Independent music label Tasjay Productions continues to be a driving force for authentic Jamaican reggae music in the international marketplace.
The label continues to make the kind of music that is a wonderful salutation to the way reggae music cuts across social and cultural barriers. The label is churning out a lot of music at a terrific rate in 2020 despite the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic. One of its new offerings comes from Rad Dixon, a talented young artiste that is the flagship label artiste.
“Well, what’s new for Rad Dixon, and Tasjay Productions is a new song with Rad Dixon and Kimmy which we will be released in May 2020. We released Horace Martin’s ‘Arise’ album which was released in March on all digital online platforms . We also have a Rad Dixon’s ‘Change’ EP with five new tracks with an exciting, unpredictable kind of reggae vibes which is on all online platforms,” Tasjay James Smith, the 17 year-old chief executive officer of Tasjay Productions, said.
He is currently in grade 11 at the South Fleet District high school. Smith is formally trained in playing the clarinet, and in his spare time, he taught himself how to play the keyboard and to build computerized reggae and dancehall rhythms. One day, he hopes to learn how to play the guitar well. In the future, he wants to become a mechanical engineer once he completes university. But for now, music is his primary obsession.
“I listen to all the reggae greats like Marley, Dennis Brown, Bob Andy and we are trying to build a label with independent artistes who can push for black self-determination and social justice all over the world, that’s what reggae is all about,” he said.
The music on the Horace Martin album is expected to push the average reggae listener into sonic overdrive with great bass-driven instrumentals and sun-dappled roots reggae grooves. The result is a powerful collection of vocal and percussion-led music that will push the boundaries of reggae into the 21st century.
“We are also doing a various artistes album project featuring the likes of Anthony B, Lucio, Little Hero and label artiste Rad Dixon,” the teenager, who was born in New York to Jamaican parents, said.
The tracks of the various artistes project run the gamut of New World Order-burning anthems to exquisite niyabinghis with digital accentuation to traditional roots reggae, all combining to provide a fantastically balanced work, a musical masterpiece, if you will. The album, which will be produced by Delroy ‘Fatta’ Pottinger and Smith’s Tasjay Productions, will also feature tracks from Tony Anthony, Horace Martin, Patcha Blacks, Jah Touch and Kimmy Gold.
Other upcoming projects include Teacha Dee and Rad Dixon’s “Keep the Children Safe”, and another various artistes reggae-dancehall album in conjunction with DJ Treasure Music set for release in the last quarter of 2020.
“We have to trust that this pandemic will end, and when it does, we will once again entertain the public with quality reggae music as we celebrate life, and we emerge out of this darkness,” Mr. Smith concluded.
