Words of Our Mouth, Meditations of Our Heart: Pioneering Musicians of Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae, and Dancehall
264
Words of Our Mouth, Meditations of Our Heart: Pioneering Musicians of Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae, and Dancehall
264Paperback
-
PICK UP IN STORECheck Availability at Nearby Stores
Available within 2 business hours
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780819575883 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Wesleyan University Press |
| Publication date: | 05/10/2016 |
| Series: | Music/Interview Series |
| Pages: | 264 |
| Product dimensions: | 7.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.60(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Lammy Palmer & Emmanuel Palmer
All of us is Maroon who scattered from [the] English. Dem deh man [the "first-time" Maroons who fought against the British in the eighteenth century] a mad Jehovah God himself! — Jehovah God who rule those man, Jehovah God who lead those man, who teach those man. [Singing]:
Guinea bird-oh, seh you gone home-eh Sa Leone Guinea bird-oh, poor me Guinea bird-oh Guinea man-oh, poor me Guinea bird-oh Woy-oh, seh me a fallaline-oh [wanderer, stranger]
Guinea bird-oh, me come from Guinea Coast-oh Guinea bird-oh, me come from Guinea Coast-oh
• Drums, vocals
• (Lammy: c. 1940–2012)
• (Emmanuel: c. 1938–2012)
• Active from the 1950s
• Maroon Kromanti master drummers
Alerth Bedasse
Tom the Sebastian have one of de best sound system, like Coxsone. Tom the Sebastian deh far ahead of Coxsone. All you hear dem talking about Coxsone, I can tell you dat! Because, to be frank, I used to go out and play a nighttime, Saturday nighttime, for Mr. [Ivan] Chin too. I play whole night, and get pay. I was a sound operator also [for] Mr. Chin. And he would send me to handle de whole thing. [We play] anything [on the set]. We mix — just a mix of calypso, waltz, everything. We can play everything — jazz and all dat. You can play everything what's happening. You mix dem. They [the sound systems] used to play a lot of my songs. When they would go fe play all "Night Food," man — oh! — sometime you hear "Night Food" blasting down de road. Oh yeah! They had to do it [i.e., play it on the sound systems]. Because de public want it. Is what de public want, they give de public.
Standout Tracks
Alerth Bedasse and the Calypso Quintet, "Night Food" (1952); Alerth Bedasse and Chin's Calypso Sextet, "Big Boy and Teacher" (1956)
• Vocals, guitar, banjo, percussion
• (1928–2007)
• Active from the 1940s
• Member of Chin's Calypso Sextet
• Lead singer, session musician
Arthur Robinson (Bunny)
I tried to make as much [of] the R and B, but not exactly the foreign one. Not exactly. Because me and Skully did de R and B, and we kind of mek it off of our own, but a little touch of the R and B style. But not exactly like the foreign style completely. During dem time it was pure R and B we going into. And we did about three tune, four tune, like dat. I could remember, the first R and B name [singing], "Well, my baby has left me, and gone away — well, my baby has left me, and gone astray." That was the R and B style. But you can see that was ina our own styling.
Standout Tracks
Simms and Robinson, "End of Time" (1953); Mellow Cats and Count Ossie, "Another Moses" (1960)
• Vocals
• (1935– )
• Member of Simms and Robinson; Bunny and Skully
• Active from the early 1950s
• Lead singer, session vocalist
Cecil Campbell (Prince Buster)
Oh, man — [rhythm and blues is] not de root, man. No, it cyaan be de root. We had a music before rhythm and blues. It's just that [Coxsone and Duke Reid use] whatever tricks dem work mek de people feget dem national music and adapt to de American rhythm and blues deh. It just coat de society. Everybody waan look like Yankee. No, it couldn't be de root. De root a come from dung deh so [i.e., the downtown ghettos, literally, "down there"]. You see de word "national"? — [it means] dung deh so. [It was] before rhythm and blues! Before rhythm and blues. But they a point uptown now, and I a seh, "dung so." I will tell you the truth. I don't waan hit rhythm and blues too hard. I tell a lot of people, I love it. [But] I just had to get rid of it. Because I couldn't go weh I waan go if it was still in power. But I love blues, I love jazz. De chief ting to realize [is that Jamaican popular music is] coming out of Poco, de mento, de Buru. Dat is weh de root deh. If de words deh weh me use, weh I identify wid, is Patwa, dat's weh de root deh. So I love it [rhythm and blues]. And it inspire me. I learn tings from blues. But dat's not de root dat, man.
Standout Tracks
Prince Buster, "They Got to Come" (1962); Prince Buster, "Wine and Grine" (1969)
• Vocals, percussion, production, songwriter
• (1938– )
• Active from the late 1950s
• Lead singer, producer
Owen Gray
We were trying various different style of sound and whatever. And ska comes around in a way that I don't think I myself really know how — just going into it, and listening to certain thing, and placing it. That's how it go. Honestly, I just sing. I just write songs and sing. And so the musicians them would be more knowledgeable, to bring [those] sounds in — the musicians them, I would say. Not the artists [i.e., the singers], [but] the musicians them. Because they are the most important part of the music scene. To be honest with you, it's the musicians. It is the musicians. We are to give them credit. Because they have talk in it too. They say, "Why don't [you] try it this way?" or "Why don't you do it this way? Listen to this and see how it sounds, and see if you can catch on [to] it." It is the musicians. That's what I would say. I would give them thanks and praise every time. It is the musicians who created the ska. We [singers] only wrote the songs. We only wrote the songs to fit that riddim. But the musicians are the ones who created the ska sounds. [With] rocksteady, it's the same thing — the musicians.
Standout Tracks
Owen Gray, "On the Beach" (1961); Owen Gray, "Bongo Natty" (1975)
• Vocals
• (1939– )
• Active from the late 1950s
• Lead singer
Jerome Haynes (Jah Jerry)
Is I carry de ska. I was de "ska man." Because no one can play like me. Coxsone used to bring dem record, because him used to do farmwork. And him bring down nice kind of music — rhythm and blues. Him used to bring it from America. Is a different beat from ska. It was not ska. In de old time, that was de old-time [rhythm-and-blues] beat. But now I carry ska. Is a different ting. I don't know [what gave me the inspiration to do that]. [Prince] Buster dem ben waan cut out de white bredda deh weh come give de problem. Dem used to call him "King of Rock" — Elvis Presley. And dem no like dat kind of ting, dem seh. Dem want dem own music, dem own beat. And dem tell me dat. So I say I going try and find a good ting fe we. So I find de ska. I find it in de guitar — just like magic. It's like magic, man. Because I never played it yet. I never used to play dat otherwise. Is [only] when him say him waan something different. And there we were.
Standout Tracks
Prince Buster, "They Got to Go" (1962); Maytals, "Sixth and Seventh Books" (1963)
• Guitar
• (1921–2007)
• Active from the late 1940s
• Member of Val Bennett Band; Skatalites
• Session musician
Evan Lloyd Richards (Richard Ace)
Nobody invented the Jamaican music. We just interpret what came out of the people's inspiration. Nobody never get up today and say, "We going mek this ting." No. Everything [was] cut right on the spot. You don't have time to go home and come back, and all dat stuff. You come a de session and everything spontaneous. De first ska record was "Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses." Toots and the Maytals was the first. I was the pianist. That was the first ska record ever made. It was the first one! — the first one to have the ska beat. Everything was a half blues before dat. That is what happened when [Coxsone] brought Toots with me. That just came out of us — a spirituality that you feel. That's de heart of it. When you watch a painting, is the feeling you get from it. That is called metaphysics. A person who can look at a key and know that A is red, G is purple — that's metaphysics. So dat is what happen at dat moment. Toots over dere listening to all those churches over dere in Trench Town — [loudly vocalizes, as if in the spirit]: "Eh, be be, be be!" Because he live right in de middle of it. And when him go so —"Eh, be be be be!" — I just [go] "ben, ben!" [on the piano]. And that was it. And then, the next person who reinforced that was Jah Jerry. Because Jah Jerry start draw dat now wid me now. And then everybody pitch in. "Sixth and Seventh Book" — that was the first authentic ska record.
Standout Tracks
Maytals, "Sixth and Seventh Books" (1963); Richard Ace, "Hang 'Em High" (1969)
• Piano, organ, vocals
• (1940– )
• Active from the late 1950s
• Member of Rhythm Aces; Sound Dimension; Soul Defenders; Jah Ace and the Sons of Ace
• Session musician, lead singer
Ivanhoe Wilson
and Members of the Zion Hill Congregation (Bongo, Great House)
I think angel in heaven love to hear music. Dat's a part of invokement. Dat's de way you invoke, by singing. I am talking [about] singing my song — I call it God's song, de angels' song. When we sing dat, de spirit come closer to me, and uplift me. We all go by our Bible. We all go by our hymnbook. These thing come up and you will hear humming. If you do my work, you will hear humming, you will hear tune come to you. Dat's how it goes. And you sing it.
• Vocals
• (1929–)
• Active from 1954
• Revival leader, singer
George Dudley (Bunny)
My mother was a church singer. They had some church they call Poco church — Revival. My mother was one of those type of singer. My grandmother was a Revivalist too. When they start to sing, they inspired me. So whenever time I appear, I sit there quietly and listen. The Revival church carry some Revival song that [were] heartbreaking — even in this time. You see deejay and all these thing? It's just a Revival song they are singing! And the same Revival song that people dem [sing] weh used to have wake, nine night, they woulda used to sing those song. So these song now are making number one hit. And de Revival people dem don't get no credit for that. They don't get no credit for that, you know. You see Negro spiritual? I love that so much. We just revive the Revival song. Because it was a song that I love. Most of the music in this time is coming from the Revival foundation. So this Revival thing, up to this time, you see everything revive, from the beginning time: "So shall it be in the beginning, so shall it be in the end." You will be hearing de ting in different style — Revival.
Standout Tracks
Bunny and Skitter, "Chubby" (1961); Count Ossie and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, "So Long" (1973)
• Vocals, percussion
• (1939–2012)
• Active from the late 1950s
• Member of Bunny and Skitter; Mystic Revelation of Rastafari
• Lead singer
Rafael Griffiths
and Members of the Congregation of the African Reform Church of God
We play our drum with meditation, and recall, with riddims, that anyhow you hear it play, if you even sit down, you have fe all rock youself. And if you stand up, you have fe a move. And if you even stop go a dance, as old as you may be, you have fe kick up and start do something. We have thousands of song that you don't hear yet. Some of them are hymns from hymnbooks. [We call our style] chanting. Dat is not singing, dat is chanting. You are looking in a divine world — not in this physical one that we're looking into. We're looking now through de spirit. And then things come to you. We was there long time before Bob Marley — long, long before Bob. It's a West African tradition. De Kumina is a West African tradition. And all these things are West African tradition. Because de African was a clever set a people.
• Drums, vocals
• (c. 1935– )
• Active since 1950s
• Rastafarian drummer and chant leader
Lloyd Clayton (Bro. Job, Baba Job)
Me see all de tune, hear dem sing it all pon record now. De Boney M. dem did sing dat tune deh, and it go number one —"By the Rivers of Babylon." That tune, it was we [early Rastafarians] first sing dat tune. We sing dat tune when we was in de camp down a Salt Lane. We used to sing dat tune deh, "By the Rivers of Babylon." Me have all tune deh now weh me no hear none of dem no sing dat tune fe mek no record off of dat, for dem don't remember dat one deh, or did know dat one too tough. But we used to sing all dat one deh too. Nuff of de tune dem weh we hear dem record now, is we first used to sing those tune.
Standout Tracks
King Joe Francis and African Drums, "Bam Mo She" (1961); Bob Marley and the Wailers, "Revolution" (1974)
• Buru drums
• (1933–2004)
• Active from the late 1930s
• Master drummer in the Buru tradition
• Teacher of Count Ossie
• Occasional session musician
J. McLaughlin
When drum start bite, man, is spiritual. [In] Back-o-Wall days [they used to play Buru to celebrate someone's release from prison]. I go to Back-o-Wall and see Buru play — same ting [as here in Clarendon]. But we play more stylish ya. Our playing more stylish — [more] musical. [It was] long time [ago], man. [I] shake all de shaker, and play funde [there], man. Me go a Back-o-Wall and go play, man.
• Drums, vocals
• (c. 1930–)
• Active from the 1950s
• Buru drummer and singer
Donald Manning
Dem time deh when me a grow up, Back-o-Wall just get ina swing. We used to go round dere. We used to go which part dem play Buru, man. Me and Skully used to deh a Back-o-Wall together. Me play congo drum, man, and bass drum too — de big drum. Me play all of dem, man. Me used to go a Dungle, down a Salt Lane, and we used to go all different beaches, and de Rastaman a play our beat. You have fe play Kumina too, you know. Believe wah me a tell you. These younger youth, dem no know nutten about Rastafari, dem a fashion dread. We call dem "bathroom dread." I'm not joking, man! Me play Kumina a Salt Lane, me and Harry T [Harry T. Powell], and James. We used to go down deh go play with Binghi. They a play Binghi and seh "Kumina!," and you have fe go play Kumina too!
Standout Tracks
Abyssinians, "Satta Masa Gana" (1969); Abyssinians, "Declaration of Rights" (1969)
• Vocals
• (1940– )
• Active from the late 1960s
• Member of Abyssinians
• Lead singer, harmony singer
Herbert Armsby
Since me dead and gone Sinner man Since me dead and gone Sinner man Cock never crow a me yard Sinner man Cock never crow a me grave Sinner man When me was a living Bongo man Sinner man Cock never crow a me yard Sinner man When me was a living jumbie man Sinner man Jumbie never rock a me grave
• Drums, vocals
• (c. 1948– )
• Active from the early 1970s
• Kumina drummer and singer
Winston Grennan
When you're a inborn musician, you have it already. You don't have to go through no long process. I was a inborn musician. Because I was in me mother belly listening to it. And then when I born, I come out, I realize, "Yo, I'm close to it." So I know then dat I could do all different things. Once you know de roots, once you have de roots, and understand what is de roots, and what de roots really mean, then certain tings no hard to play. Many things I do, I just do it. I don't really practice dem. Sometime I flash back [in memory] from Lighthouse, right back to over Dalvey, back over to Amity Hall, and dem places [in rural St. Thomas parish] — a lot of dem places where I used to walk foot late hours a night, go through bad cow pasture, and run from cow, fe reach certain Kumina places, fe play. I used to walk, and anywhere de music is, I find it, man, and just jam. Because dat's what I always like to do. From I hear a banjo or a guitar strike, and a drum, I smell it till I find it. Me and my mother used to have a lot of fight over dat, because sometime when she looking fe me, I sneak out and gone. Sometime I come back, de door lock, I have fe sleep under de cellar, wid de dog dem, and pray no centipede or no scorpion no catch you while you sleeping.
Standout Tracks
Jimmy Cliff, "The Harder They Come" (1972); Paul Simon, "Mother and Child Reunion" (1972)
• Drum set, vocals, trombone
• (1944–2000)
• Active from the mid-1960s
• Member of Caribbeats; Kid Creole and the Coconuts; Ska Rocks Band
• Session musician, lead singer, band leader
Linford Brown (Hux)
I play mento, and I love mento. Now [in contemporary dancehall music] they're playing what my aunt used to play in church. They're playing a little of Kumina, and a little of Poco. My aunt was a Pocomanian. And I used to go to the church. I used to play Poco drums — "pú-ku duk, pa-ká, pa tí-ki ti, tí-ki tí-ku don." [When dancehall music started to go digital], all of a sudden I hear this, "pú-kum, a pú-ku dum, pum." That is shit we doing long time ago! My grandmother used to dance dat! So all dese ting weh dem seh is "dancehall," that's what my grandmother used to do a long time ago. We [studio musicians] could have done that years ago, if we wanted. And if you listen back, a couple of records, we have it on there. When Winston Grennan used to play [drums], him used to play Poco too. I used to play Kumina [myself]. I love Kumina. I love Kumina. You give me a drum, and I will tear it up [i.e., play it like crazy] too.
Standout Tracks
Ken Boothe, "Freedom Street" (1970); Jimmy Cliff, "The Harder They Come" (1972)
• Guitar
• (1944–)
• Active from the early 1960s
• Member of Playboys; Mighty Vikings; Boris Gardiner Happening; Soul Vendors
• Session musician
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Words of Our Mouth, Meditations of Our Heart"
by .
Copyright © 2016 Kenneth Bilby.
Excerpted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Give ThanksIntroductionWORDS AND IMAGESLammy Palmer and Emmanuel PalmerAlerth BedasseArthur Robinson (Bunny)Cecil Campbell (Prince Buster)Owen GrayJerome Haynes (Jah Jerry)Evan Lloyd Richards (Richard Ace)Ivanhoe Wilson and Members of the Zion Hill CongregationGeorge Dudley (Bunny)Rafael Griffiths and Members of the Congregation of the African Reform Church of GodLloyd Clayton (Bro. Job, Baba Job)J. McLaughlinDonald ManningHerbert ArmsbyWinston GrennanLinford Brown (Hux)Edgar ReidDavid Powell (Lapi)Neville Baker, Lucille Forbes, and CompanyVira BrownDerrick Bell (Gus)George Matthews (Kwabi)Estavan CallaghanDerrick MorganHeadley Bennett (Deadly Headley)Freedom Mento BandRadcliffe Bryan (Dougie)Kew Park Mento BandJackie RobinsonOwen Emmanuel (Count Owen)Stanley Hunter (McBeth)Kenneth Lara (Lord Laro)Stanley Beckford (Stanley Turbyne)Mount Peace Mento BandClaudelle ClarkeLloyd Robinson (Sarge)Rev. Otis WrightDerrick HarriottGeorge Fulwood (Fully)Vincent MorganWinston Francis (Mr. Fix It)Bertram McLean (Ranchie)Alvin Patterson (Seeco)Michael Henry (Ras Michael)Noel Simms (Skully, Zoot Simms, Mr. Foundation)Allena Robertson (Polly)Eric MacDonald (Brother Joe)Albert Hewitt (Brother Jack, Pa Jack)Cedric Myton (Cedric Congos)Glen Adams (Capo)Bobby AitkenCarlton Davis (Santa)Roy Smith (Spar)Clifton Jackson (Jackie Jackson)Filberto Callender (Fil)Larry MarshallEarl Lowe (Little Roy)Lee Perry (Scratch)Joseph HillLeroy Wallace (Horsemouth)Ansel CollinsMichael Richards (Mikey Boo)Peter AustinJohnny Moore (Dizzy Johnny)Keith Anderson (Bob Andy)Leroy Sibbles (Leroy Heptone)Charles Cameron (Charley Organaire)Leonard Dillon (The Ethiopian, Jack Sparrow)Wilburn Cole (Stranger Cole)Nearlin Taitt (Lynn Taitt)Cecil "Sonny" BradshawCedric "Im" BrooksRonald Robinson (Nambo)Eric DonaldsonHarris Seaton (B.B., Bibby)Kenneth Farquharson (Ken Parker)Dudley Sibley (Duds)Maxwell Smith (Max Romeo)Alva Lewis (Reggie)Brent DoweJustin HindsLloyd ParksSamuel ScottJoe IsaacsRobert Shakespeare (Robbie)Winston RileyRobert LynLowell Dunbar (Sly)Bobby EllisErnest RanglinGladstone AndersonTony ChinVal Douglas (Dougie)Michael Chung (Mikey, Mao)Boris GardinerLarry McDonaldJoel Brown (Bunny, Noel)Emmanuel Rodriguez (Rico)Paul DouglasDwight PinkneyUzziah Thompson (Sticky)Wycliffe Johnson and Cleveland Browne (Steely and Clevie)Appendix A: Recommended ListeningAppendix B: Locations and Dates of Interviews and Field RecordingsGlossaryFurther ReadingIndexWhat People are Saying About This
“An essential work of Jamaican musical scholarship. The interviews are engrossing on multiple levels. Our understanding of the black musics of the New World would have fewer gaps in it if there were more of the kind of thorough oral history that Bilby does here. He proves himself to be not merely a good collector but a good listener.”
“Bilby doesn’t just tell the story that’s never been told—delivering an homage to the heroes who helped shape Jamaican music—he lets these heroes tell the story in their own words, writing their own chapter in history.”
"Bilby celebrates his roots in Jamaica in this magnificent book through beautiful photographs and interviews with musicians. Bilby unveils the backstory of Jamaican music, and his work will be cherished by all who love Jamaican music."—William Ferris, author of Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues
"Bilby doesn't just tell the story that's never been told—delivering an homage to the heroes who helped shape Jamaican music—he lets these heroes tell the story in their own words, writing their own chapter in history.""—Baz Dreisinger, producer and writer of Black & Blue: Legends of the Hip-Hop Cop and Rhyme & Punishment
"An essential work of Jamaican musical scholarship. The interviews are engrossing on multiple levels. Our understanding of the black musics of the New World would have fewer gaps in it if there were more of the kind of thorough oral history that Bilby does here. He proves himself to be not merely a good collector but a good listener.""—John Jeremiah Sullivan, author of Pulphead
"Bilby celebrates his roots in Jamaica in this magnificent book through beautiful photographs and interviews with musicians. Bilby unveils the backstory of Jamaican music, and his work will be cherished by all who love Jamaican music."—William Ferris, author of Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues
“Bilby celebrates his roots in Jamaica in this magnificent book through beautiful photographs and interviews with musicians. Bilby unveils the backstory of Jamaican music, and his work will be cherished by all who love Jamaican music.”