US-based Jamaican-born saxophonist and producer Geoff Rhone is determined to make his mark on the international music scene.
He recently teamed up with a cadre of highly accomplished international musicians which includes Emil Kamal from Malang City, Indonesia, Cuban American Claudia Vega and Tya P from Bali, Indonesia to record an instrumental version of Gregory Isaac’s timeless reggae classic, ‘Rumours’.
“Gregory Isaacs was undoubtedly one of the greatest reggae singers and Rumours is just an awesome song. It’s a personal favourite of mine and I figured that an instrumental version of this song would be greatly appreciated by reggae fans all over the world. When I suggested the idea to the team everyone was very excited about it. So, we recorded it,” said the Manchester-born musician.
Rhone describes the project as a Jamaican, Indonesian reggae fusion. “This is a fusion of reggae and dancehall with Indonesian sounds. It was recorded in Tokyo, Bali and Jakarta. It’s a totally different style of music which incorporates various instruments including the saxophone, the violin and the gamelan. We have introduced a new sound to the global music marketplace with this version of Rumours,” he said.
Produced by Rhone the instrumental version of ‘Rumours’ which features Emil Kamal on flute and saxophone, Claudia Vega on violin and Tya P on the gamelan was released on October 1 last year.
A spoken word (alternate) version of the project which features the vocals of Geoff Rhone and Tya P was also released on the same date. “Since the project was released, we’ve been receiving a lot of feedback about it. The people love both versions and I am sure that if Gregory Isaacs was here in the flesh, he would love them too.”
Both recordings were mixed by the Grammy Award award-winning Belarusian studio engineer Mikalai Skrobat and Indonesian studio engineer Dodi Hendra.
