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INTRODUCTION
This is the Rest in Playlist for Friday, March 1st, 2024, featuring recording artists from around the world who passed away recently. We’ve got three artists this week who the Reaper took way too soon, including an American dance diva, a Dutch rapper, and our headliner, Jamaican reggae star Peetah Morgan of Morgan Heritage. We’ll head north for some Finnish folk and Swedish jazz, then a world tour of singers from Cuba, Turkey, India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Get ready to expand your musical horizons on this global jam session from the great beyond. Let’s kick things off with our Opening Act.
Opening Act:
[28 Feb 2024] Cat Janice, 31, American singer-songwriter, cancer.
Catherine Janice Ipsan, known professionally as Cat Janice, was born in 1993 and began playing piano and violin at age 6. By 2015, she’d released two albums, won regional awards, and landed her music on television shows. In 2022, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. She released this next song on January 19th this year, with all proceeds dedicated to her 7-year-old son, asking fans to stream the song to benefit the boy she’d be leaving behind. They did, launching “Dance You Outta My Head” to #1 on TikTok, #7 on iTunes worldwide, and #11 on Billboard’s digital song sales chart. Cat Janice succumbed to cancer on February 28th at the age of just 31.
Cat Janice – Dance You Outta My Head [radio edit]
Headliner:
[25 Feb 2024] Peter “Peetah” Morgan, 46, Jamaican reggae singer (Morgan Heritage).
Peetah Morgan was one of five children of reggae artist Denroy Morgan. With Una, Gramps, Lukes, and Mr. Mojo, the Morgan siblings in 1994 formed Morgan Heritage. Peetah was the band’s lead singer. They made their debut at Reggae Sunsplash and released their first album, Miracles, and continued recording albums to last year, winning two Grammy Awards along the way. Let’s go back to that first album for this fun reggae cover of the Isley Brothers’ “Love and Happiness.” Then we’ll catch up on some newer Morgan Heritage in this week’s encore.
Morgan Heritage – Love And Happiness
Main Stage:
[25 Feb 2024] Bigidagoe, 26, Dutch rapper, shot.
Our youngest performer led a life of hustle, violence, and crime that you might expect from a South Central Los Angeles rapper. But Bigidagoe, who was shot and killed on February 25th at the age of 26, came from the Dutch metropolis of Amsterdam. After collecting a juvenile rap sheet for street robbery and cocaine dealing, he made his rap debut at age 17, and built a successful career. With success came rap feuds, diss tracks, and Bigidagoe getting shot in 2020. He was facing charges of kidnapping a rival rapper, with the government recommending four years in prison, when he lost his life this week. This is Bigidagoe with “Platzak.”
Bigidagoe – Platzak (ft. Esko, Jack, Vic9)
[26 Feb 2024] Jaakko Teppo [fi], 71, Finnish singer-songwriter.
Now to Finland, where the man named 1984’s Sexiest Male Performer and 1992’s Entertainer of the Year has left us on February 26th. Jaakko Teppo was a champion couplet singer, a style of Finnish folk music. He became renown for expressing his left-wing political views through lyrical metaphor. His career was interrupted in the mid-1990s by stroke, earning him both a disability and state artist pension. Here is one of Teppo’s biggest hits, called “Hilma Ja Onni.”
Jaakko Teppo – Hilma Ja Onni
The Jazz Cellar:
[25 Feb 2024] Georg Riedel, 90, Czechoslovak-born Swedish musician.
Georg Riedel was a Czechoslovak-born Swedish double bass player and composer. He escaped the Nazis in 1938 at the age of 4 when his parents fled to Sweden. There, Riedel attended music school in Stockholm, becoming a sought-after rhythm section player for numerous Swedish jazz musicians in the 1960s and 70s. He went on to compose film scores for director Astrid Lindgren. Reidel passed away on February 25th. Here he his performing on “Telegram För Fullmånen.”
Georg Riedel – Telegram För Fullmånen
Festival Stage:
[24 Feb 2024] Juana Bacallao, 98, Cuban singer and dancer.
Our oldest performer hit the stage eternal on February 24th at age 98. Juana Bacallao, also known as Juana la Cubana and Juana La Caliente, was a Cuban singer and musician. She was orphaned at age 6 and discovered while singing as she worked as a domestic servant. Bacallao went on to perform around the world and was awarded the Cuban National Humor Prize in 2020. Here she is performing “Espíritu Burlón.”
Juana Bacallao – Espíritu Burlón
[07 Jan 2024] Yüksel Uzel [tr], 73, Turkish singer.
We let this next artist slip past us last month. Yüksel Uzel was a Turkish classical singer who joined the choir invisible on January 7th. She began her career at Istanbul Municipal Conservatory in 1975 and released her first album in 1983. Success soon followed; within five years she was starring in Turkish films. But in the mid-1990’s—like our earlier performer from Finland—she suffered a brain aneurysm that cut short her career. She resettled in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2004. Here she is performing “Üzüldüğün Şeye Bak.”
Yüksel Uzel – Üzüldüğün Şeye Bak
International Stage:
[26 Feb 2024] Pankaj Udhas, 72, Indian ghazal singer.
Pankaj Udhas was an Indian ghazal and playback singer known for his works in Hindi cinema, and Indian pop. After recording hit albums in the 1980s, he turned his talent to cinema and live concerts around the world. He won eighteen major awards for his work, culminating in 2006 when he was awarded India’s 4th-highest civilian honor, the Padma Shri, for his artistic endeavors. Udhas passed away following a long illness on February 26th. This is “Dil Dhadkane Ka Sabab.”
Pankaj Udhas – Dil Dhadkane Ka Sabab
[18 Feb 2024] Hasina Mumtaz, 78, Bangladeshi singer.
Hasina Hossain Mumtaz was a Bangladeshi singer whose music became inspiration for the protestors of the 1969 mass uprising in East Pakistan that led to the development of the nation of Bangladesh. Mumtaz left us on February 18th. Here she is performing “Chachy Di Gali Ghidi A.”
Hasina Mumtaz – Chachy Di Gali Ghidi A
[26 Feb 2024] Bhakta Raj Acharya, 81, Nepali singer and composer.
Bhakta Raj Acharya, commonly referred to as Bhajan Shiromani, was a Nepali singer and composer, widely known as one of the greatest singers of all time in Nepal. Acharya’s career started in 1973 after he won a gold medal in an All Nepal Song Competition held by Radio Nepal. His career spanned until 1986. He recorded 450 songs and composed about 25–30 songs. Acharya passed away on February 26th. This is “Maya Meri Sanjha.”
Bhakta Raj Acharya – Maya Meri Sanjha
Encore:
[25 Feb 2024] Peter “Peetah” Morgan, 46, Jamaican reggae singer (Morgan Heritage).
We welcome Peetah Morgan and Morgan Heritage back to our stage. After the release of their debut, Miracles, the family band moved to Jamaica. While recording their next three albums, three family members left the band. Then after recording solo projects, the band was nominated three times for the Grammy for Best Reggae Album, winning twice. Here’s one of their most popular tracks, “Down by the River.”
Morgan Heritage – Down By The River
Morgan Heritage was quite the prolific band, recording albums from 1994 all the way to 2023’s “The Homeland.” Peetah also recorded his own solo album, “The Undeniable Truth.” Peetah Morgan died on February 26th at the age of 46. Here’s music from that 2023 album, one his last recordings entitled “They Gonna Be Alright.”
Morgan Heritage – They Gonna Be Alright
Closing:
And that’s the Rest in Playlist for Friday, March 1st, 2024. Join us here next week as we chronicle the latest musicians, singers, and songwriters to join the Great Gig in the Sky. Catch up on every year of Rest in Playlist back to 2016 on Spotify and RadicalRuss.com. For Rest in Playlist, I’m “Radical” Russ Belville reminding you to seize the day, it may be your last.
