INTERNATIONAL Reggae star Buju Banton will make his long-awaited return to the stage at the highly anticipated Before The Dawn Concert taking place in South Florida during Martin Luther King, Jr Weekend. Banton, who is currently out on bail and awaiting retrial in February, has not performed live in over a year.

Produced by Rocker’s Island Entertainment, the Buju Banton & Friends Before The Dawn Concert will also feature performances by some of Jamaican music’s elite: Stephen Marley, Wayne Wonder, Sly & Robbie, Gramps Morgan, Shaggy and Freddie McGregor, with even more names to be announced in the next few weeks.

“The concept is to reunite with the fans and thank them personally for the tremendous level of support they have shown to me during these turbulent times,” explains Buju. “I look forward to touching the stage once more and coming together with the masses in a spirit of togetherness, harmony, unification and solidarity.”

The Buju Banton & Friends Before The Dawn Concert is set for Sunday, January 16 at Bayfront Park Amphitheater in downtown Miami.

In other Buju Banton news, the acclaimed artiste has received his fifth Grammy nomination in the Best Reggae Album category for his prophetic new project, Before The Dawn.

Recorded mostly at his own Gargamel Music studio in Kingston, the album boasts some of the most powerful songs written by Banton since his professional entry into the music business over twenty years ago.

Banton was previously acknowledged by the Recording Academy for his albums Rasta Got Soul (2009), Too Bad (2007), Friends for Life (2004) and Inna Heights (1999).