Damian Marley – European Exclusive

From Jamaica to Benicassim in a European exclusive, and his first time in Spain, comes the artist that could not be absent from the celebrations of our 20th edition.  Out of all Bob Marley’s children, Damian has been the most well known in recent years due to his enormous talent and his ability to modernise Jamaican music whilst respecting its key elements and traditions: many artists, not only Jamaicans, are strongly influenced by his vocal flow and versatility.

Damian Marley was born in 1978 and released his first album titled “Mr. Marley” in 1996. Five years later, his second CD “Halfway Tree” was one of the best albums of the year and deservedly won the Grammy for its category, while his third album “Welcome to Jamrock” was a genuinely explosive success for which he won another Grammy in 2005. He won a third Grammy for the which gives the album its title, an extraordinary portrait of the frustration of life in the Jamaican ghettos and surely one of the best reggae songs of the decade!

A later  masterpiece is the 2010 album “Distant Relatives”, made in collaboration with the hip-hop star Nas,  while a subsequent chapter in his career is marked by his participation in the Superheavy project alongside Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, Dave Stewart, Joss Stone and the Indian composer A.R. Rahman. Damian is tireless: after the dancehall single “Set Up Shop” he collaborated with the dustep genius Skrillex for the incredible “Make it Bun Dem” in 2012, while other recent singles such as “Affairs of the Heart” and “Dem Neva Mek It” (in addition to Set Up Shop) are included in the Marley Youths digital compilation “Set up shop vol. 1” which is out now.