EXCLUSIVO: O novo e the clássico arrasam in Brasil! Veja tudo the que rolou in tour of SOJA e Gregory Isaacs!

Brasil and other América do Sul countries were literally privileged when it came to Reggae International shows at the end of the year. In addition to the big names to come (see latest news), the country has just witnessed the success of the modern and classic congregation – we are talking about the SOJA (Estados Unidos) and Gregory Isaacs (Jamaica) tour. The two attractions boast impressive numbers – SOJA (Soldiers of Jah Army), one of the biggest highlights of the new generation of Reggae Internacional, has performed an average of 200 shows a year, increasingly attracting audiences wherever it goes, and it was no different at Brasil. Gregory Isaacs, with a career spanning over 40 years and hundreds of albums released, continues to be an authentic representative of the golden years of Jamaican music. Exclusively, Surforeggae presents coverage of everything that happened on stage and behind it, so get ready for the trip!

SOJA – THE BEGINNING IS WITH VICTORY

SOJA is now one of the three most popular international reggae bands in Brasil, and this was very clear in Vitória/ES, the city that hosted the first show of the 2009 tour. Even with the heavy rain that hit the capital of Espírito Santo in the week before the event, the public showed up in droves and filled Ilhacústico. The band arrived in the early afternoon from Washington (Capital do Estados Unidos), where days before they had finished the tour to release the album “Born In Babylon” (now also released on Brasil by Selo Surforeggae). Despite all the fatigue resulting from the long hours of flying, Jacob Hemphill (voice and guitar), Bob Lee (voice and bass), Ryan Berty (drums), Patrick O’Shea (keyboards), Ken Brownell (percussion), Rafael Morales (trumpet) and Hellman Duran (saxophone) showed enough energy and vibration to captivate the audience who sang impressively even at newer songs. The show's repertoire includes hits such as “Can’t Tell Me”, “Open My Eyes”, “True Love” and “Rasta Courage”, and new tracks such as “I don’t wanna wait”, which has everything it needs to be the group's newest international hit. SOJA literally loves Brasil, and on this, which was the third tour with América do Sul, the evolution both in stage performance and in interaction with the public was quite visible. Vocalist Jacob Hemphill made a point of learning several words in Portuguese to communicate with the audience, and Vitória was thrilled every time he thanked or called everyone to sing along.

MOVEMENT GROWING: JUIZ DE FORA

Juiz de Fora undoubtedly has one of the fastest growing movements of Reggae in Brasil. After some investment on the part of producers and promoters, Reggae is on the rise again. In the last year, the beautiful and peaceful city of Minas Gerais has already received names like Groundation, Don Carlos and Apple Gabriel, as well as national bands with names like Mato Seco and Ponto de Equilíbrio. SOJA's debut in Juiz de Fora couldn't have been better. Cultural Bar was literally packed (as usual in the last Reggae International shows) and the band lived up to the name of Reggae. The repertoire was quite vibrant, and the audience felt the band's entire vibe, which was certainly missed. After the show, as usual there was a celebration with all the fans who wanted to get closer or take photos.

THE COOL RULER GIVES THE START - TERESINA

The first show of Jamaican legend Gregory Isaacs's tour at América do Sul was in Teresina, capital of Piauí. Much anticipated, Cool Ruler arrived directly from Kingston at Jamaica, the day before the show, welcomed by dozens of fans at the city's airport with lots of smiles and jokes. Gregory Isaacs is an amazing person to deal with, and gave a true example of humility and affection towards the fans and especially towards the Brasil Team that was bringing him on another tour. Releasing his new album “Brand New Me”, Gregory has the incredible statistics of almost 200 albums with his name on the music market, apart from the participations. Espaço Noé Mendes, in Teresina, was literally packed to watch the Jamaican idol's first show in the city. In a highly well-produced event (congratulations to the local Production), Gregory detonated a veritable series of hits, very well accompanied by Leões de Israel, which has supported Gregory at América do Sul since 2004, and who is even expected to perform again at Jamaica with “Cool Ruler” next July. In the repertoire, classics like “Night Nurse”, “Rumours”, “Private Beach Party”, “Mr. Brown” and “My Number One” made Teresina go crazy. Also noteworthy is the instrumental opening of Leões de Israel, which even featured a new song by Gregory Isaacs that was widely played on the radio by Brasil – “Come take my hand”.

SOJA AND THE CROWD IN FORTALEZA

Everyone already knows that SOJA has been getting stronger for Brasil, but the crowd waiting for them in a city they had never been to really exceeded expectations. Biruta was taken over by thousands of people eager to see the group's first performance in the capital of Ceará. The musicians were very happy to see the work being done by them at Brasil, and they already consider Fortaleza to be one of the most receptive audiences to their sound. The show was a preview of the bang that was to come the next day – América Latina's biggest Reggae Festival in Salvador, República do Reggae.

THE REPUBLIC? YES, IT'S REGGAE!

América Latina's biggest Reggae festival returned in style. A real crowd filled Wet’n Wild in Salvador, to watch shows by international stars Gregory Isaacs and SOJA, as well as big names in national reggae – Mato Seco, Ponto de Equilíbrio, Edson Gomes and Vibrações. Salvador proved to have the largest Reggae audience of Brasil. The show was simply a success, with, in addition to the great attractions on the main stage, highlights from the local scene at Palco Resistência – Semente da Paz, Kayman, Moa Anbesa, Irmandade Brasmorra, Shamayim Zion and Aroots and also Arena Surforeggae, where DJ Augusto left no one standing still during the breaks. The show started promptly at 7pm, and the celebration was grand. The shows were literally memorable, from the first to the last. SOJA was the third attraction on the main stage, shaking the structures and moving even the most skeptical of Salvador's regueiros. In its first performance in the Capital of Reggae, the repertoire was focused on the CDs “Peace in a Time of War” and “Get Wiser”. With each song performed, there was applause and a lot of euphoria from the public, who have provided excellent comments about the show through Surforeggae itself and on websites such as Orkut and Twitter. The Gregory Isaacs star was the last attraction of the night (which was almost daytime), and showed why he is one of the biggest names in the Reggae World Championship. Simply, the thousands of Reggae fans who were there waited for Cool Ruler with impressive energy for the time. Gregory's show was simply brilliant. Songs like “Nobody Know”, “Top Ten” and “Soon Forward” rocked people from different parts of Brasil who were present at the event. We could not fail to also highlight the magnificent presentations by the Brazilian representatives – Vibrações, Mato Seco, Ponto de Equilíbrio and Edson Gomes, which made the festival schedule perhaps one of the strongest in a show at Bahia. Bahia is now awaiting Bob Marley Day, which should be confirmed soon!

HUMAN HEAT IN BRASILIA

Sunday was a rest day for the Jamaican star Gregory Isaacs, but a lot of sound and human warmth for the Americans from SOJA. Brasília, the next stop on the tour, also welcomed the band for the first time, who, as usual, rocked it. The event would be held at Arena (same location as Groundation), however due to strong threats of rain it was moved to another closed club next door. The show was highly vibrant, but a problem with the venue's air conditioning system made the show even hotter, and imagine that even when taking a photo, the camera lens was fogging up. The Brasília audience showed a very good reception towards the band, which will certainly be taken into account by their production for the next tour in 2010. If you are from Brasília and are a fan of SOJA, you can get ready now!

FESTIVAL WITH THE HERMANOS

Buenos Aires, the next stop of SOJA and Gregory Isaacs on América do Sul, has a large Reggae fan base, and always records excellent attendance at shows. This time it was no different, Planeta Reggae Festival, which featured two days of the purest reggae, was sold out. On the first day, Gregory Isaacs was the star of the night, driving Argentines crazy with his string of hits. Highlighting new songs like “Fools Fall in Love”, from Gregory's latest work – “Brand New Me”. Cool Ruler performed for approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes, leaving Argentines thirsty for more. The Jamaican also recorded new songs the following day with Holy Piby and Los Pericos, for the Argentine groups' next CDs. The second day of the festival had SOJA as the main attraction, and for their third performance at Argentina, the group prepared surprises such as a very curious dance that was also performed at Brasil. The musicians Rafael Morales and Hellman Duran, from Porto Rico and Venezuela respectively, took advantage of the non-existence of the language barrier and excited the audience that filled Niceto Club with words in Spanish. SOJA said goodbye to Argentina in the certainty that next year they should hold the event in a bigger location.

SOJA AND THE MARATHON IN SÃO PAULO

With three shows in two nights in São Paulo, SOJA had a well-deserved rest the day before the marathon. Gregory Isaacs, also rested on Thursday for Friday's show together with another Jamaican idol – John Holt, in São Luis. On Friday, SOJA performed at Ginásio do Palmeiras in São Paulo. With many delays, resulting from the large number of bands at the show, the band only entered the stage at 3:40 in the morning, to an already tired audience. However, SOJA put on another excellent show, which was only better due to the time. On Saturday, Internacional Eventos in Guarulhos was the first to host the band's show. Entering the stage at 00:41, the audience was literally the opposite of Ginásio do Palmeiras the day before, and cheered with each song performed. There was a huge rush, as there were two shows that night, so it was impossible to receive dozens of fans who wanted to get closer to the band after the show. In a true lightning operation after the show, the Team moved to Estância Alto da Serra where a crowd was waiting for the band. At Estância, despite the late hour, the public was energetic and despite a long delay between the show by Planta e Raiz and the Argentinean show Holy Piby (who made their debut in the country), SOJA was very well received. The CD “Born In Babylon” was being sold at the show and was competed for by the band's fans. Once again, the well-known dance of the members of SOJA lifted the audience at Estância Alto da Serra, which was attended by an encore of two more songs. The band just didn't play any more because they had to leave straight from the concert venue to the airport, for the final stop – Belém.

MEETING OF UNTOUCHABLE VOICES IN SÃO LUIS

São Luis received two icons from the Jamaican Reggae – Gregory Isaacs and John Holt for the Sunsplash 2009. Saturday, November 14th will certainly be remembered for being the day of the first performance of the great John Holt at Brasil. The crowd went wild with songs like “Riding for a fall”, “Stick by me”, “I’ll always Love you” and “Doctor Love”. Very well accompanied by Capital Roots from Maranhão, John Holt praised the band and reciprocated all the public's affection with classics after classics. The vibration was no different with the Cool Ruler. Gregory Isaacs is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best-known names in Reggae and Ilha do Amor. And this was proven with each of their hits being performed brilliantly by Leões de Israel. “Night Nurse”, “Love is Overdue” and “Stranger in your town” were sung in chorus by the huge Maranhão audience.

BELÉM TO CELEBRATE

The closing show of the artists' tour took place at Cidade Folia, in Belém. Also with one of the most significant reggae movements in the country, the capital of Pará welcomed the icons of the new generation and also the extra-classic Gregory Isaacs. With a structure so no one could fault it, Belém followed one of its biggest Reggae shows in recent times. The show was impeccable, and pleased Reggae fans of all ages. Gregory Isaacs was the first international star of the night, taking the stage at 9:40 pm, always with a smile on her face, joking all the time with the musicians and her production team at the side of the stage. Gregory said goodbye to Brasil once again in style, to a huge audience that thrilled with hits like “House of the Rising Sun”. SOJA, for the second time in Belém, put on a real show. Showing great happiness with the success of the entire tour, the band put even more energy into the last performance. With a repertoire of 1 hour and 40 minutes, SOJA gave its “até breve” to Brasil, promising to return in 2010 with a new album and many other new features. The success of the tours of these authentic representatives of two phases of the international Reggae was seen in all the cities they visited, certainly leaving a very good feeling for those who attended the shows and the promise that they will return soon to the delight of their fans.  Thanks: Hercoles Gregory, Thiago Pinheiro Martins and Dino Márcio

TOUR IMAGES

 Click here and see exclusive images from this tour.