Meet Former PM Of Jamaica Edward Seaga At VP Retail Store In NYC

On Saturday, October 27th, music and politics will collide at the VP Retail Outlet in Queens, New York when former Prime Minister of Jamaica, the Hon. Edward Seaga will make a special appearance for an autograph signing session for the new disc ‘Reggae Golden Jubilee – Origins of Jamaican Music.’

For the four disc deluxe compilation ‘Reggae Golden Jubilee – Origins of Jamaican Music,’ Mr. Seaga handpicked 100 significant songs to emerge from the country to celebrate the island’s half-century turn of liberation. The compilation encapsulates every era over the last 50 years with hits from artists including Bob Marley and The Wailers, Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, Marcia Griffiths, Lady Saw, Buju Banton, Warrior King, Shaggy, Sean Paul, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley and many more.

To accompany the music, Edward Seaga wrote an extensive liner notes and track-by-track notations in the box set’s 64-page booklet. The commemorative package also includes photographs from Jamaica’s first fifty years, a preface from VP Records President Christopher Chin and a foreword from radio personality Dermot Hussey and reggae historian John Masouri.

It was while researching in the 1950’s, the Hon. Edward Seaga heard a new kind of music in West Kingston slums, and called on Byron Lee to develop and popularize the fast tempo “Ska” which was slowed in 1964 to the powerful “RockSteady” beat by band-leader Lynn Taitt during a studio-recording, and then by others to the popular “Reggae.”

He put his money where his mouth was and operated West Indies Record Limited (WIRL) until he sold it to Byron Lee (Dynamic Sounds). He was also a contemporary of Dadda Tewari-Maragh who owned Tropical Records and many famous cinemas your grandparents attended. Tivoli Courts was a part of the Tewari-Maragh estate on Spanish Town Road.