music every day on the platform — from my monthly TIDAL magazine column “Murda She Wrote,” to carefully curated playlists and exclusive video content.”
She added, “we always do something special for International Reggae Day and this year we took it to another level with a selection of exclusive guest playlists by respected artists and DJs from around the world—all of whom continue to spread this music to the four corners of the earth. We have some incredible playlists by legendary artists and DJs this year. Big up to Sparkie who went extra hard and laced us with 100 songs—and I believe she had more!”
ZJ Sparks also spoke to Urban Islandz, noting that she was honored to be working alongside the other artistes in sharing some of the best reggae songs with the world.
“Jamaica has produced so many genres of music, even though they didn’t want some of the songs to be too old, Jamaica has a lot of musical genres that we have sent to the world, lots of artistes, we’re not only the sprinting capital of the Caribbean but also the music factory of the Caribbean,” she began.
“You know when I created the list, I ended up with 151 songs. Reshma B had asked me to submit 15; I could easily have done 500, but I submitted a list of 151 which I felt pretty much represented a broad cross section of Jamaican artistes from then, not too far back, to present day,” she continued.
She added, “I think that persons who are not too familiar with the genre will get an idea and a feel as to what we are about. I feel very privileged and it’s an honour when persons outside of Jamaica recognize your contributions to the industry.”
The playlists will be live on TIDAL on Friday:
