With many music writers always seeking to classify and categorize Jamaican music, I am happy to share this on-time conversation with Alanna Stuart. Alanna is one half of the musical duo Bonjay. She is an amazingly talented singer, songwriter, and producer who recognizes her roots as a third Jamaican, a third Grenadian, and perhaps, a third complicated by the great white North that is the Canada of her upbringing. Tune in for conversation about voice, language and how they define our identities (personal, musical, and cultural). This episode features "Want a Gang” by Bonjay. It was released in 2010 on the album “Broughtupsy.” You can stream all of Alanna’s/ Bonjay's/ Pyne's music and purchase it via the Bandcamp app. Take a listen, and hear the noise that runs through her blood to form, complicate, and constantly reconstruct her identity.
~ Riddim Writer.
Suggested reading: Carolyn Cooper's Noises in the Blood: Orality, Gender, and The "Vulgar" Body of Jamaican Popular Culture (1993).
