Morgan Heritage To Release New “World Music” Album In April

Black Immigrant Daily News

Grammy award-winning Reggae band Morgan Heritage will be releasing what it has described as a “World Music” album titled The Homeland, on April 21.

Positive Vibration artist Roy “Gramps” Morgan and his brothers Peter “Peetah” Morgan and Memmalatel “Mr. Mojo” Morgan made the announcement on their respective Instagram pages on Monday morning.

“The new @morganheritage album The Homeland drops April 21st. This is the groups First World music album and they combine the sounds of Africa with the sounds of Jamaica on this Afro-Fusion album that features legends and future legends from both places,” the three artists noted.

The album’s description as “world music” means it could be a contender in the GRAMMY’s Global Music category for next year.  

The term World Music was initially used in the UK in 1987 to help differentiate music from non-western artists. However, over the years, the term has been shunned, with The Recording Academy (GRAMMYS) changing the name of their “best world music” album category to “best global music” album in 2020. 

At the time, the Academy said that the change was done in a bid to avoid “connotations of colonialism” and “Non-American, and to make the category more “relevant, modern, and inclusive”.

Established in 1994, Morgan Heritage, which is composed of some of the late Reggae singer Denroy Morgan’s 29 children, began initially as a recording octet, then a quintet.  However, it has morphed into a trio comprising the three brothers since then.

Morgan Heritage had released their debut album dubbed Miracle for MCA back in 1994, just months after making their first appearance on the main stage at the Reggae Sunsplash music festival. 

More Teachings, their follow-up album, peaked at #6 on the reggae charts, while Mission in Progress, which was released in 2008 spent 24 weeks on the charts after peaking at number one.

In 2015 their album Strictly Roots ascended to number one and spent 44 weeks on the charts.   That album has the distinction of taking home the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album, over other successful albums such as Jah Cure’s The Cure, Luciano’s Zion Awake, and Barrington Levy’s Acousticalevy in 2016.

The Down By the River band, which at the time comprised of five children of reggae artist Denroy Morgan, were also nominated for Best Reggae Album in 2017 for their Avrakedabra.

The upcoming album, which comprises 21 tracks, consists of collaborations with Popcaan, Youssou N’Dour, Shaggy, Beenie Man, Shatta Wale, Mádé Kuti, among others.

“This album is described as “a project of rebirth for the Morgan brothers, built upon a lineage that has lasted decades and one that will continue to forge forward”.  Musically, they take the listener on a journey that not only reminds them of days past, but the future ahead,” the group said in a  release.

So far, Morgan Heritage has shared the album’s first single Just A Number, Headline Fi Front Page with Jahshii, Rytikal and I-Octane, and I Will Never Forget with Ariel, Esh Morgan, and Jemere Morgan. 

The lead single Who Deh Like U, featuring Bounty Killer, Cham and Stonebwoy, was released today (March 20). “It’s hard to find anyone to compare to you. Even from a million miles away your value will never diminish because you are so unique…” Mojo Morgan said about the meaning of the track. 

“It will be hard to find another like you anywhere in the world.”

In August last year, Morgan Heritage had announced that it would be embarking on its first full-scale African tour, and that there were plans to join forces with some of the “freshest and biggest talents in each country”, to produce a collaborative album.

The tour, which was to take place over an eight-week period, had been dubbed the Island Vibes Africa Tour and would have seen the trio trekking across several countries in West, Central, East and Southern Africa for performances.

In elaborating on the tour, a release from the group, noted that their stint in the Motherland, was a gift to its people and a means of “strengthening the shared bonds between Africa and the Caribbean”.  That tour was later rescheduled for sometime later this year.

On March 28, Morgan Heritage will perform at the Grammy Museum (at LA Live) as guests of The Drop Series, which is expected to start the band’s global promotional tour, with concerts in Los Angeles, New York, England, Germany, France, Uganda and Ghana.

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