http://www.andnetwork.com/index?service=direct/0/Home/recent.titleStory&sp=l54795 African Unite 2007 |
| October 27, 2006, 2 days, 22 hours and 51 minutes ago. |
| African News Dimension |
| By Kelvin Kachingwe |
Africa Unite, which was last year held in Ethiopia, will now be held in South Africa next following followinga decision by The Bob and Rita Marley Foundation. |
LATE reggae icon Bob Marley's widow Rita has decided to bring the African Unite, an event meant to encourage peace, education and empowerment of the youth on the continent to South Africa. The event that also reinforces the significance of Marley’s songs of freedom, was last year held in Ethiopia but the The Bob & Rita Marley Foundation have decided to bring next year’s event to South Africa. According to Rita’s official website, Africa Unite will join forces with the Emerging Leadership Programme, initiated by the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre, which honours the peacemaker and iconic Nobel Peace Laureate, Desmond Tutu. The Emerging Leadership Programme grooms young leaders with value-based leadership for reconciliation, transformation and peace in global communities. Africa Unite 2007 will commence on Marley’s birthday, February 6, 2007 and continue throughout Black History Month to include a Marley photo exhibit and the launch, in South Africa, of Rita’s book No Woman No Cry; an Africa Unite benefit concert at the site where Nelson Mandela cast his first vote; education symposium in Johannesburg entitled You Can't Blame The Youth workshops to encourage peace, and education and empowerment for Africa's youth; a One Love fundraising dinner and photo auction; a Catch A Fire fashion show featuring local South African designers. Born in Ethiopia in 2005, and again realized in Ghana in 2006, the now annual Africa Unite events came to life from the unwavering passion and spirit of Rita and her family. She is inspired, she said, to spread the spirit and legacy of Marley, to continue to bring life to his songs of freedom and to actively work towards a united Africa in their lifetime. |
Monday, October 30, 2006
Bob Marley Annual Celebration in South Africa
Bob Marley at New York Theaters
An actor needs a script. But Roger Guenveur Smith, opening a one-man show on Tuesday night, was seemingly without one as he fell into singsong cadences, set off with different accents and little bursts of emotional intensity, as he talked, in chains of anecdotes circling around one another, about his father, his life and Bob Marley. The background music fell into repeating patterns, over and over and over, while videos (seascapes, montages of Guenveur family snapshots) played on a screen behind him. The whole thing was slightly bewildering and slightly boring. Somebody get this man an author.
Ray A. Llanos
The actor Roger Guenveur Smith. Behind him is a photo of Bob Marley.
Readers’ Opinions
The show is called “Who Killed Bob Marley?” and Tuesday’s performance was the inaugural event opening the newly renovated Gatehouse as a performance space for Harlem Stage. Built in the late 19th century as a transit point where water from the Croton Reservoir was redistributed around the city, it is an odd, stubby, towered building, with massive water pipes standing guard outside; inside, it is a welcoming space, its soft old yellow walls inset with red arches that now mark a kind of proscenium as well as the exit doors on each side.
“We overuse the water metaphor,” warned Patricia Cruz, Harlem Stage’s executive director, in pre-performance remarks to an overflow crowd waiting patiently (for about half an hour) until seating could be found for everyone. The first series in the 192-seat theater, which opens with Mr. Smith’s play, is called “WaterWorks.”
Water played a role in “Who Killed Bob Marley?,” but so did family, Jamaica and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Mr. Smith has done several successful evening-length monologues (“A Huey P. Newton Story,” “Frederick Douglass Now”); the problem with this one is that it focused on a figure without the historical interest of Mr. Smith’s other subjects, and toward whom he cannot be said to have a balanced objectivity: namely himself.
He did, of course, have a script, or at least a plan of action — he has been developing this piece for some time — but he doled out information in nuggets that a listener had to work to assemble into a whole picture, like a jigsaw puzzle missing some of its pieces. Exhorting the audience not to confuse fact and fiction, he deliberately blended the two, assisted by the video of the cinematographer Arthur Jafa, which juxtaposed snapshots from Mr. Smith’s childhood with a movie Mr. Smith and Mr. Jafa made in Jamaica about a suicidal American poet named Arthur. Marc Anthony Thompson’s music was alternately soothing and, when it became stuck in one place for too long, irritating.
The role Bob Marley played in all this was symbolic of the piece: it was pervasive, oblique and uncertain. (Mr. Smith heard Marley perform at the Apollo; there’s a photo of the two of them together.) It was one more tantalizing element in a not uninteresting piece that left you wondering what the story actually was.
The Gatehouse is a happy addition to New York City’s cultural life, and its laudable goal is to give artists a space of their own. But there’s such a thing as too much space: and Mr. Smith, with this show, had it.
Bob Marley still making billions
http://www.forbes.com/2006/10/23/tech-media_06deadcelebs_cx_pk_top-earning-dead-celebrities_land.html
The Lucky 13
- Kurt Cobain
- Elvis Presley
- Charles M. Schulz
- John Lennon
- Albert Einstein
- Andy Warhol
- Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel)
- Ray Charles
- Marilyn Monroe
- Johnny Cash
- J.R.R. Tolkien
- George Harrison
- Bob Marley
A nail in the casket is hardly the end for some stars. Instead, their work, as well as their iconic images, continues to appeal to fans who remember them, and to those born long after they died.
The 13 icons on our sixth annual Top-Earning Dead Celebrities list collectively earned $247 million in the last 12 months. Their estates continue to make money by inking deals involving both their work and the rights to use their name and likenesses on merchandise and marketing campaigns. To land on this year’s list, a star needed to make at least $7 million between October 2005 and October 2006.
How does a posthumous star land--and stay--on our list? Solitary events--a successful film release or an estate sale--won’t necessarily do it over the long term. Staying power comes from a body of work--or simply an iconic image--with long-lasting appeal. Elvis Presley has both, which has kept the King near the top of our list every year. And last year, entertainment mogul Robert Sillerman’s CKX (nasdaq: CKSE - news - people ) paid $100 million for an 85% share of Presley’s estate.
In Pictures: The Top-Earning Dead Celebrities
But a one-off event can catapult a star onto the list. Or, in the case of Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain, to the top. While his music continues to sell, his debut atop the list is largely due to his widow, Courtney Love, who sold a 25% stake in his song catalog to publishing company Primary Wave for a reported $50 million. Thanks to this deal, audiences will be hearing much more of the angst-ridden rocker as his library graces the big and small screens. And, in a turn the rock star likely never imagined in his lifetime, his music may one day be used in advertising campaigns.
Other stars’ fortunes fluctuate a bit depending on how active their handlers have been in the past year: Music legend Johnny Cash released two new albums this year, and Bob Marley’s team continues to find new ways to repackage his reggae catalog. Former Beatle John Lennon could see a significant increase in income in coming years: His widow Yoko Ono is involved in two lawsuits against record label EMI Group for unpaid royalties.
Looking ahead, the future looks bright for late-night legend Johnny Carson, whose personal library of 4,000-plus Tonight Show hours could make millions in the YouTube era. Sadly for his fans--and his estate’s finances--less than 20 hours have been released thus far. (See: " Wheeerrre's Johnny?" )
Of course, with emerging technology, the public will likely get an opportunity to hear--and see--a lot more of many deceased stars, often as they’ve never been seen before. Already, voice modeling and computer-generated imaging can bring posthumous stars back to provide authentic performances for videogames, films and advertisements. You need only flip on the TV to see Audrey Hepburn dancing about in the Gap's (nyse: GPS - news - people ) skinny-black-pants advertising campaignRemembering the Rastaman
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4232613.stm
'My memories of Marley...'
 Bob Marley died in Miami in May 1981, aged 36 |
To mark the 60th anniversary of the birth of reggae star Bob Marley, Rob Partridge - Marley's former head of press at Island Records - remembers the man behind the legend.
Partridge worked with Marley from 1977 until the Jamaican musician's death in 1981.
How they met: "I joined Island Records in 1977 and the first week I was there I worked on his show at the Rainbow Theatre. It was one of the last dates he did in London."
The height of Marley's fame: The album Exodus came out in 1977 and that provided five hits and confirmed his global superstar status.
"By 1979 he was the biggest touring attraction in the world. I remember going to see dates in Milan and Turin and they were enormous concerts."
His stage act was perhaps the greatest I've ever seen. I saw him many times 
Rob Partridge
What he was like: Bob was one of the most mesmeric people I've ever had the privilege to work with.
"He must have had an iron will to succeed. Bob was a very driven individual. You realised from the start there was a manifest destiny within him that he believed in. He didn't suffer fools gladly.
At the risk of stating the obvious, he was an extraordinary song writer and his stage act was perhaps the greatest I've ever seen. I saw him many times."
Football mad: "I recall in 1978 he came to the UK for Top of the Pops and a Daily Mirror journalist did a half-hour interview. It was interrupted to do a rehearsal. He came back into the dressing room to resume the interview but saw a World Cup match on TV.
Marley's 1977 album Exodus produced a string of hits
"He sat down in front of the TV and after 10 minutes it was obvious he wasn't going to move. That was the end of it. The Mirror had a very truncated interview.
"The last time I saw him was in London in 1980. I arranged for him to play four days of football indoors in Fulham.
"Bob was a good player. We are talking about Jamaican-style football. He was an attacking midfield player. His team assembled wherever his gigs were. We played in Brazil against some World Cup-winning players."
His impact in the US: It was always a struggle for him to connect with Black America. Reggae did not correspond with disco in the 70s. But Bob in the 1990s became one of the great icons in America and the Third World.
"In 1991, ten years after his death, he sold more records than at any time during his life.
"We saw Black America taking Bob into their hearts for the first time."
Bob was endlessly optimistic about the way Africa would turn out. He realised that nothing was perfect but he had total belief in the power of mankind
Rob Partridge
And his impact around the world: "Bob, in worldwide terms, is the greatest music star there has ever been. If you went to Africa he would be recognised everywhere, in places John Lennon or Elvis wouldn't be.
"No disrespect to the other artists but a case can be made for him as the greatest, the best and the most influential artist in popular music."
If he had lived: Well 1981 was to be the year he toured Africa with Stevie Wonder. He had only performed in Zimbabwe and Guinea before.
"Of course the 1981 tour never happened, but the whole of Africa would have embraced him. We can't speculate but he was at the height of his powers and just 36 years old. I had no sense his career was going to go downhill."
What he might have made of Africa today: "Bob was endlessly optimistic about the way Africa would turn out. He realised that nothing was perfect but he had total belief in the power of mankind.
"I'm sure if he were alive today he would believe Africa would firstly become politically free and secondly be able to defeat the Aids epidemic."
His legacy: "The final tune of his final album was Redemption Song - one of the most incredible classics of all time."Bob Marley on Coins
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5285368.stm
The Bank Of Jamaica has issued 1,000 gold and silver coins to celebrate late reggae star Bob Marley.
Jamaica issues Bob Marley coins
 The coin's face value is 50 Jamaican dollars |
The commemorative coins bearing the star's dreadlocked likeness are being sold for $100 (£55) each.
Made by the British Royal Mint, they were intended to mark the 60th anniversary of Marley's birth in 2005 - but have only been issued now.
"We've received quite a bit of interest already," said bank spokeswoman Jacqueline Morgan.
There was no explanation given for the delay in issuing the coins.
It is the second time the Bank of Jamaica has issued coins bearing Marley's likeness in his homeland.
"The coins to commemorate his 50th birthday have totally sold out," Morgan said.
Marley, who died of cancer in 1981, was one of the most iconic figures in music, and arguably one of the most famous Jamaican in history.
He shot to fame in the 1970s with hits such as No Woman No Cry and I Shot The Sheriff.
In February it was announced that his home in Jamaica was to be declared a national monument, 25 years after his death.Thursday, October 26, 2006
Rasta Artist from Morocco
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/html/20061024T220000-0500_114447_OBS_MOUNIA_SAHARA___REGGAE_MUSIC_WHERE_AFRICA_MEETS_AMERICA.asp
Mounia Sahara - Reggae music where Africa meets America |
| Basil Walters, Observer staff reporter Wednesday, October 25, 2006 |
 |
| Mounia Sahara |
Moroccan singer Mounia Sahara's passion for reggae is yet another example of the enormous pull that Bob Marley and the music he made famous have across the globe.
"I was singing ever since I was born. I started to sing in a club every Sunday afternoon when I was around nine years old, in some kids contest in country music. Then I was introduced to Bob Marley by my father Mus Tatha who had a rock band called The Box. From I heard the music of Bob Marley I just get to like reggae music," explains the 29-year-old singer, who was born in Morocco but who has lived since the age of three in Canada.
Growing up, her father, who now teaches children to play musical instruments such as the guitar, the drums, and the piano, taught her how to play the guitar. She fell in love with music, and right away started making big career plans.
It was her fascination with Reggae that, in about 1996, spurred Mounia Sahara to kick-start her professional career as many singers do - singing background vocals - she for a Jamaican reggae artiste known as Silver Reddy. Six years ago, she stepped out on her own and moved to Jamaica where recorded her 2000 maiden CD, I've Got Joy, which was mixed in studios locally on the independent label, Silver Globe Records.
Later she would find the time wasn't right just yet.
"Because I was a new artiste and the songs were original and the people never heard of me, nothing never happened with the CD, it went slow," she admitted candidly.
Disappointed but not defeated, she went back to Canada, ended up taking courses in music lessons and now she is playing a little bit of the piano.
Now, Mounia Sahara says she's ready to conquer the land of reggae.
"I decided to return to Jamaica in 2005 to reintroduce myself and promote myself to the people because I know that Jamaica is the foundation of reggae music," the singer told the Observer.
Since she has been back, Mounia Sahara has appeared on a number of gigs including Rebel Salute, the MXIII Bob Marley Birthday Bash, the Garnet Silk Birthday Bash and at the Roots Bamboo Hotel.
Responses, she says, have been good. Now, with her career-building momentum, the singer, who also released a couple of singles recently, says she has plans to do another album this summer.
Among her singles available now are Israelites, HIM (His Imperial Majesty) and Hip featuring Luciano, Mikey General, among other local acts.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Bob Marley: Officially the Most Influencial Artist
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6064700.stm
Marley to be honoured with plaque
Marley to be honoured with plaque
 Bob Marley became an international star in the 1970s |
The plaque will be unveiled at the musician's former residence in Camden, north London, next Thursday. A member of his family is expected to attend.
The plaque to honour Marley, who died of cancer in 1981 at the age of 36, has been organised by the Nubian Jak Community Trust.
The unveiling is part of the Mayor's Black History Season.
It aims to promote the historical role and contribution of African Caribbean communities to the capital.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Elan - Israeli Reggae Artist with Bob Marley's Voice
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/775836.html
"I used to come to Israel for three months out of every year, ever since I was a little kid. I remember myself, age 12 or 13, taking a bus from Kiryat Malakhi, where I stayed with relatives, to Tel Aviv, to hear some reggae at the Soweto club, which back then used to be on Yarkon Street. The DJ, an Arab who didn't know the songs' names or lyrics, would hand me the microphone, and I would make the presentations in a Jamaican accent, sound-system style," recounts Atias.
Atias is here on his first visit to Israel in eight years. He wears a hamsa talisman and a Star of David on a chain around his neck, prays with phylacteries every morning, and is doing his best to recover the Hebrew he learned in American yeshivas.
He found himself in the most famous reggae band in the world, he says, completely by coincidence.
"In 1996 two friends introduced me to the Virgin Records repertoire manager. They told him I was a good singer, even though I never had written a song in my life, and he said 'Great, come tomorrow and play me some stuff.' I asked him for a few days so I could write something, used my savings to rent a studio and called drummer and bass player friends for the recording."
While looking for a guitarist to help with the recordings, he went to an L.A. club and met Al Anderson, a guitarist and a member of the original Wailers band, which was still performing together after Bob Marley's death. Anderson agreed to come and give a hand, and later even offered Atias a spot as the band's lead singer, in place of veteran guitarist Junior Marvin, who was quitting the band after many years.
"My first concert with the Wailers was my first time ever on a stage," he remembers. "I started singing without a sound check, without rehearsals, knowing the words only from listening to Bob Marley records. I remember waking up one morning telling myself, 'Incredible, I'm actually replacing Bob Marley in the band I've always loved and grew up listening to.'"
Soul uprising
The inevitable question of how a white dude can take the place of the "king of reggae" is met with dismissal.
"It's strange that only in Israel they call hip-hop and reggae black music. I understand it is said out of respect for the music's roots, but it is an offensive remark. You can be black, white, brown, Jewish or Rasta - music is music and you've got to feel it."
He does not see Matisyahu, the successful Hasidic rapper, as a groundbreaker.
"I've known Matisyahu for many years, and while he may have opened a few doors to artists in the genre, others have done it before him. If he were not a Hasidic Jew, and did not look like a Chabadnik, he would not have received so much attention."
Nevertheless, he identifies very much with the messages in Matisyahu's songs.
"I believe in positive, uplifting music, not in talking dirty and insulting people. I don't preach, but I try to create uplifting music that talks about love and passion, but also about social and political conflicts, and I encourage other artists to do the same."
His debut record "Together as One," which came out in June through the international label Interscope, will be launched this month in Israel. The name refers to the medley of styles on the album. The album is produced by Tony Kanal, the bass player of No Doubt and a close friend of Atias. It has a catchy poppy reggae style, and is influenced by Middle Eastern music, jazz, blues, dancehall and new wave.
"Tony and I grow up in L.A. together and we had the same taste in music, mainly reggae and ska. When we started working in the studio we weren't planning to produce a record or trying to land a contract with a record label; we were there for the fun of it, with no expectations. Everything that happened later was just fate. It all seemed to happen by itself."
Although he was an unknown budding artist, Atias, known in the U.S. as Elan, managed to get the Jamaican producer duo Sly & Robbie into the studio, as well as No Doubt lead singer Gwen Stefani, who recorded a duet with him, "All Nighter." This was not Atias' and Stefani's first studio meeting: In 2003 they recorded a reggae cover of "Slave to Love" for the soundtrack of "50 First Dates," which Kanal also produced. Several years earlier another song by Atias, "Dreams Come True," became famous after being featured on Sex and the City.
A bit of luck
Since quitting the Wailers in 1999, Atias has played with Carlos Santana ("He heard me sing before a concert and thought someone was playing a Bob Marley record"), Buju Banton, Gregory Isaacs, Cheb Khaled and UB 40. In 2004 he started recording his debut album, and soon after finishing it he signed with Interscope.
"I can't explain what happened to me, other than that it was God sent. So far I've been lucky to always be in the right place at the right time. I know there are a million talented, ambitious people busting their ass every day for their whole life who have never been signed with a major label or got the chances I had. That is why I try to use my voice and the opportunity I got in the most positive way possible."
Atias plans to perform in Israel in the near future, possibly as an opener for a major Interscope artist (which include U2, Sting and Eminem).
In this short visit, for family purposes, Atias recorded a duet with the band Hatikva 6, and attended a concert by the local reggae artist Chulo at the Barby club in Tel Aviv.
"I feel Israel has had a positive musical change, and that people are much more receptive to musical styles such as hip hop, reggae and R&B," Atias says. He favorably mentions artists such as Chulo, Soliko and Silverdon, but agrees, "In some of the cases it doesn't sound authentic."
| Jammin' with the help of the Lord | ||
 | ||
By Tamar Sukenik Haaretz 18 October 2006 | ||
| ||
Elan Atias is not your typical reggae artist. A former Wailer who sang in Bob Marley's band for four years, Atias recently launched his first solo album. | ||
"I used to come to Israel for three months out of every year, ever since I was a little kid. I remember myself, age 12 or 13, taking a bus from Kiryat Malakhi, where I stayed with relatives, to Tel Aviv, to hear some reggae at the Soweto club, which back then used to be on Yarkon Street. The DJ, an Arab who didn't know the songs' names or lyrics, would hand me the microphone, and I would make the presentations in a Jamaican accent, sound-system style," recounts Atias.
Atias is here on his first visit to Israel in eight years. He wears a hamsa talisman and a Star of David on a chain around his neck, prays with phylacteries every morning, and is doing his best to recover the Hebrew he learned in American yeshivas.
He found himself in the most famous reggae band in the world, he says, completely by coincidence.
"In 1996 two friends introduced me to the Virgin Records repertoire manager. They told him I was a good singer, even though I never had written a song in my life, and he said 'Great, come tomorrow and play me some stuff.' I asked him for a few days so I could write something, used my savings to rent a studio and called drummer and bass player friends for the recording."
While looking for a guitarist to help with the recordings, he went to an L.A. club and met Al Anderson, a guitarist and a member of the original Wailers band, which was still performing together after Bob Marley's death. Anderson agreed to come and give a hand, and later even offered Atias a spot as the band's lead singer, in place of veteran guitarist Junior Marvin, who was quitting the band after many years.
"My first concert with the Wailers was my first time ever on a stage," he remembers. "I started singing without a sound check, without rehearsals, knowing the words only from listening to Bob Marley records. I remember waking up one morning telling myself, 'Incredible, I'm actually replacing Bob Marley in the band I've always loved and grew up listening to.'"
Soul uprising
The inevitable question of how a white dude can take the place of the "king of reggae" is met with dismissal.
"It's strange that only in Israel they call hip-hop and reggae black music. I understand it is said out of respect for the music's roots, but it is an offensive remark. You can be black, white, brown, Jewish or Rasta - music is music and you've got to feel it."
He does not see Matisyahu, the successful Hasidic rapper, as a groundbreaker.
"I've known Matisyahu for many years, and while he may have opened a few doors to artists in the genre, others have done it before him. If he were not a Hasidic Jew, and did not look like a Chabadnik, he would not have received so much attention."
Nevertheless, he identifies very much with the messages in Matisyahu's songs.
"I believe in positive, uplifting music, not in talking dirty and insulting people. I don't preach, but I try to create uplifting music that talks about love and passion, but also about social and political conflicts, and I encourage other artists to do the same."
His debut record "Together as One," which came out in June through the international label Interscope, will be launched this month in Israel. The name refers to the medley of styles on the album. The album is produced by Tony Kanal, the bass player of No Doubt and a close friend of Atias. It has a catchy poppy reggae style, and is influenced by Middle Eastern music, jazz, blues, dancehall and new wave.
"Tony and I grow up in L.A. together and we had the same taste in music, mainly reggae and ska. When we started working in the studio we weren't planning to produce a record or trying to land a contract with a record label; we were there for the fun of it, with no expectations. Everything that happened later was just fate. It all seemed to happen by itself."
Although he was an unknown budding artist, Atias, known in the U.S. as Elan, managed to get the Jamaican producer duo Sly & Robbie into the studio, as well as No Doubt lead singer Gwen Stefani, who recorded a duet with him, "All Nighter." This was not Atias' and Stefani's first studio meeting: In 2003 they recorded a reggae cover of "Slave to Love" for the soundtrack of "50 First Dates," which Kanal also produced. Several years earlier another song by Atias, "Dreams Come True," became famous after being featured on Sex and the City.
A bit of luck
Since quitting the Wailers in 1999, Atias has played with Carlos Santana ("He heard me sing before a concert and thought someone was playing a Bob Marley record"), Buju Banton, Gregory Isaacs, Cheb Khaled and UB 40. In 2004 he started recording his debut album, and soon after finishing it he signed with Interscope.
"I can't explain what happened to me, other than that it was God sent. So far I've been lucky to always be in the right place at the right time. I know there are a million talented, ambitious people busting their ass every day for their whole life who have never been signed with a major label or got the chances I had. That is why I try to use my voice and the opportunity I got in the most positive way possible."
Atias plans to perform in Israel in the near future, possibly as an opener for a major Interscope artist (which include U2, Sting and Eminem).
In this short visit, for family purposes, Atias recorded a duet with the band Hatikva 6, and attended a concert by the local reggae artist Chulo at the Barby club in Tel Aviv.
"I feel Israel has had a positive musical change, and that people are much more receptive to musical styles such as hip hop, reggae and R&B," Atias says. He favorably mentions artists such as Chulo, Soliko and Silverdon, but agrees, "In some of the cases it doesn't sound authentic."
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Caribbean in the Movies
Here is a list of movies that either take place in the Caribbean or have some sort of reference to it. However, gotta note that not all of them have a concious vibe to them.
For your viewing pleasure.
For your viewing pleasure.
Jamaican Culture from a Trinidadian Point of View
Monday, October 16th 2006
Trinidad Express
Trinidad Express
Jamaicans being Jamaicans, one of my Jamaican journalistic colleagues was telling me up to two years ago that Chris Gayle was going to break all of Brian Lara's batting records. Not for the first time I was forced to recognise the national feistiness of Jamaicans, the first time being when I was living in the Bahamas and held a party in my apartment for some of the West Indian community there.
Reggae was just about breaking out then and the Jamaican contingent, as it were, walked with a batch of the latest records which they played non-stop on my record player. At some point I got fed up and moved to play some of the calypso records (I had lugged my whole repertoire, which was considerable, from Trinidad), remarking as I did so that:
"This reggae thing is boring!"
Well, who tell me to say that because, as if to a man (and woman!) programmed, the Jamaicans upped and, having collected their records, stalked out with a final:
"The Jamaicans are leaving!"
I was reminded of this salutary Jamaicans-for-Jamaica spirit in Barbados three years ago when as part of the Bajan's "Crop Over" festival, the tourist board there (and, boy, does that board there take its tourism seriously) had a discussion on why calypso/soca was not making the international inroads that reggae/dancehall was doing.
There was the usual talk and cross-talk until krosfyah's Edwin Yearwood put in that the world success of Jamaican music had to do at least in part (the other big part being, of course, the emergence of Bob Marley, arguably the greatest conscious composer the world has ever known) with Jamaica's amazing acculturisation of the world.
"The experience is," he said, "that you land in an airport anywhere in the world. The airport workers see you wearing dreadlocks and react immediately:
"Jah Rastafari," as if every black man with dreadlocks bound to be both Jamaican and rastafarian and even that "black man" there has to be taken in context since Jamaica has been able to seduce into dreadlocks, rastafarianism or both all kinds of white, yellow and brown people, itinerant journalist Nazma Muller telling me just the other day of the Cuban rastafarian experience missing only the "holy herb", hated and hunted down, I am given to understand, by Fidel and now, no doubt, Raul.
Lloyd Best, languishing these days but with a reputation of rebounding, used to tantalise me with his take on Jamaica's export of itself, how these dreadlocked rastafarians had managed not only to take on the world by flinging their blackness in its face but how positively at least a slice of the world had responded, Stalin able to sing now, if he would, about there being rastas now in Albania, for God's sake.
All of which brings to mind "Germany by Bus" when this country's national cultural contingent was being "bussed" from city to city during the World Cup, all kinds of music being played to make the long distances seem shorter, reggae and dancehall definitely on the liberal Trinbagonian playlist, leading one of Phase II's pannists to complain:
"That is the trouble with Trinidadians. You think when the Jamaicans were moving around in France in the 1998 World Cup they played any soca, calypso or steelband on their bus"!!!???
He had a point...well, maybe, because maybe it is this very Trinbagonian openness that makes us best placed to push the Caribbean's integration movement, Jamaica's dancehall singers a dime a dozen here these days, with Beenie Man actually making forays into soca (in more ways than one. "Beenie", you'll remember, castigating the judges for giving Shurwayne Winchester the Soca Monarch win over Bunji Garlin, such a scenario being impossible to imagine in Kingston with Sparrow on stage berating Jamaican judges for giving Elephant Man win over Yellow Man or whoever over whoever).
But, yes, you have to salute that Jamaican spirit, bold-facedness, to call a patty a patty, even when the patty falls flat as in the case of Chris Gayle who has come nowhere near to breaking any, far more all of Brian Lara's records but who has been beating up Bangladesh and Zimbabwean bowlers, the regional hope being that he will move on up to beat the better bowlers in the main draw of the Champions Trophy, Chris too often chafing at the bit for my liking but the cricket world liking it when he does come off-the Jamaican, not surprisingly committed to his own entertaining way, hell bent for leather and damn the consequences.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Rasta Artist in Nigeria
Zyno Storms Reggae World with New Album
The Tide Online
14 October 2006
Uprising reggae crooner in Rivers State, Ras Zyno is set to storm the reggae world with his new album titled, “I sold my life to Jah”. This follows his debut album titled ‘mama’ which is a dedication to mothers. The new album would be released under Iroko sound production label based in the state capital.
Ras Zyno, who spoke with The Tide’s Weekend Entertainment on Thursday said he intends to use the new album to promote reggae music in Rivers State. He said he has observed that reggae is not as popular as highlife and hiphop in the state. According to him, most people prefer highlife and gyration music to reggae in the state especially the lower class.
The Reggae master contended that reggae music and Rastafarianism is the solution to the problems of the world, because it preaches about equal rights and justice, one love, Jah worship, unity and black consciousness among others. He said if people could adopt these principles and doctrine there would be total peace, harmony love and unity in the world.
According to the Delta state-born reggae faithful, Rastafarianism and Christianity are the same because both preach about one God and righteousness, and condemns corruption, fornication and violence.
He, however, stressed that both differ in their mode of worship, dress pattern and attitude. According to him, while some so called Christian women paint their fingers, feet, mouth wear wig and expose their bodies in the public in the name of fashion, Rastafarian women do not do such things because they are happy and satisfied with the way God created them. He said anything short of that is a revolution against God’s work.
Ras Zyno enjoined youths do embrace reggae because its message serves as tonic to the body and it is the blacks man’s music- which has its roots in the African culture. The Delta state born reggae man, said Rivers state loves music so much, but loves gyration and highlife most, because of the language used which is basically pidgin which is also why they patronise the music of Stone Cold more than others, Stressing that some reggae musicians also use pidgin in their music therefore, they should give reggae the chance to grow like other genres of music in the state
The Original Revolutionist
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/html/20061014T190000-0500_114056_OBS_PETER_TOSH___THE_REVOLUTIONARY_AFRICANIST_.asp
Peter Tosh - The Revolutionary Africanist
by Herbie Miller
Sunday, October 15, 2006
There must be a reason both at home and abroad that prevents Peter Tosh (October 19, 1944 ^September 11, 1987) from being recognised as the musical giant he was and continues to be. Whether it is a lack of communication between those who oversee his interest and the record labels for which he recorded, I don't know.
A contemplative Peter Tosh
But certainly a mutually respectable and agreeable relationship between the two should result in the kind of currency other musicians who have transitioned enjoy. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Frank Sinatra and Bob Marley are as appreciated today as when they lived. In some cases, these performers have become much larger than before.
Not so for Tosh. For someone second only to Marley, who has spread Jamaica's cultural image across continents and to millions of people, he has been severely snubbed by the local arts and heritage organisations, cultural czars in government, the media and as a result, the Jamaican music loving public. Perhaps the submerged artistry of Peter Tosh is because he was a revolutionary in fact and not just a rebel.
Peter Tosh considered himself a displaced African. He conceptualised that great continent as a state of mind, which means he could live his Africaness without ever going there. At the same time, however, Peter related to Africa in its reality. He saw it as a continent blessed with magnificent history, majesty and tradition, yet, beset with bloodshed, ethnic conflict, and poverty, which he attributed to the lasting effects of colonial exploitation and oppression.
Connecting the conceptual to the real, Tosh acknowledged Africa as a place he would someday visit, in fact even live. He eloquently expressed in many interviews his 'overstanding' of the motherland and his willingness to 'go back home.' In one such interview, he resolutely stated, 'The future with me is in Africa. My song say Mama Africa, that is just telling Africa I am coming home.'
Yet, on the other hand, although his main objective was Africa itself, Tosh loved Jamaica, which he dubbed, 'Jah mek yah,' and considered the island of his birth a piece of Africa afloat in the Caribbean - what he termed 'carry us/them beyond.'
His artistic response to that dislocation was to address Africa's historic significance by singing its praise, and encouraging an African identity. The song African, one of his many compositions that convey his awareness, provides a sense of Tosh's ideal:
Don't care where you come from
As long as you're a black man,
You're an African
Never mind your nationality
You have got the identity of an African
If your plection high, high, high
If your plection low, low, low
If your plection in between
You're an African
These lyrics clearly demonstrate Tosh's views on identity and suggest an Afro-Jamaican and diasporic relationship to Africa. At the same time, he addressed the realities of Africa's contemporary problems by highlighting the issues that plagued it. Above all, Tosh dedicated himself to the political freedom of Africa and committed himself to its liberation in both words and deed.
During the apartheid era, and before many of his fellow singers and musicians knew its meaning and implications, Tosh took a stance against the white supremacist governments of South and South West Africa and their Western allies. He openly supported the African Nationalist Congress (ANC) and South West African Peoples Organisation (SWAPO) resistance movements. As a reaction, Tosh composed and recorded his seminal album, Equal Rights in 1977. The powerful title song was programmed with African, 400 Hundred Years, Get Up Stand Up, Downpressor Man and Apartheid.
These songs all voiced his support for African liberation and his concerns for the world's oppressed. Using sound effects at the start of the song to simulate machine guns, chaos and struggle, Tosh sings on Apartheid:
Yu inna me land quite illegal
You inna me land dig out me gold, yeah
Inna me land digging out my pearls
Inna me land dig out me diamonds
We a go fight, fight, fight
Fight 'gainst apartheid
We gotta fight, fight, fight
Fight 'gainst apartheid
You break off, break off from Britain
You quite illegal right where you are
Yu get yu forces from colonial powers
Taking my diamonds to build ballistic missiles
And use yu might to take me rights
We gonna fight, fight fight fight
Fight gainst apartheid
Tosh talked direct, he addressed the situation as he saw it and he put his money where he put his mouth. Peter Tosh often performed for free on many anti-apartheid concerts, at times paying from his own pocket those in the band and crew who insisted on being paid. Their demands would not prevent Tosh from giving his energy and talents to the cause of African freedom.
Tosh kept himself abreast of the various liberation struggles, their supporters and detractors and energetically engaged anyone sharing his opinion (or not) in lively discussions and debates on the subject. He read and passed on to those interested, a book he purchased in Brussels called the Broederbund (Brotherhood) that provided a background to the origins and implementation of the apartheid system. He met and spent time in reasoning sessions with Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael), Angela Davis and others with similar reputations for engaging in progressive struggle.
Along with Toure and Davis, and like the celebrated renaissance man, political activist and fellow entertainer, Harry Belafonte - with whom he did a video special in 1976 - Tosh was not afraid of being on the front line. In 1967, he was arrested outside the British High Commission in Kingston protesting Ian Smith's take over of the former Rhodesia, now the South West African state of Zimbabwe. And he never gave up music as his primary weapon. Songs such as African, Mama Africa, and I am Going Home, are other samples of Tosh's recorded reactions to Africa and its liberation.
In the heated election campaign of 1980, and in spite of Marley being previously shot (1976) for agreeing to perform on the Smile Jamaica Show, which was perceived as a political gesture, Tosh conceived and staged the Youth Consciousness 1 and 2 concerts at the Jamaica House grounds and at Fort Clarence. It was his way of communicating to youth, both as a reprimand to turn away from tribalism and partisan violence and for them to support what he thought the more progressive option offered. Jahman Inna Jamdung, recorded for the Equal Rights album was the theme:
Jah man inna Jamdung
Have some faith my brother
There are many, many tribulations
But have some faith my brothers
Undoubtedly, the recording Equal Rights remains Peter Tosh's flagship recording. It is also one of the most outstanding recordings to address socio-political issues as a global problem. As a complete work, it captures the racial, political immorality and systemic inhumanities that was part of the world of the 70s, a situation that remains to the present.
Shifting the highlight from the specificity of South Africa's apartheid and placing the focus on the continent in general, Tosh's revolutionary spirit, communal solidarity and feminist consciousness are evident in the song Fight On:
Africa has got to be free
Fight on brothers, fight on
Fight on and free your land
Fight on sisters, fight on
Fight on and free your fellow man
Cos if Africa is not free
Then we all will be
Back in shackles you see
My brothers fight on
Fight on and free yourselves
Fight on and free your land
Fight on and free your fellowman
Among his fans, Tosh's Africanist image is generally known, though in general, he has been slighted, not taken seriously or really understood. Its disturbing that with the day of his birth fast approaching, Tosh remains a grossly underappreciated, under represented, and even taken for granted singer/musician.
He was, and continues to be viewed in many circles as a somewhat cantankerous individual who existed in the shadow of his former group member and brethren Bob Marley. Yet, in my mind, Peter Tosh was not only a most complex human being, but also, was one of his era's most politically aware, incisive, musically engaging, and truly entertaining performers.
As for me, he remains one of the most important, insightful and committed twentieth century political musicians and activist I have observed. His pragmatic observation of local and world politics influenced his compositions. Tosh was a musician whose best socio-political works parallel that of anyone working in that style. That is, everyone from Robeson to Marley.
On the lighter side, what is unknown by most, is that Peter Tosh had a grand sense of humour. He was young at heart and as funny as any stand up comedian, or that he spent quite some time purchasing toys and gadgets associated with youth culture and activities for his own use. So, skateboards, roller skates, slingshots, electric motorcars, unicycles and layback cycles (the two most grown up of his many toys) were most precious and guarded. He also loved pets and kept fishes, a variety of rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and birds.
His favourite was Freddie, the parrot. I once had to talk Peter out of returning from a European tour with a pet chimpanzee, for me, it was a monumental achievement since it was virtually impossible to talk him out of some things, including 'beating the gate' with the hamsters from a previous tour.
How difficult might it be to convince the record labels holding Peter Tosh's best-recorded material - Sony, EMI, Rolling Stone/Atlantic and Island - to embark on a campaign to establish this musical giant and important political activist to the height he deserves? Short of political reasons which certainly, record labels have been known to use as excuses on a purely musical level, I hope not too difficult. On behalf of those for whom Peter Tosh lives, I say, Happy Earthday, Mystic Bush Doctor.
Herbie Miller is a cultural historian specialising in Slave culture, Caribbean identity and jazz. He was Peter Tosh's manager. Copyright 2006 herbimill@aol.com
Peter Tosh - The Revolutionary Africanist
by Herbie Miller
Sunday, October 15, 2006
There must be a reason both at home and abroad that prevents Peter Tosh (October 19, 1944 ^September 11, 1987) from being recognised as the musical giant he was and continues to be. Whether it is a lack of communication between those who oversee his interest and the record labels for which he recorded, I don't know.
A contemplative Peter Tosh
But certainly a mutually respectable and agreeable relationship between the two should result in the kind of currency other musicians who have transitioned enjoy. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Frank Sinatra and Bob Marley are as appreciated today as when they lived. In some cases, these performers have become much larger than before.
Not so for Tosh. For someone second only to Marley, who has spread Jamaica's cultural image across continents and to millions of people, he has been severely snubbed by the local arts and heritage organisations, cultural czars in government, the media and as a result, the Jamaican music loving public. Perhaps the submerged artistry of Peter Tosh is because he was a revolutionary in fact and not just a rebel.
Peter Tosh considered himself a displaced African. He conceptualised that great continent as a state of mind, which means he could live his Africaness without ever going there. At the same time, however, Peter related to Africa in its reality. He saw it as a continent blessed with magnificent history, majesty and tradition, yet, beset with bloodshed, ethnic conflict, and poverty, which he attributed to the lasting effects of colonial exploitation and oppression.
Connecting the conceptual to the real, Tosh acknowledged Africa as a place he would someday visit, in fact even live. He eloquently expressed in many interviews his 'overstanding' of the motherland and his willingness to 'go back home.' In one such interview, he resolutely stated, 'The future with me is in Africa. My song say Mama Africa, that is just telling Africa I am coming home.'
Yet, on the other hand, although his main objective was Africa itself, Tosh loved Jamaica, which he dubbed, 'Jah mek yah,' and considered the island of his birth a piece of Africa afloat in the Caribbean - what he termed 'carry us/them beyond.'
His artistic response to that dislocation was to address Africa's historic significance by singing its praise, and encouraging an African identity. The song African, one of his many compositions that convey his awareness, provides a sense of Tosh's ideal:
Don't care where you come from
As long as you're a black man,
You're an African
Never mind your nationality
You have got the identity of an African
If your plection high, high, high
If your plection low, low, low
If your plection in between
You're an African
These lyrics clearly demonstrate Tosh's views on identity and suggest an Afro-Jamaican and diasporic relationship to Africa. At the same time, he addressed the realities of Africa's contemporary problems by highlighting the issues that plagued it. Above all, Tosh dedicated himself to the political freedom of Africa and committed himself to its liberation in both words and deed.
During the apartheid era, and before many of his fellow singers and musicians knew its meaning and implications, Tosh took a stance against the white supremacist governments of South and South West Africa and their Western allies. He openly supported the African Nationalist Congress (ANC) and South West African Peoples Organisation (SWAPO) resistance movements. As a reaction, Tosh composed and recorded his seminal album, Equal Rights in 1977. The powerful title song was programmed with African, 400 Hundred Years, Get Up Stand Up, Downpressor Man and Apartheid.
These songs all voiced his support for African liberation and his concerns for the world's oppressed. Using sound effects at the start of the song to simulate machine guns, chaos and struggle, Tosh sings on Apartheid:
Yu inna me land quite illegal
You inna me land dig out me gold, yeah
Inna me land digging out my pearls
Inna me land dig out me diamonds
We a go fight, fight, fight
Fight 'gainst apartheid
We gotta fight, fight, fight
Fight 'gainst apartheid
You break off, break off from Britain
You quite illegal right where you are
Yu get yu forces from colonial powers
Taking my diamonds to build ballistic missiles
And use yu might to take me rights
We gonna fight, fight fight fight
Fight gainst apartheid
Tosh talked direct, he addressed the situation as he saw it and he put his money where he put his mouth. Peter Tosh often performed for free on many anti-apartheid concerts, at times paying from his own pocket those in the band and crew who insisted on being paid. Their demands would not prevent Tosh from giving his energy and talents to the cause of African freedom.
Tosh kept himself abreast of the various liberation struggles, their supporters and detractors and energetically engaged anyone sharing his opinion (or not) in lively discussions and debates on the subject. He read and passed on to those interested, a book he purchased in Brussels called the Broederbund (Brotherhood) that provided a background to the origins and implementation of the apartheid system. He met and spent time in reasoning sessions with Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael), Angela Davis and others with similar reputations for engaging in progressive struggle.
Along with Toure and Davis, and like the celebrated renaissance man, political activist and fellow entertainer, Harry Belafonte - with whom he did a video special in 1976 - Tosh was not afraid of being on the front line. In 1967, he was arrested outside the British High Commission in Kingston protesting Ian Smith's take over of the former Rhodesia, now the South West African state of Zimbabwe. And he never gave up music as his primary weapon. Songs such as African, Mama Africa, and I am Going Home, are other samples of Tosh's recorded reactions to Africa and its liberation.
In the heated election campaign of 1980, and in spite of Marley being previously shot (1976) for agreeing to perform on the Smile Jamaica Show, which was perceived as a political gesture, Tosh conceived and staged the Youth Consciousness 1 and 2 concerts at the Jamaica House grounds and at Fort Clarence. It was his way of communicating to youth, both as a reprimand to turn away from tribalism and partisan violence and for them to support what he thought the more progressive option offered. Jahman Inna Jamdung, recorded for the Equal Rights album was the theme:
Jah man inna Jamdung
Have some faith my brother
There are many, many tribulations
But have some faith my brothers
Undoubtedly, the recording Equal Rights remains Peter Tosh's flagship recording. It is also one of the most outstanding recordings to address socio-political issues as a global problem. As a complete work, it captures the racial, political immorality and systemic inhumanities that was part of the world of the 70s, a situation that remains to the present.
Shifting the highlight from the specificity of South Africa's apartheid and placing the focus on the continent in general, Tosh's revolutionary spirit, communal solidarity and feminist consciousness are evident in the song Fight On:
Africa has got to be free
Fight on brothers, fight on
Fight on and free your land
Fight on sisters, fight on
Fight on and free your fellow man
Cos if Africa is not free
Then we all will be
Back in shackles you see
My brothers fight on
Fight on and free yourselves
Fight on and free your land
Fight on and free your fellowman
Among his fans, Tosh's Africanist image is generally known, though in general, he has been slighted, not taken seriously or really understood. Its disturbing that with the day of his birth fast approaching, Tosh remains a grossly underappreciated, under represented, and even taken for granted singer/musician.
He was, and continues to be viewed in many circles as a somewhat cantankerous individual who existed in the shadow of his former group member and brethren Bob Marley. Yet, in my mind, Peter Tosh was not only a most complex human being, but also, was one of his era's most politically aware, incisive, musically engaging, and truly entertaining performers.
As for me, he remains one of the most important, insightful and committed twentieth century political musicians and activist I have observed. His pragmatic observation of local and world politics influenced his compositions. Tosh was a musician whose best socio-political works parallel that of anyone working in that style. That is, everyone from Robeson to Marley.
On the lighter side, what is unknown by most, is that Peter Tosh had a grand sense of humour. He was young at heart and as funny as any stand up comedian, or that he spent quite some time purchasing toys and gadgets associated with youth culture and activities for his own use. So, skateboards, roller skates, slingshots, electric motorcars, unicycles and layback cycles (the two most grown up of his many toys) were most precious and guarded. He also loved pets and kept fishes, a variety of rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and birds.
His favourite was Freddie, the parrot. I once had to talk Peter out of returning from a European tour with a pet chimpanzee, for me, it was a monumental achievement since it was virtually impossible to talk him out of some things, including 'beating the gate' with the hamsters from a previous tour.
How difficult might it be to convince the record labels holding Peter Tosh's best-recorded material - Sony, EMI, Rolling Stone/Atlantic and Island - to embark on a campaign to establish this musical giant and important political activist to the height he deserves? Short of political reasons which certainly, record labels have been known to use as excuses on a purely musical level, I hope not too difficult. On behalf of those for whom Peter Tosh lives, I say, Happy Earthday, Mystic Bush Doctor.
Herbie Miller is a cultural historian specialising in Slave culture, Caribbean identity and jazz. He was Peter Tosh's manager. Copyright 2006 herbimill@aol.com
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Gnawa Diffusion
http://www.rfimusique.com/siteEn/biographie/biographie_6086.asp
France has had a long tradition of producing bands specialised in 'métissage' (musical fusion). Listening to the rich musical cross-over in the work of Gnawa Diffusion, it appears that this term might very well have been invented to define the innovative new sound of Amezigh Kateb's band.
The members of Gnawa Diffusion, who are based in Grenoble in the South East of France, come from a rich mix of musical and cultural backgrounds. Fusing their individual influences into a collective sound, Gnawa Diffusion have woven elements of rap, ragga, jazz, reggae and rai into a vibrant musical patchwork.
The group's name is a reference to the Gnawa, a tribe from Western Sudan who were deported to North Africa in the 16th century by the rulers of Fes and Algiers. While the Gnawa were officially converted to Islam by their new masters, they continued to worship their own African gods in private.
Protest Group
The way Gnawa Diffusion see it, this historic tale of people uprooted from their homeland and forced to begin a new life in a foreign land is remarkably similar to the lives of modern-day immigrants growing up in France. Indeed, the group's lead singer, Amezigh, son of the famous Algerian writer Kateb Yacine, considers himself to be a 20th century version of the Gnawa. Amezigh, who arrived in France in 1988 at the tender age of 16, has been closely involved with the struggle to defend immigrants' rights and abolish racial prejudice. When Amezigh formed Gnawa Diffusion in 1992 he saw the group as an alternative means of getting his political message across. Amezigh, Gnawa Diffusion's lead singer and songwriter, writes his lyrics in three languages, Arabic, French and English.
Gnawa Diffusion got their career off to a flying start in 1993 with the release of a mini 5-track album entitled "Légitime différence". Following the release of their CD album the group began to concentrate on their live career, setting off on an extensive tour of France and performing concerts with a host of French stars including FFF, Zebda, Massilia Sound System and Princess Erika.
"Ombre-elle"
Gnawa Diffusion's innovative musical fusion and the hard-hitting lyrics of their protest songs have certainly made them one of the most prominent new groups on the French music scene. The group's new single "Ombre-elle" and their album "Algéria" (released earlier this year on GDO) have only served to increase their popularity - and Gnawa Diffusion's live shows are now beginning to attract an impressive number of fans!
Talking of live shows, one of the highlights of Gnawa Diffusion's recent career was their two-day appearance at the "Rencontres des Cultures Urbaines", an urban music festival held at La Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris in November 97. The group's impressive performance, which fused electric instruments with an interesting acoustic section, brought the house down at La Villette. Those who missed this rare musical treat needn't be too disappointed - Gnawa Diffusion are planning to devote the whole of 98 to touring!
The year certainly got off to a good start with the highly successful "Chibani Tour" - Gnawa Diffusion's personal 'homage' to the past. The group's lively on-stage performances attracted huge audiences across the country, and when Gnawa Diffusion performed in their home town, Grenoble, in the spring of 98 more than 5,000 loyal fans turned out to applaud them.
Gnawa Diffusion returned to the studio in January '99, setting to work on their second album "Bab El Oued-Kingston" (which was released in May). The album featured the group's habitual fusion sound, but this time round Gnawa Diffusion also began experimenting with traditional music, recording their own innovative version of "Chara'Allah" - a song that is three hundred years old! Following the release of the album, Gnawa Diffusion hit the road again, kicking off an extensive tour in Toulouse. Towards the end of the year music fans flocked to see the group playing concerts all over Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Gnawa Diffusion also performed at various music festivals throughout the summer of '99.
Gnawa Diffusion rocketed back into the music news in June 2000 with a new album entitled "Bab El Oued 2". At the end of that year the group also headed out to perform a tour of Algeria and flew back there again in 2001 for a mini-series of four dates. Renowned for their energetic live performances, the group returned to the festival circuit in the summer of 2001.
Coming back from the Algerian tour, the band released a double live album entitled Live DZ--the first live album ever recorded during a tour in Algeria.
Souk System
After four musicians had left and four others had come to join the band, Gnawa Diffusion would be composed of Pierre and Philippe Bonnet (bass and drums), Pierre Feugier (guitar), Mohamed Abdenour (banjo, mandola), Abdel Aziz Maysour (guembri), Salah Meguiba (keyboard and percussions) and, as always, Amazigh Kateb.
The band’s new album, "Souk System", came out in June 2003. Sung in French, Arabic and English, the lyrics were more political than in the previous albums. They referred to international news, denouncing and satirizing the events. As for the music, it consisted of the usual mixture of reggae and raga muffin, chaâbi and Gnawa music.
As soon as summer started, the band set off on tour again.
France has had a long tradition of producing bands specialised in 'métissage' (musical fusion). Listening to the rich musical cross-over in the work of Gnawa Diffusion, it appears that this term might very well have been invented to define the innovative new sound of Amezigh Kateb's band.
The members of Gnawa Diffusion, who are based in Grenoble in the South East of France, come from a rich mix of musical and cultural backgrounds. Fusing their individual influences into a collective sound, Gnawa Diffusion have woven elements of rap, ragga, jazz, reggae and rai into a vibrant musical patchwork.
The group's name is a reference to the Gnawa, a tribe from Western Sudan who were deported to North Africa in the 16th century by the rulers of Fes and Algiers. While the Gnawa were officially converted to Islam by their new masters, they continued to worship their own African gods in private.
Protest Group
The way Gnawa Diffusion see it, this historic tale of people uprooted from their homeland and forced to begin a new life in a foreign land is remarkably similar to the lives of modern-day immigrants growing up in France. Indeed, the group's lead singer, Amezigh, son of the famous Algerian writer Kateb Yacine, considers himself to be a 20th century version of the Gnawa. Amezigh, who arrived in France in 1988 at the tender age of 16, has been closely involved with the struggle to defend immigrants' rights and abolish racial prejudice. When Amezigh formed Gnawa Diffusion in 1992 he saw the group as an alternative means of getting his political message across. Amezigh, Gnawa Diffusion's lead singer and songwriter, writes his lyrics in three languages, Arabic, French and English.
Gnawa Diffusion got their career off to a flying start in 1993 with the release of a mini 5-track album entitled "Légitime différence". Following the release of their CD album the group began to concentrate on their live career, setting off on an extensive tour of France and performing concerts with a host of French stars including FFF, Zebda, Massilia Sound System and Princess Erika.
"Ombre-elle"
Gnawa Diffusion's innovative musical fusion and the hard-hitting lyrics of their protest songs have certainly made them one of the most prominent new groups on the French music scene. The group's new single "Ombre-elle" and their album "Algéria" (released earlier this year on GDO) have only served to increase their popularity - and Gnawa Diffusion's live shows are now beginning to attract an impressive number of fans!
Talking of live shows, one of the highlights of Gnawa Diffusion's recent career was their two-day appearance at the "Rencontres des Cultures Urbaines", an urban music festival held at La Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris in November 97. The group's impressive performance, which fused electric instruments with an interesting acoustic section, brought the house down at La Villette. Those who missed this rare musical treat needn't be too disappointed - Gnawa Diffusion are planning to devote the whole of 98 to touring!
The year certainly got off to a good start with the highly successful "Chibani Tour" - Gnawa Diffusion's personal 'homage' to the past. The group's lively on-stage performances attracted huge audiences across the country, and when Gnawa Diffusion performed in their home town, Grenoble, in the spring of 98 more than 5,000 loyal fans turned out to applaud them.
Gnawa Diffusion returned to the studio in January '99, setting to work on their second album "Bab El Oued-Kingston" (which was released in May). The album featured the group's habitual fusion sound, but this time round Gnawa Diffusion also began experimenting with traditional music, recording their own innovative version of "Chara'Allah" - a song that is three hundred years old! Following the release of the album, Gnawa Diffusion hit the road again, kicking off an extensive tour in Toulouse. Towards the end of the year music fans flocked to see the group playing concerts all over Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Gnawa Diffusion also performed at various music festivals throughout the summer of '99.
Gnawa Diffusion rocketed back into the music news in June 2000 with a new album entitled "Bab El Oued 2". At the end of that year the group also headed out to perform a tour of Algeria and flew back there again in 2001 for a mini-series of four dates. Renowned for their energetic live performances, the group returned to the festival circuit in the summer of 2001.
Coming back from the Algerian tour, the band released a double live album entitled Live DZ--the first live album ever recorded during a tour in Algeria.
Souk System
After four musicians had left and four others had come to join the band, Gnawa Diffusion would be composed of Pierre and Philippe Bonnet (bass and drums), Pierre Feugier (guitar), Mohamed Abdenour (banjo, mandola), Abdel Aziz Maysour (guembri), Salah Meguiba (keyboard and percussions) and, as always, Amazigh Kateb.
The band’s new album, "Souk System", came out in June 2003. Sung in French, Arabic and English, the lyrics were more political than in the previous albums. They referred to international news, denouncing and satirizing the events. As for the music, it consisted of the usual mixture of reggae and raga muffin, chaâbi and Gnawa music.
As soon as summer started, the band set off on tour again.
afrika afrika - in hollywood
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-africa15oct15,0,7097464.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail
EDITORIAL
Lights, Camera, Africa
The invisible continent gets screen time in Hollywood even if it can't
get a hearing in Washington.
October 15, 2006
AFRICA IS THE LATEST CAUSE CELEBRE for celebrities, but Angelina Jolie
and Madonna would have to adopt an awful lot of African babies to raise
the whole continent out of poverty. In fact, all the chatter from movie
stars, musicians and models has scarcely made a dent in Africa's
problems or done much to raise awareness of them. But as the movement
spreads through Hollywood, that could change.
In December, Warner Bros. will release "Blood Diamond," a big-budget
thriller set during Sierra Leone's brutal civil war in the late 1990s.
The film has created concern among diamond retailers that fear its
portrayal of the trade in "conflict diamonds" will spark a consumer
backlash. Leonardo DiCaprio, the film's star and one of many to adopt
Africa as a pet cause in recent years, says he took the role after
talking to human rights experts about the devastating effects of the
illicit diamond trade.
The film joins a spate of movies about or set in Africa that have
appeared in the last two years — including one currently in theaters,
"The Last King of Scotland," which examines the psychopathic regime of
former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Others include "The Constant
Gardener," "Hotel Rwanda," "In My Country," "Sometimes in April" and
"Yesterday."
Development experts have long complained that what was once called the
Dark Continent is now the Invisible Continent. U.S. news organizations
maintain few bureaus in Africa, and TV viewers are more likely to see
African rhinos on the Discovery Channel than African people on the
nightly news. Yet they are appearing on movie screens. "The Constant
Gardener" portrayed the kind of terrifying attack on a village by
militias that is still tearing apart the Darfur region of Sudan, while
"Hotel Rwanda" may have made more Americans aware of the Rwandan
genocide than the actual events did 10 years earlier.
One disappointing trend in these movies is the degree to which the genre
remains tied to the "Out of Africa" tradition. These are mainly tales of
Africa seen through the eyes of white Westerners — "Hotel Rwanda" is a
notable exception — who with any luck can fly away from the place in the
final, bittersweet scene. Audiences may be ready for more tales of
Africa told from the perspective of Africans. Still, even a picture of
the continent skewed for maximum entertainment value beats no picture at
all.
Africa remains off the political radar in the U.S. Not many candidates
running for Congress will be asked about their policies on Sudan or
Somalia. There are moral, economic, environmental, strategic and
national security reasons that that should change. Right now, Hollywood
seems to be doing a better job of pointing them out than Washington.
U.S. news organizations maintain few bureaus in Africa, and TV viewers are more likely to see
African rhinos on the Discovery Channel than African people on the
nightly news. Yet they are appearing on movie screens. "The Constant
Gardener" portrayed the kind of terrifying attack on a village by
militias that is still tearing apart the Darfur region of Sudan, while
"Hotel Rwanda" may have made more Americans aware of the Rwandan
genocide than the actual events did 10 years earlier.
One disappointing trend in these movies is the degree to which the genre
remains tied to the "Out of Africa" tradition. These are mainly tales of
Africa seen through the eyes of white Westerners — "Hotel Rwanda" is a
notable exception — who with any luck can fly away from the place in the
final, bittersweet scene. Audiences may be ready for more tales of
Africa told from the perspective of Africans. Still, even a picture of
the continent skewed for maximum entertainment value beats no picture at
all.
Africa remains off the political radar in the U.S. Not many candidates
running for Congress will be asked about their policies on Sudan or
Somalia. There are moral, economic, environmental, strategic and
national security reasons that that should change. Right now, Hollywood
seems to be doing a better job of pointing them out than Washington.
EDITORIAL
Lights, Camera, Africa
The invisible continent gets screen time in Hollywood even if it can't
get a hearing in Washington.
October 15, 2006
AFRICA IS THE LATEST CAUSE CELEBRE for celebrities, but Angelina Jolie
and Madonna would have to adopt an awful lot of African babies to raise
the whole continent out of poverty. In fact, all the chatter from movie
stars, musicians and models has scarcely made a dent in Africa's
problems or done much to raise awareness of them. But as the movement
spreads through Hollywood, that could change.
In December, Warner Bros. will release "Blood Diamond," a big-budget
thriller set during Sierra Leone's brutal civil war in the late 1990s.
The film has created concern among diamond retailers that fear its
portrayal of the trade in "conflict diamonds" will spark a consumer
backlash. Leonardo DiCaprio, the film's star and one of many to adopt
Africa as a pet cause in recent years, says he took the role after
talking to human rights experts about the devastating effects of the
illicit diamond trade.
The film joins a spate of movies about or set in Africa that have
appeared in the last two years — including one currently in theaters,
"The Last King of Scotland," which examines the psychopathic regime of
former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Others include "The Constant
Gardener," "Hotel Rwanda," "In My Country," "Sometimes in April" and
"Yesterday."
Development experts have long complained that what was once called the
Dark Continent is now the Invisible Continent. U.S. news organizations
maintain few bureaus in Africa, and TV viewers are more likely to see
African rhinos on the Discovery Channel than African people on the
nightly news. Yet they are appearing on movie screens. "The Constant
Gardener" portrayed the kind of terrifying attack on a village by
militias that is still tearing apart the Darfur region of Sudan, while
"Hotel Rwanda" may have made more Americans aware of the Rwandan
genocide than the actual events did 10 years earlier.
One disappointing trend in these movies is the degree to which the genre
remains tied to the "Out of Africa" tradition. These are mainly tales of
Africa seen through the eyes of white Westerners — "Hotel Rwanda" is a
notable exception — who with any luck can fly away from the place in the
final, bittersweet scene. Audiences may be ready for more tales of
Africa told from the perspective of Africans. Still, even a picture of
the continent skewed for maximum entertainment value beats no picture at
all.
Africa remains off the political radar in the U.S. Not many candidates
running for Congress will be asked about their policies on Sudan or
Somalia. There are moral, economic, environmental, strategic and
national security reasons that that should change. Right now, Hollywood
seems to be doing a better job of pointing them out than Washington.
U.S. news organizations maintain few bureaus in Africa, and TV viewers are more likely to see
African rhinos on the Discovery Channel than African people on the
nightly news. Yet they are appearing on movie screens. "The Constant
Gardener" portrayed the kind of terrifying attack on a village by
militias that is still tearing apart the Darfur region of Sudan, while
"Hotel Rwanda" may have made more Americans aware of the Rwandan
genocide than the actual events did 10 years earlier.
One disappointing trend in these movies is the degree to which the genre
remains tied to the "Out of Africa" tradition. These are mainly tales of
Africa seen through the eyes of white Westerners — "Hotel Rwanda" is a
notable exception — who with any luck can fly away from the place in the
final, bittersweet scene. Audiences may be ready for more tales of
Africa told from the perspective of Africans. Still, even a picture of
the continent skewed for maximum entertainment value beats no picture at
all.
Africa remains off the political radar in the U.S. Not many candidates
running for Congress will be asked about their policies on Sudan or
Somalia. There are moral, economic, environmental, strategic and
national security reasons that that should change. Right now, Hollywood
seems to be doing a better job of pointing them out than Washington.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Jah-mek-ya Influence the World
http://www.bermudasun.bm/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=135&ArticleID=30501&TM=15191.61
| Jamaica's struggle to freedom impacted the world 8/11/2006 1:28:00 PM | |
| Walter H. Roban Bermuda Sun On the stroke of midnight, August 5, 1962 the national anthem was heard for the first time while the Union Jack was lowered and a new Jamaican flag was unveiled. On August 6 1962, the island of Jamaica became an independent country. It was an earth-shattering event as Jamaica, a jewel of Empire, threw off the shackles of colonialism and embraced self-government. Jamaica is a country of stunning natural scenery and rich culture. The current population of Jamaica is estimated at around 2.7 million with a land area of 10,991 sq km (4,243 sq miles) making it one of the big islands of the Caribbean. Its main industries are connected with the land, mainly Bauxite, alumina, garments, sugar, bananas and rum. Jamaica's unique natural features has made it a vibrant participant in tourism which is a growing industry for the island. The population is around 90 per cent African descent but the country's motto "out of many, one people" speaks to a diversity that includes European, Chinese, Lebanese and East Indians. The original inhabitants of Jamaica are believed to be the Arawaks, also called Tainos. They named the island Xaymaca, which meant "land of wood and water". They led quiet and peaceful lives until the Spaniards destroyed them after Christopher Columbus settled the island in 1494. The island remained poor under Spanish rule as few Spaniards settled here. On May 10, 1655, the British successfully invaded Jamaica. The English conquest and settlement would bring many things including great sugar estates and plantation slavery of the scale that made Jamaica the bulwark of the British Empire. British subjugation of Jamaica would not be easy. Rebellions by slaves would be numerous and the Maroons would never completely surrender to their supremacy. Jamaica has identified national heroes who have contributed to the people's ongoing struggle for freedom, one of these was Paul Bogle. Paul Bogle, it is believed, was born free about 1822. Bogle was a literate man and the owner of about 500 acres in St. Thomas. He was a firm political adherent of George William Gordon, a large landowner and politician and a champion for the poor and disenfranchised. He was made a Baptist deacon in Stony Gut, a few miles north of Morant Bay, St. Thomas. Poverty and injustice plagued Jamaican society and a lack of public confidence in the government to address the problems. Bogle was a friend and champion of the poor and was determined to have their concerns heard. He led a group of people from Stony Gut to Spanish Town to be heard by the Governor believing the people must be heard by the highest authority. Bogle and a group marched to the Morant Bay Court-house on October 11, 1865, to support men they felt were being unjustly treated. After an incident at the courthouse, the police went to Stony Gut to arrest Bogle but were prevented from doing so. In a violent confrontation with official forces that followed the march, nearly 500 people were killed and a greater number were flogged and punished before order was restored. Bogle was captured and unjustly hanged on October 24, 1865. The result of the rebellion changed the direction of Jamaica from a self-governing colony like Bermuda today, to a Crown colony directly controlled from London. Despite this, the Morant Bay rebellion inspired Jamaicans to continue their struggle for freedom and ultimate independence. Bogle's mission of freedom and justice was taken up by a host of others include Bustamente and the Manleys to name a few. In the quest for justice and freedom Jamaica has given much to the world and been a source of global attention and events. Jamaican culture, food, music, and Rastafarianism, Marcus Garvey and the New Jewel Movement, and Bob Marley are examples. Jamaica throughout history has been a small but important global theatre. When you consider the spirit and strength of Jamaica and her people it is likely that this independent country will continue to impact world events. | |
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Live Bob Marley Live !
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/10/09/094007.php
DVD Review: Classic Albums: Bob Marley And The Wailers, Catch A Fire
October 09, 2006
Richard Marcus
Blogcritics. org Richard Marcus
Early on in their relationship, someone asked Bob Marley if Island Records owner Chris Blackwell was his producer. Bob said "No Mon, he's my translator". While that was a good joke, because of Bob's heavy accent, Bob might have been more accurate is saying that Chris was his interpreter for the work he did on the early Wailers albums.
Eagle Rock Entertainment has released Bob Marley And The Wailers: Catch A Fire as part of their new DVD series Classic Albums. The purpose of the series is to take a closer look at how some of the seminal works in pop music came into being. In the case of the Wailers' Catch A Fire, it was the first attempt by any reggae group to seriously crack the British and American mainstream album markets.
Until Catch A Fire, the only reggae music that had done anything on the charts in England had been silly novelty songs or the occasional mainstream musician utilizing some of the unique rhythms in their own material. But a full-length album of serious reggae music had yet to meet with any success at all.
The DVD takes us back to 1972 when the core of the Wailers was still Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, and Bob Marley. They had traveled over to London, England in an attempt to try and score a record deal or at least get someone outside the Jamaican community to pay attention to them. Considering how renowned all of these men — especially Bob and Peter Tosh — have become since then, it was surprising to hear of the antipathy that most of the popular music world felt toward reggae music at the time.
The producers of the disc have put together interviews with many different people to get their perspectives on the disc. The session men hired by Blackwell to do overdubs on the album, the original studio musicians in Jamaica who recorded the original eight tracks that Island Records worked with to make the final cut, and various other figures in the lives of the three principles of the Wailers at the time.
I'm not quite sure what I was expecting from this behind the scenes look at the creation of an album, but I don't think I expected it to be this interesting and informative. One of the main things it did for me personally is it revised my opinion of Chris Blackwell of Island Records quite substantially. Listening to him talk about what he was trying to do for the music and Bob, I was impressed with his humility and the commitment he was willing to show an unknown band performing music that had no history of sales - either in mainstream America or Britain.
He gave them four thousand pounds (about $10,000) to go off and record the album and trusted them to bring him back something he could make use of. When the disc switches back to Jamaica, they inter-cut old footage of the recording session and interviews with the session men who appeared on the original disc. They focus especially on the drummer and bass player from the old band who try to explain how a reggae song builds on itself while it is being played.
One of the interesting things about the recording sessions is as I was sitting watching the old videos of them in the studio I realized they were all in one room together playing. Initially I thought these were just the rehearsals prior to the band members going off to record individually, but these were the actual sessions. But thinking about what the drummer had said about a song evolving as it's played, with the drummer and the bass feeding off the leads to add frills to their playing it made a lot of sense for them to record "live".
When Bob brought the tapes back to London to play them for Chris Blackwell and his engineer, they had had to double up on most of their tracks because they only had eight to work with in the first place. With the entire band recording at once, there was also a lot of spill over of instruments into microphones that the Island engineer had to cope with as well.
Bob and the rest of the Wailers realized they would have to make some compromises with their sound in the initial albums in order to break through and attract an early 1970's audience. So it was with their blessing that Chris Blackwell brought in a couple of session players to smooth out the edges to make it more palatable for, specifically, the North American market.
One of the most fascinating parts of the DVD was when they focused on the actual remixing of the material. The people at Island Records made the master tape and the board available for the shoot. Chris Blackwell and the original technician than sat down and took us through track after track and what they did with it.
They would then switch over to the session men who talked about how they tried to make what they knew about music fit in with Reggae and how they came up with the added bits you had just heard through the board. At one point the keyboard player, John "Rabbit" Bundrick, was describing how Bob Marley was showing him what he wanted and laughing because of the way in which he would do it. (Not caring about what keys he was hitting, just giving him the pattern to fit the music rhythmically)
Bundrick looked into the camera like he was looking into the past and said, "He was playing from the heart and I learned that from him. As a musician you're always wanting to learn something new". This is more then thirty years latter and it sounded like he was talking about yesterday. Wayne Perkins (a guitar player brought in for the sessions) and he both talked about not understanding how the music worked initially and how they had to let both it and Bob work with them to find the groove and the proper touch.
Perkins was especially funny. An American from the South, he said it didn't sound like anything he had ever played before "from Blues to Church music". Then as he was trying to figure out what the hell he was going to do it came to him – "It was backwards". From then on he had no problems. (If you listen to Catch A Fire again and the song "Concrete Jungle" that guitar leading off the song and sustaining through it for a while is Perkins. He said when he finished that bit Bob was so excited he came bounding out of the booth and tried to stuff a joint the size of a two by four in his mouth.)
There's a lovely scene near the end where Chris Blackwell and the engineer are sitting listening to the original eight-track recording, just smiling and ever so slightly Blackwell is shaking his head. When the music stops he gets sort of a wistful expression on his face and says something to the effect of, "We could have released it just like that, it sounds so great you wonder why we didn't. But I thought we had to do what we did if they had a chance of it breaking into the big markets. We all thought that"
That's where I really gained new respect for the man because I could hear the regret in his voice for tampering with something so good. Even now he was still second-guessing his decision – even though it was probably the right one. Even with the modifications the album only sold 40-thousand copies that first year. Over the years as the band gained in popularity sales eventually amounted to over a million. But in those early years there was no guarantee of reggae or Bob Marley ever achieving the fame and popularity he and the music have obtained since.
Chris Blackwell took a sizable risk on signing the Wailers, they were an unproven commodity, but as this documentary shows they were astute enough to realize they would have to make some compromises at first in order to achieve their dream of spreading their message. Bob Marley And The Wailers: Catch A Fire is a wonderful documentary on the process of building a great album and the birth of a new musical form. Anybody who has an interest in Bob Marley or reggae will find this DVD both fascinating and a pleasure to watch.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Latin Reggae Fever takes over !
New wave of Latin singers spins politics in a different direction
Miami Herald published on 10/08 / 2006
BY EVELYN McDONNELL
The Hialeah punk band sings about a man standing on the shore of Santa Fe, Cuba, wondering should he stay or should he go. On camouflage-green T-shirts, the group emblazons its name with a red star and machete.
The son of Venezuelan immigrants raps against Bush and for the common man, and gives his band the name of a communist holiday.
The Cuban-American songwriter with hip-length dreadlocks spreads the gospel of the movement for Jah people.
A new crop of South Florida music-makers is singing about issues and ideas that are sometimes shocking to their parents but that represent the changing global awareness and politics of a younger generation of Hispanic-Americans. In their efforts to project new and powerful images, some acts are even appropriating the leftist iconography of guerrilla rebels and socialist artists.
Such acts as Guajiro, Mayday!, Seven Star, Jorge Correa, Locos por Juana, and Johnny Dread, along with record labels including Beta Bodega and Counterflow, are working mostly in American and Caribbean genres that often voice progressive political views: hip-hop, reggae, and punk. By tapping sounds and experiences from their distinct backgrounds, these acts are simultaneously broadening the scope of and challenging the sometimes kneejerk postures of artists within those genres.
''We decided if we're going to do this, we're going to incorporate our culture,'' says Will Lopez, singer and guitarist for the Hialeah punk band Guajiro. ''Damn right we're going to have something to say, and damn right we're going to be passionate about it.''
The sons (unfortunately, there are no daughters in this movement -- yet) of exiles, the musicians are well aware of the sensitive nature of political expression in South Florida. ''It's only a generation away, the pain our parents felt and grandparents felt,'' says the Venezuelan-American Bernbiz (born Bernardo Garcia), MC for the Kendall-based hip-hop duo Mayday!, whose summer YouTube hit Groundhog Day featured constructivist graphics.
''Trying to propagate this in Miami is like trying to sow seeds in water,'' says Kike Posada, editor/founder of Boom! Magazine. ''Miami is first of all the capital of Cuban exiles, then it's the capital of [the Latin American] right wing all over. It's hard to express something different than what the standard is.''
But a handful of musicians feel strongly that the new Miami voices must be heard, as part of a rising international tide of protest singers.
''There's a new blood,'' says Cuban-American reggae artist Johnny Dread, ''a new dawning.''
EVOLVING BELIEFS
Second-generation immigrants typically pull away from their parents and adopt the language, styles, tastes, and sounds of the dominant culture. For Johnny Dread, Bernbiz, and the members of Guajiro, it was music made by non-Latin artists that changed their lives -- and made them reevaluate the belief systems in which they were raised.
Love of classic English punk band the Clash binds the three main members of Guajiro. Guajiro's incendiary merchandising, with its guerrilla lettering and red stars, is lifted straight from such albums as Combat Rock. ''I think they were trying to do great things, in their politics, in the things they said, in the risks they took in the music they made,'' says bassist Jorge Gonzalez.
The Clash sang frequently about Latin American political movements; they named an album Sandinista!, after Nicaraguan rebel forces. Singing in both Spanish and English, Guajiro similarly go where few Latin or punk bands have gone before. Mantanzero is about an immigrant who, disappointed in ''the land of opportunity,'' heads to his ''homeland'' to liberate it. Los Dos Principes puts an old Jose Martí poem to a 4/4 beat, and provides timely discussion of the merits of regime change.
The band, which is in the final stages of negotiating a deal with a major label, gets its name from the Cuban term for peasant or farm worker. The moniker captures both the members' connection with their heritage and their punk-rock affinity for the underclass.
Lopez's parents fled Cuba in 1961 and are staunch Republicans. Gonzalez left the island at age 8, in 1980; he says he has fond childhood memories and does not connect to the ''reactionary stuff'' that happens in Miami. Drummer Doug MacKinnon is an Irish-American from Boston (and a veteran of punk bands Slapshot and the Vandals) who has studied Afro-Cuban drumming in Cuba.
Guajiro's songs are portraits rather than manifestos. Still, they depict a more complicated view of Cuban experience than is presented by the traditionally vocal members of the exile community. They realize that could get them in trouble. ''The irony is that ambiguous to me means ambiguous, and ambiguous in some fronts might mean not really taking a stand,'' says Lopez.
The band members say their politics vary, but their lyrical concerns and conversation frequently veer left of center. Still, they're no fans of Fidel Castro, and they get offended when they see uneducated punk fans wearing Che Guevara shirts. ''If he's wearing it because it's kind of a cool-looking shirt, or he thinks that by wearing a Che shirt he's liberal, then I have a problem with that,'' says Lopez.
So far, Guajiro has been embraced by both the punk-rock community and some right-wing websites. When a friend tried to bring their CDs and apparel into Cuba, an official took one look at the packaging and banned it as ''Material Subversivo.''
Guajiro promptly decided that would be the name of their first album.
BRING THE NOISE
When Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez recently took to the United Nations floor and slammed President Bush, Bernbiz called his conservative father. 'I told my parents, 'that's a gangster right there,' '' the 28-year-old rapper says, using hip-hop slang for someone with guts.
But Bernbiz also knows the situation is more complicated. ''My parents say nobody's eating over there. The sense of security is gone. It's a Catch-22. Me personally, I'm for the rebel and the guy who wants to make it happen. But I know I don't have the knowledge yet, the wisdom of life.''
That nuanced stance is evident on Mayday!'s recently released debut album. On the one hand, the song Groundhog Day quotes an old Russian saying: ''We pretend to work and they pretend to pay.'' The song and the video, which got millions of hits on YouTube.com, portray the anxious drudgery of office life. May Day is the international worker's day.
Yet ''Mayday'' is also a call for distress. Bernbiz and his bandmate Plex say they purposely steer clear of soapboxing, that the album is mostly about what it's like to be in your 20s. Bernbiz does admit that the situation in Iraq has galvanized him, as it has many musicians: ''The war is a big inspiration for me in terms of my writing. I'm a pacifist if I'm anything.''
Mayday! is part of a largely Kendall-based community of hip-hop acts, including Seven Star and Garcia, who emulate the activist agendas of conscious hip-hop groups. ''We were just a certain little section in the Miami scene that was inspired by Public Enemy,'' says Bernbiz.
At Mayday!'s recent CD-release party in Miami, an audience member stood in the back of the room wearing a beret and a black bandanna covering most of his face, looking like Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos. This underground hip-hop scene includes the collective labels Beta Bodega and Botánica del Jíbaro, whose releases often include information about global resistance movements, like the Sandinistas, couched in socialist-style propaganda. ''I tell people I don't have a record label: What I have is a newsletter that has music and graphics attached to it,'' label founder Steven Castro told The Miami Herald in '01.
Bernbiz is less polemical. ''Mayday! is more about trying to find the answer than the answer,'' he says. ''I'm trying to figure out what system is going to work. Isms don't work for me.''
RASTAMAN VIBRATION
Johnny Dread says his consciousness was raised slowly, gradually: the more he heard the music of Bob Marley and studied the reggae singer's beliefs, the more he grew away from his suburban roots. Now the 42-year-old man born Juan Carlos Guardiola wears long dreadlocks and preaches Rastafarianism. He seems a son of Jamaica.
But it's Cuba from which his parents and six older siblings immigrated, landing first in Philadelphia and then in South Miami. Guardiola was a basketball player. Then he heard Marley's Rastaman Vibration. 'Bob said, 'Stand up for your rights,' so I started to stand up for my rights as a human being on earth. I said, 'Let me emancipate myself from this mental slavery Europe has inflicted on me.' ''
It was a shocking transformation, from star athlete to counterculture musician, for his family. ''My parents are very old-fashioned,'' he says.
On his two albums, Dread sings mostly about religion, not politics -- but in the tradition of Marley, the two realms are never far apart. ''For we come to teach the youths/ About the truths and rights,'' he sings on When the Work Is Done, from his '03 album Magnificent People.
''Marley was a prophet,'' Dread says. ''We're in Armageddon and we're not doing anything about it.''
Music has helped take Dread around the world. In Europe and Latin America, he has gotten a different view of Cuba than the one he was shown in Miami.
''The Cuba story's a small story,'' he says. ''It's happening everywhere. Miami is very close-minded. I love my Cuban people, but we have a lot to learn. We're stuck with this Castro thing, it's not helping us move on.''
Dread realizes those are controversial things to say in South Florida. He stopped performing locally for a while, but he hopes now that the growing number of immigrants from Central and South America are changing the social and political climate. Like all Miami musicians, he curses the lack of venues.
''There's no place for music to get loose, nowhere to espouse liberal ideas,'' says Dread. ''And only liberal ideas liberate the soul, people and world.''
Miami Herald critic Jordan Levin contributed to this story.
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