Sister Nancy In Australia For ‘Queen Of The Dancehall’ Concert Series
Dancehall legend Sister Nancy has touched down in Australia for a four-concert series.
The series begins tonight at the Red Rattler in Sydney, and sees the Bam Bam singer performing alongside the Legal Shot Sound System from France, at what has been described as a sold-out show by the organizers.
Sister Nancy, who celebrated her 60th birthday on January 2, announced her arrival Down Under in an Instagram post, and noted that she had spent almost an entire day travelling to get there.
“My God is Real after flying for twenty one hours I finally made it to Australia. Today is Friday March 18th 2022 2:27 AM I don’t know where Wednesday went I fly it out. Anyway Australia I’m here alongside Matty Ras and Legal Shot so if you missed me 2017 mi deh yah to Jah be the Glory,” noted Nancy who has the distinction of being the first female Dancehall deejay.
The concert series dubbed Sister Nancy: Queen of the Dancehall, continues tomorrow at the Duke Street Block Party in Melbourne and then the Sunday Planet Trip Weekender at Parramatta.
It resumes days later on Thursday March 24, at the Mullum Civic Memorial Hall in Mullumbimby and closes on Friday at the Transit Bar in Canberra.
A younger sister to veteran deejay Brigadier Jerry, Sister Nancy was the first female deejay to perform at Reggae Sunsplash, and was also the first to tour internationally. In her teenage years, she performed occasionally on the Jahlove Music sound system, and also worked for three years on the Stereophonic sound system with deejay General Echo. She recorded her first single Papa Dean for producer Winston Riley on his Techniques label, in 1980. Among her other singles are One Two, Money Can’t Buy Me Love and Transport Connection.
Nancy released her debut album, One Two in 1982 and went on to work with late producer Henry “Junjo” Lawes, where she recorded A No Any Man Can Test Sister Nancy, Bang Belly and Jah Mek Us Fe A Purpose, a collaboration with King Yellowman.
However, her most famous song is Bam Bam, which is a remake of Toots and the Maytals 1966 winning Festival song.
Sister Nancy’s version however, is the most sampled Jamaican song of all time, having been sampled more than 80 times across genres. Among the samplers have been Jay-Z, who sampled the song in Bam from the 2017 album 4:44 and even flew to the island to film the music video in which Sister Nancy is also featured.
In January this year, Bam Bam was certified Silver in the UK. Later that month, the song ascended to No. 1 on the iTunes and Amazon Reggae song charts after it was featured in an episode of Netflix’s popular crime drama, Ozark.
Along with her compatriots Purpleman and Yellowman, Sister Nancy was a member of the late producer Henry “Junjo” Lawes’ Volcano Records camp in the 1980s.
Under the label, the trio recorded an album in 1982 dubbed The Yellow, The Purple & The Nancy, which will marked its 40th year on January 2022.
The Yellow, The Purple & The Nancy was released by Greensleeves Label and featured 10 tracks including Feeling Irie, Get Ready, Out of Hand and Westmoreland Skank by Purpleman; A No Any Man Can Test Sister Nancy, Dance Pon The Corner and Bang Belly by Sister Nancy and Mr Wong, Baby Father and Mash It Up Now by Yellowman and Fathead.