The Black Angel Foundation is a charitable organization inspired by the life of Joseph Michael Buchanan aka Black Angel, founder of the Black Angel Music label. Joseph was a talented young musician, producer and songwriter whose untimely passing cut short his musical dreams. Every donation to the Black Angel Foundation is greatly appreciated. Your generosity will go a long way in ensuring the foundation’s continued ability to assist needy music students and contribute to the future of Jamaica’s next generation of music. To commemorate his life and works, his family formed the Black Angel Foundation in his honour.
Formed in 2019, the Black Angel Foundation has awarded over J$4.8 million in music scholarships between 2020-2025 to 24 aspiring musicians from Edna Manley College, The Alpha School of Music and youth from several corporate area schools.
OUR MISSION
The Black Angel Foundation exists to continue the legacy of music prodigy, Joseph Buchanan, by providing scholarships for talented future musicians and music industry professionals passionate about their craft and the artform.
OUR HISTORY
At 15, Black Angel, born Joseph Buchanan, was attending boarding school in Switzerland and meeting people from all over the world as part of his education. As one of four black students in the school, Joseph’s interest in music was encouraged by his friends and he began experimenting with Rap as the genre was on the rise in Europe at the time.
Based on the Angel nickname he acquired at school as a kindhearted counselor to his friends, he assumed ‘Black Angel’ as his artiste identity and began moving with his friend’s rap group known as the ‘Sic Crew’ which included rappers from Germany, France and Switzerland. Motivated by his exposure to live hip hop shows he attended on the weekend in Zurich, Black Angel and his friend Kai organized a three day recording session at the end of the school term which produced 10 tracks performed by the ‘Sic Crew’ including Black Angel.
Although unreleased, the experience boosted the confidence and interest of the 15 year old as he left Switzerland to return to Jamaica via New York. In New York, Black Angel recorded a single called “The First Stage of Life”. Returning to Jamaica to complete high school, Black Angel continued writing and producing new rhythms as a way to express his creativity and communicate his feelings and ideas. Empowered to fly freely through space through music, Black Angel’s creative influences include Hip Hop, Dancehall, R&B and Jazz that he fuses in developing his unique sound. It became apparent to Black Angel very quickly that his efforts to create music would be enhanced if he had more technical skills to work with so he began training at the Edna Manley College where he studied piano theory for one year before enrolling for private instruction with David and Mary John, a brother and sister team associated with the Royal School of Music. Disciplined to practice at least three hours a day, with the guidance of his teachers, Black Angel has achieved Grade 5 in Theory and Grade 4 in Practical and has incorporated the rules and dynamics of music into his creative process.
While he trained musically, Black Angel also learnt more about the art of modern music production and participated in several Pro Tools training workshops offered by Anchor Recording Studio about the globally popular production software. With the support of his family, Black Angel established a label and digital home studio where he was able to create new rhythms and work with a stable of young talent from Future Fambo to newcomer Kritical. Producing new music for their generation, Black Angel was on his way to establishing himself as one of Jamaica’s Generation Next talents, conscious of the discipline, skills and passion it takes to achieve success and to make music for the world.
Unexpectedly, Black Angel passed in 2012 before realizing his dream. In his honour, his family has formed the Black Angel Foundation and is offering a $500,000 music scholarship to a deserving Jamaican talent in need of financial assistance to complete their studies at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts.