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Entertainment

Beats of a Wizard

Howard Campbell

Friday, November 02, 2012



The producer known as The Wizard manages a wry smile when asked if she has any issues giving her real name.

"No, not all. Nastasia Hammond," she said with a shrug.

Relaxing in the foyer of Harmony House studio in St Andrew, Hammond was taking a break from a listening session for songs done on the rootstronic beat, a new sound she helped create.

"I think a lot of people (abroad) are looking at dancehall and think we are stuck in one mode. Maybe it's time to try something different," she told the Jamaica Observer.

Rootstronic — a fusion of roots-reggae and electronica — is worlds apart from the lover's rock sound her father Beres Hammond has patented for over 20 years.

Singer Courtney John has already recorded several songs to rootstronic, which are scheduled to be out in full force in coming weeks.

Hammond has plans to record top dancehall artistes on rootstronic beats, but is in no hurry to do so, preferring to be selective about the acts she works with.

A trained drummer (she did one year at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts), Hammond has produced songs for her father, Assassin, Tifa, Beenie Man, Cherine Anderson and Canadian singer Kreesha Turner.

Though she admires old school artistes like Peter Tosh and Errol Dunkley, it is making music her generation can identify with that excites Hammond most.

"I'm really looking forward to this project taking off. If we stick to the same thing it's going to be outdated

And you're going to be left behind," she said.



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