ALBOROSIE

 

Alberto D’Ascola  (a.k.a. Alborosie) was born in Sicily and became quickly recognized as a young prodigy.  He is an accomplished player of several instruments including guitar, piano, bass and drums.  By his teens he had formed numerous bands and moved to Milan, the centre of the music scene in Italy.  His destiny was clearly evoked by his unique talent and was to follow a journey similar to the early days of many great talents and musical legends before him.

In 1993 aged 15 he formed ‘Reggae National Tickets’ and was signed to BMG Records Italia the same year.  The band’s record sales exceeded 200,000 units by the year 2000.   Alborosie who always has been firmly entrenched in the origin and culture of Black music performed with the band in Jamaica both at Sunsplash ‘99 and Sumfest 2000.  Consequentially Alborosie moved his focus to international projects. A chance meeting with studio owner and international record executive, Jon Baker of Geejam, led to a multi-faceted partnership as a house engineer and producer for Geejam Studios in Port Antonio, Jamaica and Forward Recordings. Through this partnership Alborosie has written a number of songs for several international artists as well as remixing music for J Records, Mario, Angie Stone and producing Les Nubians (Virgin France), Jimmy Cozier and Manu Chao.  Alborosie’s production projects include the trans-global soul movement group Adelante’s album that sold over 120,000 copies in France alone in 2002. He has also worked on collaborations with many Jamaican artistes including Dean Frazer, Beenie Man and many others.  He recently produced a riddim, ’XXL’, for the dancehall reggae scene under Gee Jam/Dienz Records featuring artist like Sizzla, Wayne Marshall, Voice Mail, Beenie Man, a new promising up coming Jamaican hip hop artist Tony Fisher, himself and other known reggae artist. Alborosie recently completed his first solo album named ‘Soul Pirate’. This album describes his passion, love and continuing journey in Jamaica having moved to the island in 2001 and features collaborations with Ky-Mani Marley, Jah Cure, Luciano, and Morgan Heritage.  ‘Soul Pirate’ is a conscious observation of today’s Jamaica which at times is painfully honest yet optimistic about this unique land.

‘Herbalist’ the first single released from ‘Soul Pirate’ became an international hit.  According to Dub Vendor in London (the most influential distributor of reggae music in Britain) the single was a number one for weeks.  Back at home though the song created controversy resulting in its eventual ban by the Jamaican Broadcast Commission due to its explicit visual and lyrical content.  ‘Call Up Jah’ was released next and due to its popularity the video was shot by MTV Italy in Kingston, Jamaica.  Following its predecessor’s success ‘Kingston Town’ has shot up the European reggae charts to become a number one 2007 summer anthem. The video was shot by Ras Kassa (‘The Guru’).  

www.myspace.com/alborosie

© Rafanass 2008