Long Walk to Freedom Highlights

Born in the year of ‘Til Shiloh, Buju Banton’s first album released after his conversion to the Rastafari faith, Buju is the reggae legend whose success story my generation has had the honour of witnessing. Us younger folks didn’t grow up under the likes of Bob Marley and Dennis Brown. We grew up instead knowing that life’s Not an Easy Road and learning how to walk like a Champion. Another ghetto youth who showed us that hard work and dedication to one’s craft can elevate one from poverty, Jamaicans everywhere felt disappointed when we heard the news of Buju’s USA DEA charges for conspiracy to distribute and possess cocaine in 2009, especially given that we crooned the lyrics to Driver three years prior.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle19 Comments

Elle’s 3 Day Itinerary for Kingston, Jamaica

Jamaica gets millions of tourists annually and I’m just so fortunate to . However, that doesn’t mean us locals take advantage of all the sights to see and things to do around our own island. Many Jamaicans (& visitors too) only associate the resort towns of Jamaica with adventure and enjoyment– Ocho Rios, Montego Bay and Negril– which usually means big bucks and a lot of travelling for the nearly 700,000 inhabitants of Kingston, the capital city on the eastern end of the island and far from these tourism centres. However, I’m about to show you how to enjoy the city that’s right under your noses. Set aside three days and let’s enjoy Kingston as I know it!

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle18 Comments

Trench Town Culture Yard, Saint Andrew

Jamaica’s capital city of Kingston pulsates to the beat of reggae music and its raunchier cousin, dancehall music. Both genres originated here so opportunities to enjoy and learn about their origins in Kingston are endless. Bob Marley is indisputably the world’s most famous Rastafarian and reggae’s most celebrated son. Born in the rural district of Nine Miles, St. Ann, Kingston can’t take credit for his birthplace but it can for his rise to fame. Bob Marley and his immediate family relocated to Trench Town, Kingston at age 12 in search of a better life.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle4 Comments

Touring The Tuff Gong Studio: What To Expect

Tuff Gong International’s Making of the Music Tour is an engaging behind the scenes look at the record-making process from rehearsal to album. The studio was founded by Bob in 1965. Its name is derived from Bob’s nickname “The Gong” which he shares with Rastafari founder Leonard “The Gong” Howell, and tuff you had to be to survive in the Jamaican music business. Tuff Gong boasts one of the planet’s few remaining operational vinyl record manufacturing plants and is one of the Caribbean’s largest recording studios. Artistes, musicians, producers and tourists travel from all over the world to see and use this studio because it is said to have a special creative vibe; maybe since its mixing board is the same one used by Bob on all of his records. Since its inception, Bob Marley and Tuff Gong International have sold millions of records and continue to do so with many of Bob’s children following in his musical footsteps and still recording at the studio today.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle3 Comments

Touring Bob Marley Museum: The Legend’s Home

Jamaica is the birthplace of globally renowned reggae singer, songwriter and guitarist Robert Nesta “Bob” Marley. He bought a house at 56 Hope Road in Liguanea, St. Andrew in 1975 and it was his home until his death in 1981 from metastatic melanoma. Six years later his wife Rita Marley converted the property into a museum and house tour to celebrate the life and treasures of her late husband. Thirty years later it has welcomed hundreds of thousands of guests- many in awe, thirsty for knowledge, or the simply curious. I first visited in March 2017 with a mixture of all 3.

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Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle11 Comments