Whilst it might appear that digitalisation has both suppressed live musical instrumentation and led the youth away from the musician’s path, there are encouraging signs and statements to the contrary. One such was made recently at Kingston’s.
A Jamaican Christmas is one like no other, especially when some of those uniquely Jamaican Christmas songs are factored into the equation. The essence of it will always surround the word ‘family’. And that ‘irie’, familial feeling is exactly what is warmly conjured in Dean Fraser’s just-released Nyabinghi Christmas album, on which he liberally sprinkles a collection of traditional favourites with the recognisable, Jamaican beat.
For his first solo project of this nature, the acclaimed saxophonist teams up with Nyabinghi drummers and a cadre of musical maestros for 16 tracks on which the instruments speak eloquently the language of love, through Christmas melodies. Actually, there is in fact one tiny voice. It is heard in the intro on the third track,