The ‘Reggae Recording of the Year’ JUNO category awards a JUNO for exactly that, the ‘best’ reggae recording chosen by a panel of judges based on submissions from Canadian artists who officially released either a single, EP or (full length) album during the 2019 year. Often described as Canada’s version of the Grammys, the 2020 JUNO Awards (49th Edition) will take place at the SaskTel Centre on March 15th in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (8 pm). This year’s five finalists (in random order) for ‘Reggae Recording of the Year‘ are…

  • Never Broken | Petraa
  • Another Man | Storry
  • Jah Children | Jay Douglas ft. General Trees
  • The Warning Track | Lyndon John X
  • Wah Gwaan | Exco Levi

NEVER BROKEN | PETRAA

‘Nothing Can Break Me Down’, it only fills me up, it gives me strength to succeed, in this cold cold world’

Petraa, a refined Canadian female artist with an R&B reggae style, is a former CHRY 105.5 FM (York University, Toronto) radio broadcaster who had the smarts in 2016 to leave Canada for Jamaica for artist refinement. After an intense search, I was finally able to find Petraa’s music on Spotify and on YouTube (275 listens). To my delight, I found ‘Never Broken’ to be a conscious, well constructed, positive and spiritually uplifting song. The fact that this independently released God-Bless tune was backed by a tight ‘One Drop’ styled Riddim also helped make it more likeable.

Mind you, while ‘Nothing Can Break Me Down’ promotes a positive message, there is still a sadness to it, a bluesy depressing feeling, hard to describe but easy to feel when listening to the song.  Chances are that ‘Nothing Can Break Me Down’ is based on Petraa’s personal life experiences.  When she performs it, listeners like myself can literally feel the pain that qualified her to write those lyrics. 

Even though ‘Nothing Can Break Me Down’ is a good song, and Petraa a good vocalist, the song, if not nominated for a JUNO, would not stand out as anything more than an average record. Still, listeners have to judge for themselves, reggae music is and always will be, wide open for subjective interpretation. Also disappointing is the fact that there is no official music video for ‘Nothing Can Break Me Down’.  A decent looking reggae video today is speculated to cost as little as $600 if one works the right connections!

We wish Petraa good luck at the JUNOs, and say congratulations for ‘Nothing Can Break Me Down’ being nominated for ‘Reggae Recording of the Year‘.

ANOTHER MAN | STORRY


‘I got another man in my life, but I don’t wanna let you go, no’

Storry is a Toronto-born female songstress that I have honestly never heard of before despite living in the 6ix.  I don’t recall seeing her featured on any major concerts and stage shows here in past years. Her Facebook Page describes her as a ‘seasoned artist trained in classical music who performs Mozart arias with as much confidence as hip hop, R&B, and gospel’.

The official JUNO Page credits Storry for writing and producing her own music while dabbling in album cover design and music video production. Ironically, there is no music video for ‘Another Man’ (the song really needs one), and the YouTube audio sits at a mere 180 views. Storry also appears on Protoje’s Grammy nominated album, ‘A Matter of Time‘.

Even though Storry is described as vocally ‘brilliant’ and easily able to hit the ‘high notes’, this is not the case on ‘Another Man‘. At certain parts of the song, she appears to be struggling vocally, and despite a good Sly & Robbie ‘Juggla Pocket Book‘ Riddim underneath, listeners are left with a song that can only be rated as ‘average’, basically an album track. This lovers rockers attempt fall short in meeting the standards of her JUNO competitors, and lyrically the story Storry is telling could be executed better.

I am willing to bet that Sly & Robbie were not there when Storry laid down her vocals in the studio, because the song, though likable, is weakly structured and sounds patchy. Producers know the importance of a song’s main hook, yet after you hear the chorus for Another Man a few times, it gets irritating, especially when she says ‘no‘ in her line; ‘But I don’t wanna let you go, no’.

Despite my unflattering criticisms of ‘Another Man’, I still wish Storry good luck in the JUNOs, it’s always a great stripe to be a JUNO nominee, win or lose. Chances are, Storry could still come out a winner, because history has proved that it’s impossible to figure out exactly how our secret panel of JUNO judges think, what the voting process involves, and why they eventually chose who they chose.

JAH CHILDREN | JAY DOUGLAS ft. GENERAL TREES


‘Some a dem deh holla, some a dem deh bawl
Jah Jah Children never gonna fall’

When I first heard ‘Jah Children’, I pondered as to whether this tune sounded ‘outdated’. I listened a few more times, and concluded that it was not outdated, but instead bravely and strategically crafted to replicate the production styles of the old, while incorporating some of the newer and more experimental production styles of today. 

Jay Douglas, a 45-year veteran in the business, was already nominated for a JUNO in this same category back in 2012.  His beautiful vocals and harmonies creates easy listening experience, and Jay sounds great on the track, proving again he is one of Canada’s sweetest sounding veteran artists.

‘Jah Children’ is officially categorized as a conscious reggae tune, but the track’s underlying gospel-influenced vocals are unmistakable. Let’s credit Jay Douglas for being a visionary, he was creative enough to include Jamaica’s legendary General Trees on the track, giving it immediate authenticity. Because of good song writing, and good chemistry between Jay and Trees, ‘Jah Children’ sounds both authentic and satisfying after a few listens, and is very radio appropriate. My favourite General Trees lyrics in the song says;

‘Money and War. God over Gun.
House and Land and Car and Have Fun’

Unfortunately at this juncture, an official and professional music video is lacking for ‘Jah Children’, but the official Audio is on YouTube and currently sports 1,000 listens. This is a very good song with clean and imaginative production, and should be a strong contender for winning the JUNO ‘Best Reggae Recording’ prize.

THE WARNING TRACK | LYNDON JOHN X



Described on the JUNO website as a ‘multi talented vocalist, songwriter, producer, and musician‘, Toronto’s Lyndon John X, with the submission of of his ‘The Warning Track’ full-length LP, is adding more weight to his chances of finally winning his JUNO, and also putting more pressure on the judges to make a ‘right’ decision. Lyndon first hit the Canadian reggae scene in 2007, and has since released four albums, ‘Two Chord Skankin’, ‘Brighter Days’, ‘Escape from the Mongoose Gang’, and his current independently released LP, ‘The Warning Track’.

What’s amazing about this is the fact that this humble independent Canadian artist had the skills, musical depth and overall ability to stay focused and successfully pull off releasing so many full-length albums in such a short time, when the majority of Canadian reggae artists move at snail pace, and struggle to find enough quality songs in their library to release with confidence, even one full-length album, much less four. Even more impressive is that all four of these Lyndon John X albums have been nominated for JUNOs in the ‘Best Reggae Recording’ category!

‘The Warning Track’, like other Lyndon John X works, is a focused effort.  After listening, I was not yet able to identify any one song that stood out as superior to the rest, so the judgement will be left up to listeners as to which tracks are most likeable. Individual tracks are on sale for a buck per track on at lyndonjohnx.com, or $8 for the entire Roots, Rock, and Reggae LP. There is no official YouTube music video, but two nice LP tracks, ‘Roots, Rock Music’ and ‘Flow Where the Wind Blows’, are available there for listening.

And for all the Bob Marley fans out there, expect to hear an album undeniably influenced by the sound and styles of Bob Marley and his Wailers band.  Even though I have never met Lyndon John X in person, I am willing to bet that he was raised in an environment where Bob Marley was always played over and over again on the home stereo. ‘The Warning Track’ doesn’t just sound like a Bob Marley work, but Lyndon’s vocal patter, range, execution and style, even the band’s live instrumentation – all of it is a product of Bob Marley DNA.

There is nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to Bob Marley being a musical influence on an artists sound.  Imitation is often subliminal and unintentional, it takes someone from the outside to tell someone how close they are to imitating. The truth is, the subconscious emulation of the Bob Marley sound is something many artists have done and still continue to do. Bob Marley is the most influential world reggae artist to have ever graced this earth, so it is a tribute to the king really, because imitation is again, the ultimate form of flattery.

We say good luck to Lyndon John X in finally getting his JUNO for ‘Best Reggae Recording of the Year’.  The panel of unseen JUNO judges are likely to have a difficult time denying it to him in 2020. However, NFL football fans might remember the Buffalo Bills making it to the Super Bowl championship finals four years in a row, only to lose every one. This will be Lyndon John X’s fourth try for a JUNO, but with a little luck, he won’t go down that losing path that the Bills took, and judges will finally give him his JUNO if ‘The Warning Track’ really deserves it.

WAH GWAAN | EXCO LEVI

‘Wah gwaan…without reggae music, no dance cyan gwaan’


For those who don’t understand Patois, ‘Wah Gwaan’ is the Jamaican way of asking ‘What’s up?’, ‘What’s happening?’, or ‘What’s the situation?’. Lyrically, it’s not a typical conscious Exco tune meant to be taken seriously. Exco Levi himself will probably be the first to attest to that ‘Wah Gwaan’, with it’s pan-soca styled riddim, is not his best song to date, but maybe still good enough to cause some serious damage at the JUNOs.

‘Wah Gwaan’ is the only contender amongst the five nominated for ‘Reggae Recording of the Year’, whose submission is accompanied by an official music video.  But while the Exco video is colourful and actionable like many of today’s reggae music videos, it doesn’t really substantiate the song, in part because lyrically, ‘Wah Gwaan’ has no real story to tell. The video, currently sporting just under 30,000 views on YouTube, shows Exco performing ‘Wah Gwaan’ while biking through the streets with his crew.

Betting music fans should not count Exco out when it comes to this year’s JUNOs. Born Wayne Ford Levy in 1981, this gifted  Clarendon (Jamaica) born artist has been dominant since emigrating to Canada in 2005. ‘Wah Gwaan’ may not be prime-cut Exco caliber, but this track is still capable of winning the JUNO for ‘Reggae Recording of the Year’. Exco is already the recipient of five JUNOs for this same category.

2017 Juno Award – Best Reggae Recording – Siren | Exco Levi
2015 Juno Award – Best Reggae Recording – Welcome The King | Exco Levi
2014 Juno Award – Best Reggae Recording – Strive | Exco Levi
2013 Juno Award – Best Reggae Recording – Storms of Life | Exco Levi
2012 Juno Award – Best Reggae Recording – Bleaching Shop | Exco Levi

This year, the JUNO judges must be conscious of the Exco Levi factor; as we can see by the example above, this leading Canadian artist has already been the recipient of five JUNOs. Judges will have to ask themselves, how many times they can keep awarding the JUNO to Exco, clearly he’s leaped his competitors by at least a full lap on the track shared with his fellow Canadian artists.

Is it that Exco is so ‘superior’, or is Exco’s outpacing of other fellow artists a testament to the failure of our abundant crop of Canadian music makers, dee-jays and vocalists who year after year, fail to produce hit songs with supporting music videos that capture international attention and stand the test of time?  This used to be the story of Canadian Hip-hop, then Drake came along and changed all that.

In theory, Exco, already Canada’s most decorated reggae artist, could keep winning JUNOs every year. He is the best known, hardest working, most refined, and most consistent of all the aforementioned nominated artists, still the leader of the pack. Exco, already a seasoned performer, also appears to have enough financial clout to produce a music video with every good single he produces.

One could say that Exco doesn’t ‘need’ to win this JUNO, and that even if he does, there is nothing more a JUNO can do for him anyway at this stage in his career. One could be a further devil’s advocate and say – a JUNO win will be more valuable to any other artist other than Exco, and just being nominated should be satisfying enough for Mr. Levi. It would be interesting one day, to see what Exco Levi’s point of view is on this matter.

This leads to more pondering; how does a JUNO judge operate without bias and not get ‘influenced’ by these Exco Levi advantages? Is the ‘best‘ Reggae Recording really about the song(s) itself, or is it a total package, the combination of everything just mentioned that counts? How does one find parody then when it comes to voting? The JUNOs are supposed to represent a cross-section of Canadian artists from the entire country, but it’s no secret that despite Canada’s massive size, submissions are are Toronto-centric since the overwhelming majority of Canadian artists are based here in the 6ix.

If the ‘Reggae Recording of the Year’ supposed to be a search for the ‘best‘ reggae song recorded by a Canadian, then how does one balance score entries where songs are performed by not just the Canadian artist, but a popular or legendary Jamaican recording artists is also performing on the song? It would be good to know how much weight is paid to the music’s mastering, production quality, originality, vocal performance, etc. Even the marketing and social media used to boost a song’s and artists profile can be impressionistic to judges.

How does a judge fairly and unbiasly weigh a submission which in terms of volume, is a full length 30-minutes 10-song LP, up against a one-song composition, likely three and a half minutes in length and taking significantly less time and effort to produce? How does a judge score fairly when some artists have professional music videos with viewing statistics to support their submissions,, versus other entrants who are ‘disadvantaged’ because they lacked the budget or record label suport to produce one? The end result could see a case of what’s ‘fair’ is ‘fowl’, and what’s ‘fowl’ is ‘fair’.

Good luck to all the contestants for ‘Reggae Recording of the Year’ in this year’s 49th Edition of the JUNOs. This year’s five artists, Petraa, Storry, Jay Douglas, Lyndon John X, and Exco Levi, can all be congratulated for submitting a decent crop of 2019 compositions to the table, so may the ‘best’ Canadian artist win. Can’t wait till March 15th to see the results!