Are We A Cool People Or What? Best Reggae Album Winner is A Nice Jewish Boy
Sean Paul, 30....got two Grammy nominations — best new artist and best reggae album. Talk about an exotic background! His full name is Sean Paul Henriques. His father’s family is Sephardim of Portuguese origin who came to Jamaica in the mid-1600s. The Henriques have always been one of the most prominent Jewish families on the island.
Sean attended, among other schools, Jamaica’s Hillel Academy, a non-denominational school sponsored by the Jewish community. His mother is of Chinese Jamaican background. That’s about all that has come out about his Jewish background — except one of his big hits, ”Get Busy,” has been the subject of buzz on Jewish music sites because the rhythm of the tune (but not the words!) is very much like a Haftarah chant.Also out this month on Tzadik is Greg Wall's Later Prophets which is based on the ta'amim of the Haftarah - specifically Yechezkel (Ezekiel).
Amazon has it here:
