Artist of The Month: Meet Jah Turban!

Jah Turban

Meet Jah Turban! I know what you’re thinking, believe me I do - “Achis you haven’t done an artist of the month in years and years”. And you’re right, I haven’t, but I had a good excuse - I didn’t feel like it. But now, motivation restored, I’m going to tell you about an artist who has to be one of my favourites RIGHT NOW (in terms of his progression), that I’ve covered thus far, Jah Turban. The WICKED Spanish Town born chanter becomes only the second Jamaican born artist that I’ve featured thus far (after Naptali) and with good reason. Although he was born in Jamaica, Jah Turban doesn’t flow inside the same ‘typical’ channels. No. Chances are you may not have even heard of some of the labels and producers which he has voiced for, because like so many acts these days, Turban has found his calling and his audience in the Reggae starving Europe. However, he hasn’t gone to usual places such as the UK, Germany, France or even The Netherlands. No, Jah Turban has made his musical home in Denmark of all places and has made his international name making music for labels such as my good friends at Burton Records for whom he dropped ‘Perseverance’ on their Strike Back Riddim [pictured] late last year.

And perhaps even more notably, Jah Turban recorded the hype herbalist tune, ‘Pass Me The Ganja’ for Juicy Halftone’s HUGE riddim project, the Alis [pictured], earlier this year as well as having reached Food Palace’s popular Colliemonster track from last year as well. The latter composition featured Jah Turban on the riddim alongside such stars as Sizzla Kalonji, Vybz Kartel, Turbulence, Prezident Brown and even the late Natasja.

I’d like to make a connection between the artist’s name and going into his actual style. While certainly he is a dynamic Roots Reggae artist, Jah Turban’s style, as his name might suggest, can definitely be described as ’no frills’. There are no Hip-Hop 'flavours' or ’overtures’ in his style, it’s just straight chanting for His Imperial Majesty and it just so happens that I LOVE that style (obviously). Certainly place Turban in the area of others such as Lutan Fyah, Jah Mason, Anthony B, Perfect etc. and what I think most distinguishes himself from them is his approximation of ENERGY. I really like the way he seems to basically throw himself on the track, with full passion and even when the intensity isn’t SO high, he still really goes after the riddim.

So obviously the next step for Jah Turban, after having dropped quite a few singles and appearing on international compilations, is an album. We’re still waiting on that, however, to hold the vibes high until such time, Jah Turban has linked with yet another Danish imprint, SJP Records which is blessing the masses with a VERY nice six track EP from the artist which is not to be missed, ”Africa Is Our Home” [pictured].

The EP features what is probably Turban’s biggest tune to date and the one for which he has a video, the outstanding (and Lutan Fyah-ish) ‘Babylon U Doom’, as well five other really impressive selections, including ‘Move Vampire’ which sounds VERY promising (you can hear the entire thing on Juno). The EP is set to be internationally released, digitally, on December 3 (and we’ll be picking it up), but if you do not want to wait, you can pick it up right now at SJP’s website, Skyjuice.dk. Despite the fact that he’s apparently fully based in Denmark, I definitely would like to see Turban return to the Caribbean and start mixing amongst some of the more familiar producers, but that’s certainly not to say that he is suffering where he is, because apparently SJP, whoever they may be has been really good to him and he, in turn, has been really good to the fans - Releasing QUALITY material.

So keep an eye and two ears out for Jah Turban. The EP drops worldwide on December 3 and hopefully we can get to know him a bit better (album album album!) in 2011, because a very strong talent like his is just too fucking big for Denmark right??? (biggup Denmark!).

Jah Turban @ Myspace