Alkaline is looking to rock the parties this summer with Holiday Again, produced by Ainsley ‘Not Nice’ Morris. The song has the potential to become another hit for the lanky deejay, who has been riding a wave of popularity with songs like Move Mountains, 123, and Things Mi Like.

The 20-year-old Alkaline (real name Earlan Bartley) emerged last year and has kept a steady pace with a number of well-received songs.

He recently completed a five-week tour of Europe which saw him performing in Germany, France and Switzerland.

“The tour overall was a good experience and I got the opportunity to interact with my fans once more and that is always a pleasure,” he said.

Alkaline spoke to this column about the benefits of being on the road.

“I think I’m better able to control my audience now. Going around performing in various countries to people with different cultures forces you to get out of your comfort zone and to really work hard to get a solid reaction from the crowd,” he explained.

In addition to Holiday Again, Alkaline has recorded new songs for a number of producers including Andrew ‘Anju Blaxx’ Myrie (UIM Records), Kimani ‘DJ Frass’ Palmer and Not Nice.

He has several Caribbean dates in the works including St Kitts, Trinidad and Tobago, St Maarten, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Belize.

New single from Ky-enie

Singer Ky-enie has released the patriotic Land of my Birth, produced by Andre ‘Dre-tegs’ Hawthorne. He says a surge of nationality inspired the song.

“The whole inspiration and vibration for Land of my Birth came about from talks in the streets that I am not Jamaican, so I set out with the intention to write a song to state my identity, my nationality, my birthplace,” he said. “I also wanted something that was out of the box in the sense of being a little more uptempo from my regular love songs and and I feel I’ve captured that essence with Land of my Birth.”

Ky-enie says he wrote the song two years ago. After returning from a promotional trek in Europe, he linked with Hawthorne for a live album and Land of my Birth was thrown into the mix.

A video for the song, directed by Dario Magix, was recently shot in Jamaica.

The 33-year-old Ky-enie was born in Ocho Rios. He migrated to the United States 10 years ago.

Alborosie debuts on Billboard

Italian singer Alborosie debuts at number seven on Billboard’s Reggae Album chart with Specialist Presents Alborosie & Friends. The double CD is distributed by Greensleeves Records.

The 25-track set features collaborations with Etana, Busy Signal, Ky-mani Marley, Lady Ann, Jah Cure, Nikki Burt, I-Eye, Gramps Morgan, Mykal Rose, Steel Pulse, Gentleman and Sizzla, among others.

Born Alberto D’Ascola, the 37-year-old artiste won a MOBO Award for Best Reggae Act in 2011.

Alborosie is one of the best touring acts in contemporary reggae, having established a strong base in Europe, Central and South America.