Reggae songstress Etana will be making her presence felt this year with the release of her highly anticipated debut album "Etana The Strong One" set for release in mid spring. The singer who will be commencing the promotional campaign of her latest single "I'm Not Afraid" in a few weeks was however pleasantly surprise last week when she got word that well known Music Journalist Ellen Koehlings and Photographer Peter Lilly of Riddim Magazine were in the island and wanted to do a photo shoot to support a pre written article for their next issue.

Etana who was given the opportunity to choose location for the shoot, and staying true to herself she decided to stick to her Roots and took the Germans on a tour of her hometown, August Town where she grew up as a child.

The photo shoot which got underway about 11am saw the talented singer smiling and posing in-front her old residence while family and friends gathering around to witness the proceedings.

After a quick wardrobe change Etana along with her Road Manager and Publicist led the visitors down a narrow dirt lane to the banks of a nearby river. Capturing her beauty as she sat on a sea bolder Photographer Peter Lilly gave the strong one more than enough attention, directing her every movement as Koehlings and others watched from a distance with amazement.

The shoot then continued at a third location further along the river bed to a beautiful dry cave on the other side of the river bank. Once again it was Etana in all her glory that stole the spotlight twirling her ankle length yellow skirt.

At the end of the shoot the visitors were treated to a one on one discussion with the "Warrior Love" singer as she detailed the history of her community. Reminiscing on times of war and violence Etana had great hopes that the gang war would one day cease.

"It's silly to see the community fighting against one-another whether it's political violence or gang it dont make any sense, the youth are the ones suffering while the politician uptown living comfortable. I only hope that we as black people will start to see our real purpose and stop the bad-mind and envy".

Riddim Magazine is a German based publication that started in September 2001 with the Judgment Yard ruler Sizzla Kalongi gracing the very first cover. Over the years several top Dancehall & Reggae artistes have been featured on the cover including the Warlord Bounty Killer, Buju Banton, Gentleman, Tanya Stephens, Jah Cure and Peter Tosh. The Magazineto date has published 36 issues and is currently published six times a year with a circulation of over 45,000 copies.

NB. We have embedded snippets from the shoot below for your view pleasure(see images below)