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If you have never heard of Valerie Poxleitner, don’t worry, this young lady is known to her followers as Lights. Lights (Valerie) is an award winning musician from Canada specializing in what has been coined dream pop music. her original compositions are heavily reliant on electronic synthesizer.

She was born on April 11, 1987 in Timmins, Ontario, Canada. her parents are travelling Christian missionaries, so much of her early life was spent in other parts of the world, from the Philippines to Jamaica. This influence has been heavy on her music and it is vital to understand her perspective to get her music.

In her own words, she states boldly: I was eleven, and I learned three chords on the guitar. It was the first time I really learned how to play guitar and I wanted to write a song with them so I went down to my mom and I said pick a number between 1 and 150 and she picked 5 or something, I can’t really remember the number, but I went and opened up the Bible and there was 150 Psalms already written so I went to the number she chose and wrote a song with that and that kicked off the biggest thing of my life.

During a modeling tryout in 2002, she was to take a photo holding a guitar. Nonchalantly, the photographer asked if she played. She said that she did and went on to sing for them right there. That day, she met a man who would be her future manager. her music was soon heard as the backdrop for Old Navy commercials.

In 2005, she took a position writing for Sony Music Publishing. Then, a short three years later, she signed a deal with Underground Records and toured the Canadian and US Great Lakes areas. At the same time, she has a partnership with Doghouse Records, a part of the Warner Music Group.

One song, Drive My Soul, hit the Canadian charts while another, February Air, went all the way to number 3 on the MuchMusic countdown. does this herald a jump onto American charts? most likely, that is on the horizon for Lights. She has also performed on MTV Live and won a Juno award for Best new Artist of the Year in 2009. in response to that accolade, she will tour with Van’s Warped Tour this summer.

Lights lists artist Bjork as a major influence. She is also a HUGE fan of Phil Collins songwriting. While she does borrow from certain artists on a rhythmic basis, her self composed musical style is more chipper, down to earth and happy. her high pitched, yet soft voice has been likened to Vanessa Carlton.

Whatever she’s doing, it seems to be working for her. Lights’ music writing and her vocal prowess are well received and popular.

Currently, she is working on a CD to be released later in 2009 as well as touring the United States, Canada and Great Britain. She has said she wants to do a video for each of the six tracks on her 2008 self titled EP.

With all of this going for her, Lights relies on the social networks of the Internet to promote her music. her MySpace page is wildly popular, gains views exponentially and she makes new friends there every day.

At first glance, the student of Jamaican Patois would assume that all Jamaicans speak Jamaican Patois, but a unique group have their own dialect. This unique group is none other than the Rastas. the Rastas continue to have a lasting impact on Jamaican culture, reggae music and the world. the most famous Rasta of all time was the late Bob Marley, but there are many others that are carrying on the torch. it is important to know that not all Jamaicans are Rastas nor are all people with dreadlocks. Similarly, not all Jamaicans use the vocabulary of the Rastas. In order to understand or should I say overstand the language of the Rastas, it is important to learn the history of Rastafari.

Rastafari is one of the most recognizable aspects of Jamaican culture. although, Rastas believe that Rastafari originated in Africa, Jamaica had a major role in the formation of Rastafari. the first Jamaican to have a major influence on Rastafari was Marcus Garvey. Marcus Mossiah Garvey was born in Jamaica under colonial rule in 1887. after being exposed to Blacks in Central and South America and meeting Blacks from all over the world while living in London, Garvey became committed to the improvement of Black people. In 1914, Garvey established the Universal Negro Improvement and Conservation Association (UNIA) and the African Communities League. Garvey, the original Pan-Africanist, was the one who exposed the Black people in the new World to the importance of Africa and pointed to a redeeming African King. he would not know that the symbolic king would be Haile Selassie, Jah Ras Tafari. Garvey became a prophet in Rastafari for telling the would be Rastas to look east for a king, but it was the Preacher Leonard P. Howell that started the Rastafari way of life.

Leonard P. Howell, a preacher in Jamaica, became the first person who took the crowning of Haile Selassie I seriously and preached H.I.M.’s divinity throughout Jamaica. he was also seen as a rebel in Jamaica for publicly denouncing the British Government, recognizing and defending the divinity of H.I.M. Haile Selassie I, preaching the superiority of Black people and preparation to return to Africa. Howell was arrested and imprisoned for two years for disturbing the peace. once he was released, he started a Rasta community in the hills of St. Catherine. it was the combination of the oppression and struggle of Black people that cemented the Rastafari way of life. These events also helped in the development of the Rasta language.

Here are some key points related to the Rasta language:

1) the Rasta language is the vibration of resistance to the system of Babylon (the world of the oppressors).

2) This resistance is available through word, sound and power.

3) the language of the Rasta is part of the way of life.

Rastas speak a twist of standard English because in colonial Jamaica, the original African languages were drastically altered over time by British rule and enslavement. Even though in present day Jamaica, all Jamaicans speak Patois (Patwah), Rastas speak a sub dialect of Patois. This is important to know for people who want to learn to speak Jamaican. In the Rastafari language, words are power. the first thing one needs to know is the replacement of the word me with I. the personal pronoun I is the most important word in the Rasta dialect. to Rastas, there is is no me, there is no you and there is no we or Us – there is only I and I. everyone is an I, so there is no need for second person dialog. every person is a first person.

The use of the I as a sound is also present in Rasta speech. the sound can be found in many words such as:

I-tal (vital)
I-man (me or you)
I-ternal (eternal)
I-preme (supreme)
I-dren (brethren)
I-sire (desire)
I-ceive (receive)
I-hold

Another key concept to the Rastafari dialect is seeing. the eye is the organ of sight which is why Rastas (and non-Rasta Jamaicans) use the words Seen and Sight,, as in Do you see or see it? to see something is to accept reality. seeing is also important to the name Selassie; the word, sound and power of see comes at the the beginning and end of his name – see lass-see.

The way words are twisted is another aspect of the Rasta dialect that is important. For example, Understand is replaced by Overstand and Oppress is replaced by Downpress.

The other aspect of Rasta speech is the double meaning of words. here are some of theRasta dialect vocabulary words with double meaning and their Rasta meanings:

morgue (refrigerator)
runnings (happenings)
penetrate (admire)
red (angry)
more time (see you later)

The list can go on and on, but the important thing to realize is that Rastas have their own dialect inside of Jamaican Patois, so if you want to learn to speak Jamaican and about the culture, you have to know about the Rastas.

Dancehall Queen is one of those movies that anybody drawn to Jamaica or living in Jamaica has seen at least once in their life. I’ve seen Dancehall Queen several times, and every time I notice something new. this weekend was no exception as I decided to watch Dancehall Queen again.

After watching Dancehall Queen this time, I believe it is the most complete movie to learn Jamaican Patois, Slang and day to day Jamaican Culture for most Jamaicans. Dancehall Queen is the story of a downtown Kingston street vendor named Marcia (played by Audrey Reid) who tries her luck at becoming the queen of a dancehall contest hosted by Beenie Man, the self-proclaimed King of The Dancehall. Marcia, is a single mother of two girls who does what she needs to do in order to make sure her daughters get the best education and life, but this becomes costly when her older daughter, Tania, a young teen is forced to sleep with Larry (played by Carl Davis). Larry is the economic support or sugar daddy of sorts who pays for Marcia’s children to go to uptown schools while Marcia is working the street stand with her brother, Junior (played by mark Danvers). Once Tania tells Marcia that she does not want anything to do with Larry and she resents her mother’s dependency on Larry, Marcia begins to find alternative methods of making money. While Marcia is fine tuning her skills on the dance floor, her brother, Junior, spends his time hiding from Priest (played by Paul Campbell), the man who stabbed and killed his friend, and the police chief (played by Carl Bradshaw). Once Marcia learns that Larry and Priest are both no good, she devises a plan to make sure that neither of them ever hurt her family again while still competing to be the Dancehall Queen.

The great thing about Dancehall Queen is that film is comprised of Jamaican actors speaking in the language of Jamaica, Patois. there are very few instances of Standard English being spoken in the film. this is great for the student Jamaican Patois because key phrases are spoken in the appropriate contexts. one could really not ask for more because you are able to hear patois in all the main scenarios of life such as interacting with your parents, friends, the police, boyfriend/girlfriend and just strangers on the street. Additionally, Dancehall Queen is different from other Jamaican films in that there is no excessive gun violence. The movie contains comedy elements while still some of the truths and hardships of Jamaican life, especially for people of Downtown Kingston.

Besides the ability to learn an immense amount of Jamaican Patois, there are many aspects of Jamaican culture and life displayed in the movie. this movie focuses on the life of the day to day people as opposed to the police or “badman” contained in so many other Jamaican films. for example, in one scene Tania brings home an “uptown” boy from her school to her “downtown” home for her mother and sister to meet. at first her mother, Marcia, reacts strangely to his presence, but eventually she is accepting. this division between uptown and downtown is very prominent in Jamaican culture. Generally, uptown is home to the more financially privileged people while downtown is home to the less educated and less financially privileged. this is just one example of many culturally subtleties at work. you see the interaction of the Jamaican Country folk with the City dwellers of Kingston, the relationship between single mothers and men acting as father figures to their children and of course, you experience the dancehall culture.

The idea of a dancehall queen is something very common in Jamaica and now around the world. there are dancehall competitions all around the world. These competitions were inspired by the dancehall competitions of Jamaica. in fact, foreigners have gone to Jamaica and won dancehall competitions. Just like reggae, dancehalls and dancehall competitions are elements of Jamaican culture that have been exported to the world. The movie provides a good foundation into what the dancehall competitions are like, but should not be the last resource into learning this aspect of Jamaican culture.

In conclusion, Dancehall Queen is a positive film that highlights many aspects of Jamaican culture, but also teaches us to reach for the stars and just maybe are dreams will come true.