Mavado touch the US

The long wait is over. After a one year wait, Dancehall dj, Mavado landed safely at JFK International airport in New York last night on an American Airline aircraft at 9:17pm. The DJ and his management team, cleared immigrations and customs at 9:45pm. He is now resting comfortably at a secret location in New York.

"It has been a long wait for music fans in New York who will finally have the opportunity to see Mavado live in the Big Apple on Labor day Sunday, August 31 at Irie Jamboree. We worked hard with his management team over the past few months to make this happen and we look forward to him gracing the stage for his many loyal fans" was the message for the Irie Jamboree executive team this morning.

Mavado (born David Constantine Brooks) in 1981 gave the world the critically acclaimed debut album Gangsta for Life: The Symphony of David Brooks, which includes hit singles "Fathers Prayer", "Cassava Piece Radio", "Sadness", "Gully Side", and "On The Go (Faster Than Bullet) which was dedicated to Olympic Gold medal winner Asafa Powell.

Other confirmed acts include King Yellow, Beenieman, Alison Hinds, the "Queen of Soca," Coco Tea, Sizzla, Elephant Man and rising reggae stars Serani, Admiral Bailey, Bugle, DeMarco, Konshens, Tanya Mullings, Little Hero, RDX, Elvis D, Ragga Lox, Empire Isis, Benny Bwoy, Lushy Banton, Prestige and others.

This year's festival will pay tribute to all Caribbean athletes who competed at the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. A special Usain Bolt tent will be established at the event and will be appropriately dressed in Jamaican colors and used as one of the VIP suites. This effort of setting up the Usain Bolt tent will be supported by Digicel, one of the lead sponsors for Irie Jamboree. This follows on the close relationships between Usain, Digicel and Irie Jam Radio at the Reebok Grand Prix in late May when Usain first created pandemonium by smashing Asafa Powell's sprint record to become a contender for the title of the fastest man on earth. We will also work with sponsors Western Union, Pay-o-matic and Grace Kennedy to decorate the "Veronica Campbell-Brown" Media Tent which will honor our Olympic Queens at the event. The food court will also be re-named the "Caribbean Olympic Village" to honor all Caribbean athletes who competed at the Olympic Games this year.

Irie Jamboree takes place this year on Labor Day Sunday, August 31, 2008 at Roy Wilkins Park, Queens, New York.