Fresh from their groundbreaking tour of Europe as R&B sensation Sade‘s opening act, Jamaica’s Mento Music Ambassadors The Jolly Boys are scheduled to perform at this year’s Escape to New York Music Festival. Set for August 5-7, 2011, the festival was started and inspired by the creative minds behind The Secret Garden Party, an independent arts and music festival which takes place every year in an estate near Huntingdon, England.



Last summer The Jolly Boys gave a memorable performance at The Secret Garden Party and fans can expect an even greater from the mento music giants in August. If you’re in New York missed out on The Jolly Boy’s Big Apple debut at the Hiro Ballroom in February of this year then here’s your chance to see them in action! The Jolly Boys are set to perform on Sunday, August 7 2011. For a taste of what’s to come enjoy this flashback video of The Jolly Boys in performance at The Secret Garden Party last year!
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Jamaica’s Ambassadors of Mento began their month and a half adventure touring Europe as the opening act for grammy-winning R&B songbird Sade on Friday April 29, 2011 in Nice, France with a rocking performance at Palais Nikaia. Since then they have gone on to do the same everywhere from Zurich to Dublin, culminating in a stellar final performance at the O2 Arena in London on May 31,2011.



Along the way The Jolly Boys had a chance to return to their fans in Germany. Moments before taking the stage at Olympiahalle in Munich on May 19, 2011, lead singer Albert Minott sat down for this interview with Reggaeville’s Markus Hautmann! Now just in case any of you missed out on any of the action along the way, join us as we recap The Jolly Boys’ journey from Frankfurt to London on their tour as R&B singer Sade’s opening act throughout April and May 2011.
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The Jolly Boys have been making strides and swaying crowds touring as R&B songbird Sade’s opening act in Europe, and all while celebrating the U.S release of their widely acclaimed album Great Expectation. The album, which features Mento interpretations of 12 contemporary classics including Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab”, Iggy Pop’s “The Passenger”, Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” and Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” has been getting reviews from the press all over.



The album was recently reviewed by Banning Eyre of NPR‘s “All Things Considered”. You can listen to the review (spliced with great samples from the album) here:
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Jamaica’s mento music giants began their month and a half adventure touring Europe as the opening act for grammy-winning R&B veteran Sade on Friday April 29, 2011 in Nice, France with a rocking performance at Palais Nikaia. Since then they have gone on to do the same in Antwerp, Hamburg, Oberhausen, Milan, Stuttgart, Copenhagen and Stockholm. For all our fans who might have missed out on the action, here’s a short chronicle of Jamaica’s mento masters The Jolly Boys as they journey from Nice to Stockholm on their tour as R&B singer Sade’s opening act throughout April and May 2011.



The Jolly Boys have been making strides and swaying crowds and all while celebrating the U.S release of their widely acclaimed album Great Expectation which features Mento interpretations of 12 contemporary classics including Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab”, Iggy Pop’s “The Passenger”, Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” and Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire”. The album is available for purchase on iTunes, ebreggae.com and Amazon. As a bonus The Jolly Boys have also made some of your favourite Classic Mento tunes like “Emmanuel Road”, “Dog War Inna Matthews Lane” and “Soldering” available for download and purchase on iTunes here.
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Five months after their stellar performance at Knust in Hamburg, Germany during their winter tour of Europe last year, The Jolly Boys will return to Hamburg tomorrow (May 3, 2011) to show their fans what they’ve been up to lately. Jamaica’s modern mento ambassadors kicked off their adventure as the opening act for R&B songbird Sade in fine style on Friday April 29, 2011 at Palais Nikaia in Nice, France.



(Photo by Charl Baker)

They followed it up with an equally energetic show at Sportpaleis in Antwerp, Belgium on Sunday May 1, 2011 and are eagerly anticipating tomorrow’s performance at the Color Line Arena! Now, as they prepare to take the stage in Hamburg once more we look back at what their last visit was like with this fan-posted footage of The Jolly Boys performing (among other hits) their renditions of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” and Iggy Pop’s “The Passenger”:
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Jamaica’s mento maestros The Jolly Boys are ready for some more action and are currently en route to Nice in France to kick off the start of their tour of Europe opening for grammy winning rhythm and blues sensation Sade on Friday April, 29 2011 at Palais Nikaia.



Following a personal invitation from Sade, Jamaica’s legendary icons will once again bring Jamaican mento music to the eclectic streets of Europe this spring. As a flashback of the last time The Jolly Boys were in France and a preview for our fans in France of what’s in store, enjoy this video of The Jolly Boys in an acoustic session for the French Television Channel Arte Tv :
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The Jolly Boys regret to inform our fans in Holland that our show scheduled for tonight at Melkweg, Amsterdam has been canceled due to adverse weather conditions. The Jolly Boys are stuck in London in the snow and while this is an anticlimactic end to our tour of Europe we will look forward to seeing our Dutch fans sometime in the near future. To all our fans in Europe The Jolly Boys would like to say thanks for all the great support, and in the words of Albert Minott “We love you over there!”



The Jolly Boys have been snowed in on this tour before. On the way to a show in Munich, Germany they found themselves stuck at London Heathrow Airport in The UK. While getting used to idea of sleeping in the airport The Jolly Boys decided to give those around them an impromptu performance. Posted below, for your viewing pleasure is footage of that performance:
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Last night The Jolly Boys, in high spirits and fine style spread the melodious mento rhythms of Jamaica to all the fans who came out to see them Live at HMV Institute in Birmingham, UK.



It was an all around perfect night, which made The Jolly Boys’ performance of their cover of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” even more appropriate. Don’t worry if you may have missed it, we have it right here, right now for your viewing pleasure:
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With their tour of Europe drawing to a close, The Jolly Boys are now back in one of their favourite spots to tour, The United Kingdom! In fact it was just a few months ago, while on tour in The UK in the Summer, that lead singer of The Jolly Boys Albert Minott (in good humour and high spirits) stopped by Buckingham Palace for a visit with The Queen:



Last night The Jolly Boys celebrated their return to The UK with an electrifying performance at Night & Day Cafe, watch, as The Jolly Boys give Manchester a serving of their modern mento rendition Johnny Cash’s classic “Ring of Fire”:
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After bidding the Emerald Isle farewell over the weekend the mento maestros The Jolly Boys, amidst autograph signings and a radio interview, made their Scotland debut with an impressive performance at Oran Mor in Glascow.



While on stage at Oran Mor The Jolly Boys gave their Scottish fans a serving of classic and contemporary Rock & Roll covers done in their uniquely modernized mento style. Of the hits performed was the classic “You can’t always get what you want” a particular crowd favourite originally done by The Rolling Stones. Here’s a taste of that performance:
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