We are extremely excited to have confirmed, the hottest dancehall artiste in the business, Mavado as one of the headline performers at Irie Jamboree 2008, North America’s premier reggae festival. This is Mavado’s first performance in the USA in more than one year. Fans have been eagerly awaiting his return and we feel confident that he will deliver a memorable performance for his fans in New York.

For the record, Irie Jamboree Inc. has been having ongoing discussions with Mavado’s manager Julian Griffiths for the past few months for the artiste to appear at Irie Jamboree 2008. Once we received official confirmation last week from his management team that he was cleared to travel and work in the USA, he was immediately booked for the event. Once he arrives in New York, we will put together an aggressive schedule of ethnic and Urban press so he can explain details of his career and what are his plans for the future.

Mavado (born David Constantine Brooks) in 1981 gave the world the critically acclaimed debut album Gangsta for Life: The Symphony of David Brooks, which includes hit singles “Fathers Prayer”, “Cassava Piece Radio”, “Sadness”, “Gully Side”, and “On The Go (Faster Than Bullet)  which was dedicated to Olympic Gold medal winner Asafa Powell.

A unique feature of this year’s festival is that the entire event will be a tribute to all Caribbean athletes now competing at the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. A special Usain Bolt tent will be established at the event and it will be appropriately dressed in Jamaican colors and used as one of the VIP suites. This effort of setting up the Usain Bolt tent will be supported by Digicel, one of the lead sponsors for Irie Jamboree. This follows on the close relationships between Usain, Digicel and Irie Jam Radio at the Reebok Grand Prix in late May when Usain first created pandemonium by smashing Asafa Powell’s sprint record to become a contender for the title of the fastest man on earth. We will also work with sponsors Western Union, Pay-o-matic and Grace Kennedy to decorate the “Veronica Campbell-Brown” Media Tent which will honor our Olympic Queens at the event. The food court will also be re-named the “Caribbean Olympic Village” to honor all Caribbean athletes who competed at the Olympic Games this year.  

Other confirmed acts include King Yellow, Beenieman, Alison Hinds, the  “Queen of Soca,” Coco Tea, Sizzla, Elephant Man and rising reggae stars Serani, Admiral Bailey, Bugle, DeMarco, Konshens, Tanya Mullings, Little Hero, RDX, Elvis D, Ragga Lox, Empire Isis, Benny Bwoy, Lushy Banton, Prestige and others.

Irie Jamboree takes place this year on Labor Day Sunday, August 31, 2008 at Roy Wilkins Park, Queens, New York.

For Irie Jamboree tickets, please call 888 IRIE NYC or visit iriejamboree.com