Iconic reggae and dancehall DJ, DJ Ragz, has launched a new interactive music chart dedicated solely to dancehall and reggae music.
Ragz (as he's affectionately known) has worked in both the UK and Australia with the likes of Ludacris, Usher, Sean Paul, Tarrus Riley, Demarco and Cecile and has played at events such as Womadelaide, Adelaide Fringe Festival, Adelaide Casino and the Jamaican Music and Food Festival in Melbourne. The radio show producer and Chairperson of CARIBSA (Caribbean Assoc. of South Australia) has now collaborated with rising media platform Dancehall Reggae Australia to create Australia’s first interactive music chart dedicated solely to Dancehall Reggae Music. 'Australia is a multicultural society and becoming more integrated through mediums like music,' Ragz says. 'There are currently music charts across Australia that pool dancehall and reggae into the “World Music” or general “Roots” classifications. By launching a comprehensive, interactive music chart dedicated to Reggae Dancehall, our genre will get the space and attention it deserves. The popularity of the likes of Sean Paul, Shabba Ranks and Shaggy have proved that international commercial markets love our genre of music and we want to give the Australian music industry as well as the general public a forum that is connected and representative.' Ragz says the chart will 'highlight and combine the best of Jamaican produced reggae dancehall and the best of Australian and New Zealand produced bands and artists in the genre.' 'We want to include all elements from the reggae dancehall diaspora and play our part in what is a global genre thus featuring acts from Europe, Japan, Africa and the Americas. Our aim is to connect our genre of music with the Australian people and the Australian music industry, for it to be more easily and readily accessible for people to hear and enjoy. We see greater things for the future of our music in Australia and we’d like to see more of it penetrating the Australian commercial market.” DJs and artists can submit their playlists/albums/songs for chart consideration to ragz@dancehallreggae.com.au Check out the chart here. More about the author
