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Buccaneer

Even with the ever-changing specifications of dancehall, where fans often want to listen to something new and various, the 1996 discovery of Buccaneer was a shocker. That’s because no-one had confirmed the desire, capability, or outright cojones to mix ragga toasting and opera before — however, not just did Buccaneer draw it off, he finished up with an enormous strike in “Skettel Concerto” in so doing, and collection the course for any career filled with such genre-defying occasions. Yet Andrew Bradford have been laying the groundwork for his improbable crossover move since youngsters: his mom had trained him traditional piano and music theory when he was a kid in Kingston’s Havendale suburb. Those lessons remained with him once the family members had to go to the Western Kingston ghetto of Waltham Recreation area, and he became a colorfully clad DJ dubbed Small Ninja, communicating with regional sound systems. A pal offered Bradford his fresh nickname after admiring a pirate’s outfit he’d concocted — filled with eyepatch that some state was necessary due to a level of sensitivity to light — and after investing in a while at Ruler Jammy’s studio room, Buccaneer created a companionship with musician and maker Danny Browne, who offered lots of the riddims for his early strikes and became a longstanding collaborator. Buccaneer’s 1st album, 1995’s THERE Goes the Neighbourhood, included some suggestions of his operatic leanings, nonetheless it was another summer that this Jamaican solitary “Skettel Concerto,” which presented Browne’s orchestral version of Toscanini’s “Barber of Seville,” plus Buccaneer’s dramatic sing-jaying, broke through. It had been the centerpiece of his following album, 1997’s Vintage, which featured additional music (like “Poor Guy Sonata”) pinched from opera, in addition to even more straight-ahead dancehall, including “SOLID WALL,” Buccaneer’s duet with famous singer Dennis Dark brown. In 1998 Buccaneer came back with Da Opera, which presented the big strike “FADE,” a nod to Enya’s “Orinoco Circulation,” and efforts from reggae weighty hitters Steely and Clevie, plus fellow dancehall wildmen Scare Dem Team. After the unusual solitary, like 1999’s “Weh Dem Woulda Perform,” a pairing with Mr. Vegas over Browne’s “All Purpose” riddim, Buccaneer required a rest from his personal music to try his hands at creation, and began his personal Jamaican record label, dubbed — what else? — Opera Home.

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