Burning Spear To Perform In Israel For First Time In 30 years
Two-time Grammy Award winner Burning Spear will performing in Israel on August 14 and 15, for the first time in 30 years.
The Marcus Garvey singer will perform at the Barby Club in Tel Aviv on Monday August 14 and at the Isaac Ochberg Park in Megiddo, the following night.
“People of Israel. Burning Spear fans; Reggae fans I man Winston Rodney aka Burning Spear will be here August 14th and 15th, 2023. You know where, so be there!” he said in a promotional video.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Burning Spear’s two appearances next week in Israel are “all the more special” since only a few original singers “from the golden era of Reggae are still around, let alone performing”.
Burning Spear’s performances come just ahead of the release of his upcoming 12-track No Destroyer album on his Burning Music Productions label on August 18, his first since his Grammy Award-winning Jah is Real in 2008.
Spear had announced the album two years ago and subsequently released the single Mommy.
The St. Ann native came out of retirement from live shows in 2022, returning to the stage after a decade-old absence, and after announcing his and retirement from touring in June 2016, with performances at Rototom Sunsplash in August and the Welcome to Jamrock Reggae Cruise last December.
His return saw him performing to sold out venues across the United States as part of his Fan Appreciation Tour before heading to Europe.
This summer has been a busy one for Spear. He headlined the Reggae Jam festival in Bersenbrück, Germany on August 4;
Belgium’s Reggae Geel on August 5 and Backstage in Munich, Germany on August 6.
Spear also has several other concerts preceding Israel. From August 10 to August 12, he is scheduled to perform in Hamburg, Dortmund in Germany, and at the Reggae Sundance Festival in The Netherlands.
After his Israel performances, he will move on to Benicassim, Spain for Rototom Sunsplash on August 18 and Afrika Tage Wien in Vienna, Austria on August 19, 2023.
He has however canceled the UK leg of his tour which had him down for performances in London, Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham from August 24 to 27, according to media reports.
Now 78 years old, Burning Spear, who took his name from a military award given by Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of independent Kenya, began recording in 1969 penning songs about Marcus Garvey and the repatriation, and the oppression of the black race.
The six-time Grammy nominee has released more than 25 albums throughout his music career, copping the Grammy Award twice for Best Reggae Album for his 2000 release Calling Rastafari and again in 2009 for Jah Is Real.
He was also bestowed with the Order of Distinction by the Jamaican Government in 2007 for his contribution to the music industry.
According to Spear’s biography, he started his music career after a “fateful encounter” with his St. Ann compatriot, Bob Marley, who directed him to Studio One where he later recorded his first two albums, Burning Spear and Rocking Time.
“The way the whole thing came about is that I found myself moving along up in the hills of St. Ann’s and I ran into Bob at the same time. And Bob was going to his farm. The man was moving with a donkey and some buckets and a fork, and cutlass and plants. We just reason man-to-man and I-man say wherein I would like to get involved in the music business. And Bob say, ‘All right, just check Studio One,” he had explained.
Burning Spear achieved breakthrough success with his classic album, Marcus Garvey, which was also released by Island Records. His other albums include Dry and Heavy (1977) and Social Living (1978). He has also had several live albums due mainly to his extensive touring over the decades.