VIDEO: Tarrus Riley magic
OMAR ‘Tarrus’ Riley, though quite young has been a staple on the reggae/lovers’ rock/one drop stage in Jamaica for almost a decade.
Born to veteran reggae singer Jimmy Riley and ‘bathroom singer’/nurse mother Lavern, Tarrus recorded his major hit She’s Royal for his 2006 album Parables and then became a household name.
Much hasn’t changed since then.
Last week, Press Record sat with Tarrus as he did his last rehearsal session — before flying to Europe today for a series of 26 shows in 28 days — at Mikey Bennett’s famous Grafton Studios.
The hour-long rehearsal session, backed by a group of friends which he calls BLAKSOIL — Bredren Living According to King Selassie-I Overstanding & Iritical Livity — runs the gamut of his discography and it is plain to see that they have the set down to a science.
It is obvious that 2012 will be a busy year, as Tarrus revealed that he will be releasing a couple projects this year — Mecoustic; a lovers’ rock album, and the world can even expect something with Damion Marley, TOK and a couple other artistes.
Talking about Mecoustic Tarrus said that this offering is very personal to him.
“Mecoustic is an album that I see as a classic. It has some songs that we had recorded before people knew who Tarrus is and I wanted to share that with the world,” Tarrus told Press Record.
His musical director Dean Fraser, said in a release to the media that: “It took us a year to finish the album. The direction musically is the same as always, good music. We want the fans that turn up their nose when hard-core reggae reach them, get a chance to play this album that carries the same message with a more relaxing musical accompaniment.”
The 15-track acoustic album, features collaborations with dub poet Cherry Natural, and Riley’s father and will be released in European markets on April 17.
See how Tarrus Riley jams as he prepares to go on tour, how he views his legacy, the state of the music industry and how he reacts to being named TEENage Observer’s Best Performer of 2012. All that and more in our new, exclusive in-studio interview Press Record on the Jamaica Observer website or on YouTube.com/TEENageObserver.
