DUANE STEPHENSON REIGNS IN NICARAGUA
Noted Reggae crooner Duane Stephenson recently returned from a short four performance stint in Nicaragua where he visited states rarely seen by international performers.
The artiste sojourned at major events in Managua and Bluefields; while making history in Corn Island and Puerto Cabezas as the first ever performance of a Jamaican Reggae artiste and the area’s second ever international artiste performance, the first being Lucky Dube in 2006.
“It was my first time performing in Nicaragua, as Reggae is an immerging genre there in general, and for Corn Island and Puerto Cabezas it was a pleasure being the Jamaican pioneer performer. The response was great for all four events and even with a change of venue for one event the people still came out in large numbers” Duane explained
With such a successful set of appearances plans are already in place to revisit the Spanish speaking country in June of this year. Duane himself was impressed by the love of Dancehall and Reggae music by predominantly a Spanish speaking people.
“The people were singing along to my tracks and knew the words to a lot of songs from Jamaica especially Dancehall, it was a really great feeling being there as a Jamaican artiste and seeing our influence” Duane Noted
Duane’s Spanish region appearances were not completed with Nicaragua however, as just over a week later he jetted to Costa Rica for the grand Fyah Red event alongside Tarrus Riley. This event also saw Duane performing to tens of thousands of Spanish speaking natives in the capital city of Puntarenas.
Back in Jamaica, Duane is in full promotion mode for his latest video project from his third studio album Dangerously Roots. The visuals are for the single entitled ‘Jah Reign’ which has a fundamental message of hope.
“This song is a ‘pick yourself up and move on strong with Jah’ kind of meditation. A lot of times people fall short and don’t try to pick themselves up, what this song is saying is that you can make mistakes and you can be better because of them. “ Duane Explained
The music video for the ‘Jah Reign’ single was directed by Dameon Gayle for Warrior Productions and follows persons taking chances to survive and giving thanks to Jah throughout their challenges.
Duane is also currently in studio working on singles for his forth studio album to be released later this year. He also has two brand new singles ‘News For You’ and ‘In Your Space’ that have started to gain momentum on local and international radio.
