BUJU BANTON’S RASTA GOT SOUL NOMINATED FOR GRAMMY
Documentary-Style Video For New Single “Optimistic Soul” To Drop Early 2010 -
Since its release, the album has received rave reviews from an array of international media outlets including Billboard, Exclaim!, Hip-Hop Weekly and All Music Guide, who called the album an “instant classic.” Project highlights include “Magic City,” “I Rise,” “A Little Bit Of Sorry,” “Rastafari,” “Sense Of Purpose” featuring Bunny Rugs of Third World and “Bedtime Story” featuring Wyclef. A documentary-style video for the new single“Optimistic Soul” will be released next month.
This prestigious Grammy nod for Rasta Got Soul is the artist’s official fourth. Banton was previously acknowledged by the Recording Academy for his albums Too Bad (2007)Friends for Life (2004) and Inna Heights(1999).
FOUR TIME GRAMMY NOMINATED REGGAE STAR BUJU BANTON WRAPS HISTORIC RASTA GOT SOUL US TOUR IN THE SUNSHINE STATE
Music Video For New Single “Optimistic Soul” Documents Final Leg Of Outing -
Gargamel Music, Inc. is proud to announcethat four-time Grammy nominated Reggae icon Buju Banton successfully wrapped the final leg of his Rasta Got Soul US Tour with a string of successful dates in the Sunshine State last week. The roots rocking revue, which featured opening acts Gramps Morgan of Morgan Heritage, vocalists Nikki Burt and Angel Shalome, plus special guest Wayne Wonder, steered its way into Florida for five stellar performances in Melbourne, Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami and Orlando.
In just seven short but eventful weeks, Banton, backed by his Shiloh Band, played jam packed venues in Philadelphia, Bladensburg, Providence, New Haven, Portland, Boston, Rochester,Newark, Charlotte, Norfolk, Ann Arbor, Cincinnati, Columbus, Denver, Aspen, Berkeley, San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Los Angeles, San Diego, Albuquerque, Dallas, Austin, Houston andAtlanta. Despite the misguided efforts to derail his musical movement, Buju Banton’s Rasta Got Soul US Tour proved unstoppable with nearly 30,000 fans attending 32 shows across the country, making it the biggest-selling Reggae tour of the year.
The last few days of the Rasta Got Soul US Tour also served as the perfect backdrop to lens an accompanying video clip for Buju’s rousing new single “Optimistic Soul” and a special behind-the- scenes documentary short entitled This Is Buju Banton. Gargamel Music partnered with esteemed Atlanta-based photographer/videographer Zach Wolfe (www.zachwolfe.com), who simultaneously shot and directed both projects guerrilla style.
Meanwhile, the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) publicly chided the gay community for trying to silence Buju Banton for “Boom Bye Bye,” a twenty-year-old song that he does not promote, perform or profit from today. “It is disheartening that some of our colleagues in the gay and lesbian equality movement have embraced censorship as a tactic,” begins the official statement recently printed in the Op Ed section of the Miami Herald. “This is terribly short-sighted: Giving the government the power to censor messages it thinks are dangerous never advances the cause of equality and freedom.” READ COMPLETE ACLU STATEMENT HERE!