See what happened at the press conference with British reggae man Maxi Priest!

Two days before his performance, Maxi Priest and band held a press conference at Tom Brasil, a renowned São Paulo venue. With various media outlets present, Maxi Priest was able to cover, at different levels, several points of his career, influences, ideology, etc. Check out now a summary of the entire press conference (approximately 1 hour).

THE PRESS CONFERENCE

We began by addressing two of the main characters in Maxi Priest's rise to worldwide fame, Sly & Robbie. Their participation in "Wild World" earned him his first hit in the United States. The North American music industry is seen by Maxi Priest as important and difficult to penetrate. The star recalls an episode where he and Ziggy Marley endured a period of neutrality because the label preferred to have only one artist of the genre. He also says he got his space because his songs began to be imported from England naturally. Maxi says things have improved today, as labels "go down" to the streets, literally hunting for new talent. The artist was asked about his fame in Brazil and a near equivalence with Bob Marley. With a certain disappointment, Maxi Priest humbly replied that he was not aware of such a title, and also revealed that he does not consider Marley the only star of world reggae. Names such as Burning Spear, John Holt, Jimmy Cliff and his declared favorite, Dennis Brown, were cited. Extending his answer a bit, he says the late icon was also number 1 for Bob Marley, and that if the "Third World star" could have a statue in his honor, why not Dennis himself? We also addressed the current reggae scene in Jamaica, where dancehall, ragga and other branches are increasingly strong. It was clear that Maxi Priest has a very open and forward-looking mind about music, saying evolution is in all styles, so why wouldn't it be in reggae? Although he respects bands with militant and religious themes, he confesses that songs of this kind bring back some sad memories, and he defends reggae that mentions nature, feeling good, in short, songs with more cheerful and positive messages, even if some are carefree or, at times, meaningless. On the same theme, he reinforces his view saying we must leave the 60s and 70s in their proper places and see the evolution of music as something natural and of utmost importance. He cited as main names of reggae's evolutionary phase Shaggy, Shabba Ranks and Sean Paul, who recently broke through in Brazil with "I'm Still In Love With You," which uses as its base "Uptown top Ranking" by Althea & Donna. We asked about his new work, where he felt divided between joy and a certain anger. The new album is nothing more than a demo still, very raw, but it caught the attention of producers who already wanted to release it as a final product. Showing perfectionist traits, he did not like it when the label threw such an incomplete work into the media, but he was happy about the interest and the positive feedback from those who had contact with it. Maxi Priest does not hide his anxiety for another performance in Brazil, and he counts on a top-level band that, besides the satisfaction of playing with Maxi, have also played with Big Mountain, Alicia Keys, Shaggy and Wailing Souls. The performance promises to deliver, and as rapper RedFox said: "I like parties, Brazilians like parties... we will have a party!"  Click here and see some photos from the press conference.  Click here and learn more about the show.

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