Caribbean Entertainment News Roundup

By NAN ET Editor

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Friday, Nov. 1, 2019: Here are the top headlines making news on the Caribbean entertainment scene for this week:

Caribbean Artists MIA From ‘No Music For ICE’ Protest

More than 1,000 music artists have signed on to an open letter that threatens to cut all business ties with Amazon over the work of its gargantuan Amazon Web Services subsidiary contracts with government agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. But Caribbean artists are MIA from the protest.

As of Thursday, the letter signed by musicians on Amazon, had no Caribbean artists signed on. Singer Rihanna, who has been a major critic of Donald Trump’s immigration policies, has a contract with Amazon herself so don’t expect to see her name on the list.

The artists wants Amazon to “terminate existing contracts with military, law enforcement, and government agencies (ICE, CBP, ORR) that commit human rights abuses; stop providing Cloud services & tools to organizations (such as Palantir) that power the US government’s deportation machine; end projects that encourage racial profiling and discrimination, such as Amazon’s facial recognition product and reject future engagements w/ aforementioned bad actors.”

“We will not allow Amazon to exploit our creativity to promote its brand while it enables attacks on immigrants, communities of color, workers, and local economies. We call on all artists who believe in basic rights and human dignity to join us,” the letter states in part.

Amazon Web Services bills itself as a cloud platform that provides the infrastructure — the highway part of the information superhighway — for things like the music that you hear when clicking play on Spotify, the show you’re watching on Netflix or the airline tickets you’re thinking of purchasing on Expedia.

The letter is the latest public challenge to tech companies’ relationships with agencies such as ICE and CBP. Last year, 650 employees of business software company Salesforce petitioned Marc Benioff, its CEO, to cancel its contract with CBP. In August, more than 1,000 employees of Google did the same. This past July, Amazon Web Services itself was protested against over the same issue, this time outside the Javits Center in New York City, where it was holding an AWS summit.

If you are an artist looking to add your name to the letter, fill out this form.

Rihanna’s Self-Titled Autobiography Costs A Whopping $150

Will you shell out USD 150 for Rihanna’s self-titled autobiography? That’s the question for many of her Caribbean fans but like it or not, the coffee table book on the Bajan star, 31, hit bookshelves on Thursday. It features 504 pages and 1,050 intimate photos and a behind-the-scenes peek at her glamorous life. The $150 hardcover book also includes a custom-designed black carton with a carrying handle as it weighs 15 pounds. It is available online at therihannabook.com.

Reggaeton And The Latin Grammy’s

While Bad Bunny and Sech are performing at this year’s Latin Grammy’s, set for Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena on November 14, from 8 – 11PM ET, the event this year has no Reggaeton category. Artists like Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, and Karol G were quick to criticize the awards show, mobilizing behind the “Sin Reggaeton, No Hay Latin Grammys” maxim that circulated across social media for weeks. But regardless, it seems the Grammy’s are moving ahead despite the snub from many reggaeton artists.

Former Voice Winner Is Now Married

Former Voice winner, Jamaican recording artist Tessanne Chin, has announced to her 207,000 followers via her Instagram account that she married her baby’s father, Brandon. The couple announced their nuptials via a photo posted on Chin’s Instagram account dated Oct. 6, 2019. She announced on Sept. 10, 2019 that she was expecting a child with her new husband. This is the second marriage for Chin, who was previously married to broadcaster Michael Anthony Cuff, Jr. in 2011 after a year-long engagement. The couple divorced in 2015.

Reggae Culture Salute Pays Tribute To The Wailers

The Coalition to Preserve Reggae Music, Inc., (CPR), a Brooklyn organization, will celebrate the UNESCO inscription of reggae as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity with a Tribute to the Wailers at Reggae Culture Salute 2019 on Saturday, November 2nd from 7 p.m.

Wailer, the sole surviving member of The Wailers trio will be on hand for a VIP reception and to receive the CPR Pinnacle Award for Excellence on behalf of the trio at the Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts, [LIU] One University Plaza, Brooklyn.

The Wailers Tribute Trio will also perform music of The Wailers from the 60s and 70s while the CPR Allstars will perform music from the solo careers of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. For more see https://www.facebook.com/CPRReggae/

Billboard Reggae Charts

Stick Figure’s ‘World On Fire’ has maintained the number one spot on the Billboard Reggae Charts for the 7th week. It marks now eight weeks since the group has been on the chart.