Buddy sung but unsung

I gathered my early knowledge about reggae music when I was about 10 years old, if I recall well. Quite predictably, it was a tape of a Bob Marley album - given by my brother’s friend - that led to deeper knowledge about reggae. Bob Marley’s album Kaya and soon after Burning, Confrontation and other albums. This knowledge became connected with a love for it. As with all true love, increased knowledge also increased the love.

In my mind I never set Bob Marley apart from the wider reggae genre. A recurring critique throughout this blog, as some may have noticed, is that I find that Bob Marley is too often set apart at a supposedly higher level as presumably better, than other reggae. Like it is the cream of the crop, and the rest to be ignored or at least of lesser value. Maybe Chris Blackwell would not mind this wrong idea too much, but I do.

I repeat again that there are several equally talented and great artists within reggae and Jamaican music: before, during, and after Bob. This is not to deny that Bob was a great artist - because he was - and an important one in spreading reggae internationally! I just do not like that particular commercial interests, or subtle forms of racism (since Bob was half-white, and most other reggae artists black), lead to misconceptions among eventual fans.

Therefore I would like to “honour”, if you will, another reggae act in this post, a group/artist that in my personal history helped to strengthen my love for reggae not less than Bob. A group that actually increased my broader love for reggae, especially roots reggae. I am talking about the Wailing Souls.

ON THE ROCKS

Not long after I began to listen to Bob Marley albums (when I was about 10 years old, so around 1984) – within the same year - my brother bought the then recently released (vinyl) album On The Rocks (1983) by the Wailing Souls. I was soon intrigued by it, and liked the sound. Especially the “super catchy” ‘Stop Red Eye’ was a tune on that album that caught me immediately. It is not too exaggerated to say that this album eventually changed my life.

For not just that song I liked, but in fact most on the album. It overall appealed to me even more than the Bob Marley albums I listened before. Maybe it was the somewhat rawer, less-polished harmony sound of the Wailing Souls that attracted me. It sounded more authentic, somehow. Again knowledge and love interrelated: I read all the lyrics on the album sleeve, improved my English and even Jamaican Patois.

I read on the sleeve of On The Rocks not only the lyrics, but also the names of the members and of the musicians, and of the song writers. All this betrayed my curiosity for the world and (often Rastafari-inspired) people behind the album on that Caribbean island. This song was written by member Winston “Pipe” Matthews, the other by Lloyd “Bread” McDonald, others by George “Buddy” Haye. Even these nicknames intrigued me in a way. Each Wailing Souls member sang their own song, and I noticed vocal differences between these singers.

In the early cementing of my love for reggae music this album On The Rocks was thus crucial. Still, along with my brother and friend, I began to explore several other artist in the broad reggae realm: Eek-A-Mouse, Yellowman, Burning Spear, Culture, Israel Vibration, Lee Perry, Ini Kamoze. I remember there was a more or less intense Gregory Isaacs-listening period as well .. So much to keep up to within reggae, and so we – and I - forgot a bit about the Wailing Souls.

FIRE HOUSE ROCK

Forgot not really: some years later: a record collection (still the vinyl days, around 1988) at the house of a well-travelled Spanish friend of my mother was broad and international qua genres, but had quite a lot of reggae. Just looking through the records I saw names I often knew, but albums I did not have/know. It was there that I encountered another Wailing Souls album that I did not really know yet: Fire House Rock (from 1981). I copied it on cassette (relax, I know it is illegal: later I bought it, so..), and soon fell in love with it. Again the names Pipe, Bread and Buddy, with also Garth Dennis (as on On The Rocks) for important harmony vocals. I liked most songs on Fire House Rock… I was then about 15 years old, and after years this album got me since then again listening intensively to the Wailing Souls.

CONTINUING REGGAE TRAJECTORY

Now it’s about 23 years later and I went on on my trajectory of life. I have remained a reggae fan and always considered reggae broadly, with a focus on Roots Reggae: I had a sort of intensive “Culture period” between I believe 2001 and 2005 (focussing on/listening relatively more to the group Culture with Joseph Hill) – which was stimulated by several great concerts I visited of Culture in Amsterdam - , but mostly it was broadly oriented, and I variated between different roots icons: Burning Spear, Gladiators, Jacob Miller, Horace Andy, Israel Vibration, Mighty Diamonds, Hugh Mundell, Lee Perry, Culture, Black Uhuru, Augustus Pablo, and an occasional early dancehall... In time I added some artists we (that is: me and the people I then use to “hang” with) – and I personally – had not gotten around to listen so much before, like Alton Ellis, Sugar Minott, Abyssinians, even some older rocksteady, or early dancehall dee-jay’s. More recently I got into (some) modern dancehall and even more the New Roots (Capleton, Sizzla, Richie Spice).

And yes, between all this I also bought more albums of the Wailing Souls that I did not have yet, or that were released later..

THE WAILING SOULS’ STORY

The Wailing Souls had gone through changes over these years, though, as other groups have. I noticed on their albums from the late 1980s and 1990s, that some members had left the group and only two remained: Winston Matthews (or “Pipe”, the main songwriter historically) and Lloyd McDonald (or “Bread). Later I heard they had settled in California, USA. Apparently due to musical and social changes in Jamaica the members found unpleasant.

As a fan I followed news about the group. I read about what reggae historians had to say about the Wailing Souls. These writers/experts - like David Katz, Roger Steffens, Beth Lesser, or Steve Barrow - all describe how the Wailing Souls were formed in the poor, ghetto area of Trench Town in western Kingston. The place “where singers come from”. Some say it even is the place where reggae music actually was “born”, but some contest this as too simplistic. Trench Town had at least a strong influence on reggae’s formation.

TRENCH TOWN

The reason that singers came relatively more from Trench Town is, well, poverty. Poor people search a way out of the ghetto through music and by expressing themselves. That might seem self-evident. But also particularly singers, instead of instrument players: that also relates to poverty: Trench Town and other ghetto people could in most cases not afford musical instruments, beyond maybe a guitar, often even self-made. Buying modern instruments as used in music studios in Kingston, and being schooled in them, was often more affordable for people with more money, a steady income, and more or less a “middle class” position, living in wealthier “uptown”.

Trench Town and other ghetto (Waterhouse e.g.) people without such means instead specialized and improved their vocal skills and with that auditioned for the studios elsewhere in Kingston, hoping to be able to record a song with the musicians and producer there.

That is how the Wailing Souls began, having honed their vocal harmony skills with the influential musical and vocal teacher Joe Higgs, in the Trench Town part of Kingston. The same Joe Higgs who also assisted and taught Bob Marley, the Wailers, and other artists in this regard (harmony vocals) in Trench Town.

(A view of Trench Town. I took this photo in 2008)

This history is quite well explained by the reggae historians/experts I mentioned before. These historians also mention Winston Matthews as the main person and songwriter of the Wailing Souls, attributing the band’s successes - first they had big hits in Jamaica, later they became internationally known - to the songwriting talents of Winston Matthews. “Though also other members like Lloyd McDonald and George Haye provided strong songs”, or something along these lines, is often added to this.

The Wailing Souls much later, meanwhile having settled in California, had a lesser moment when they wrote songs for the in itself entertaining 1993 Hollywood movie ‘Cool Runnings’, on a Jamaican bobsled team. The songs for that movie were in my opinion too crossover and polished, and less “rootical” than their other works. Luckily they kept making “realer”, rootsy reggae soon after this (later 1990s and 2000s), so my respect for them overall remained intact. They “kept it real” or in this case maybe “returned to the real”.

COMPARISONS

Even some reggae historians who know that reggae is much more than just Bob Marley and the Wailers, compared the Wailing Souls to the Wailers. Not just because of similar band names or that they were also from Trench Town, but also musically. Some compared the singing voice of particularly (oft-lead singer) Winston Matthews to Bob Marley. The sophisticated harmony singing, taught by Joe Higgs - who also taught the Wailers - of the group was also compared to the Wailers.

Why these comparisons? Seemingly it was meant as a compliment. Yet I would rather say that Matthews sings good because he sings good, not because his singing sounds somewhat (not even so much) like Bob Marley’s . I think Matthews has a more “melancholic” quality to his singing than Marley’s. The harmony vocals are maybe in some ways comparable, but neither overly similar to the Wailers (Peter, Bunny and Bob). Personally, I liked the harmony vocals of the Wailing Souls overall more than those of the Wailers, actually, for being more melodically varied.

So let’s please stop the nonsensical “it’s good reggae because it sounds like Bob Marley & the Wailers” dogma. The same dogma that made Grammy or even specialized reggae awards recently go relatively most to Marley’s sons, and rarely to equally talented Jamaican reggae artists toiling for years (though Black Uhuru and Burning Spear were positive exceptions).

Maybe this shows that the Spanish expression: “las comparaciones son odiosas” (meaning: comparisons are hateful) has some truth in it. Comparisons are often hateful indeed. Also because it fits with my earlier mentioning of the interrelation between knowledge and love: if you compare something away, you no further have to know more about it, let alone love it..

Okay, Matthews’s aching, slightly hoarse but nice voice does have some similarities with Marley’s singing. McDonald’s singing voice is “clearer” and “mellower” by comparison. The other who sang regularly, George Haye, had also an aching, slighty hoarse voice (like Matthews), but tending more toward a “chanting” Burning Spear or Joseph Hilll-like voice and a bit more “rasping”, when compared to Matthews. Interesting how the members of the vocal groups complement each other.

RESEARCH

Researching the Wailing Souls I found that there was much attention to the central role in the Wailing Souls of founding member Winston Matthews: indeed he wrote and sang most songs after all. But “most” here means about 50% of all songs (sometimes he wrote songs with Bread). The other songs were in most cases either written and/or sung by mostly Lloyd “Bread” McDonald or George “Buddy” Haye. The strong songwriting skills of Matthews are also heralded in several publications by different reggae experts (from the extensive ‘Rough Guide To Reggae’ to works by David Katz, Roger Steffens, Beth Lesser and others). In itself I agree with this: Matthews wrote several great songs (e.g. ‘Busnah’, ‘Bredda Gravalicious’ a.o.), among my all-time favourites.

Lloyd “Bread” McDonald wrote good songs and sings well. Bread would by the way appear on the much-promoted documentary ‘Marley’ (2012), directed by his namesake Kevin McDonald (did the latter’s foreparents own slaves in Jamaica perhaps?). Bread got thus some exposure, though degraded to serving Marley’s story. With Pipe and Bread as remaining Wailing Souls since the 1990s several interviews were held with them, especially in the last 10 years, also to be found online.

REUNION

Further following reggae news, I heard that the Wailing Souls reunited again in 2007: older member Garth Dennis rejoined with the remaining two members then for concerts, after last having worked and sang together in the early 1980s. Rudolph “Garth” Dennis was long a harmony singer in the Wailing Souls (since the 1970s) – not unimportant for the total sound of course - , but he did not write too much songs: mainly the good tune ‘Slow Coach’ on the 1979 album Wild Suspense, which he also sang. Garth Dennis received more media attention also because he released a solo album around that period (2007). I am quite curious about it.

The other early member of the foursome that was Wailing Souls in those earlier days, George “Buddy” Haye, did not really join this 2007 reunion (he was still alive then to my knowledge), and somewhere remained “out of the picture”, or kept a lower profile. I did not find out if he was still musically active somehow from 2007 onward.

BUDDY

Haye was already with Matthews and McDonald in a precursor to the Wailing Souls under the name the Renegades, recording since the 1960s, Ska and Rocksteady days. He was there when the Renegades (with Pipe and Bread) recorded their very first single ‘You’ve Lost The Love’ (around 1965).

Reggae historians and experts, such as those I mentioned before, seem to have less to say about Haye than about the other band members. They do tell how Haye went to art school in Jamaica, and began in time to focus on his art, indicating at times that he had therefore less time for rehearsals in the band. His stay with the Wailing Souls was probably for that reason (other art activities?) interrupted between 1968 and 1974, but he rejoined in 1974, and stayed with the Wailing Souls up to 1984, contributing to a number of albums. The last album he worked on for the Wailing Souls was the strong Stranded album from 1984 (contributing three songs, besides of course crucial harmony vocals).

I understood he later went to live in Los Angeles.

INITY

Does this matter? Maybe the strength of the Wailing Souls was their unity (as in the word “harmony” of harmony vocals), and strong personalities combined into one strength: no competition. Mind you: we are talking about a “harmony vocal” group: the combined voices is what makes this group’s material strong, not just one voice.

This unity among the Wailing Souls seemed so strong that on some albums it was not even mentioned if specific individuals sang or wrote songs. On the early 1980s albums Inchpinchers and Face The Devil, for instance, all songs were credited to be written by ‘the (all?) Wailing Souls’ (also on discographical websites giving credits info). More than disregard, this might be a refreshing lack of ego competition: “I an I is equal”.

On other albums individual credits were however mentioned, so this seems inconsistent.

LESS ATTENTION

Either way, it nonetheless surprises me a bit that nowadays George "Buddy" Haye gets less media and scholarly/journalistic attention in the “reggae world” than Garth Dennis (who in the earlier Wailing Souls wrote less songs and sung less lead vocal than Haye), but that is partly because Dennis was also involved in the formation of another legendary Jamaican group, Black Uhuru, and because he recently has released a solo album. (And because he unlike Haye rejoined the two remaining Wailing Souls in 2007, as I already mentioned).

I think, however, that Haye was in fact also quite important for the Wailing Souls, but also for my love of reggae personally. This because the song ‘A Fool Will Fall’, on Wailing Souls’ Fire House Rock album was written and sung by him. Other songs of him I heard before are also among my favourites: ‘Baga Trouble’,’ Jah Is Watching You’, and ‘Wild Suspense’ (interesting fact: ‘Wild Suspense’ takes its lyrics from a Marcus Garvey poem, ‘The tragedy of white injustice’). On the album Stranded especially Haye’s song ‘From Sunrise To Sunset’ is a good, melancholic (in the good sense of the word) tune. Also other songs he penned on other albums were mostly good, though it is often hard to find out if he wrote the songs, due to the combined credit info I mentioned.

A problem with the latter is that less-seasoned Wailing Souls’ listeners might not recognize Haye’s voice (when not mentioned in the credits/info): his vocals are like I earlier said a bit similar to Matthews’ singing voice though somewhat more…how do I put it.. “rasping”. I’m curious if someone who knows something about the Wailing Souls’ reading this might recognize Haye’s lead vocals on specific songs of the early Studio One recordings and on the albums Face The Devil and Inchpinchers..

I can understand that you also might say ”it does not matter: I & I live in one Inity… Rasta bredren a one"…, but the beauty of such Inity lies in respect for the constituting “I’s” or I-ses (Rasta term for personalities), that then came together in I and I.

Therefore I think it’s a pity that Haye/Buddy got and gets less attention than the other members of the Wailing Souls.

Maybe he himself chose to withdraw from the active music scene. Yet, when a person had made such good songs, with also strong lyrics, I automatically get more intrigued about the person behind the singer/songwriter. This is not just me, of course: as other art, music is a human-to-human interaction, is about connecting souls, and others might have it with other artists they feel somehow connected to.

Like I said I’ve searched on the Internet and read. I even e-mailed known reggae historian David Katz. I was glad he answered me, but unfortunately he did not know too much about George “Buddy” Haye either.

Buddy apparently lives now in Los Angeles, and I further gathered through writings some knowledge about his general biography, unfortunately without much details. I did not find anything on the Internet about the (visual?) art he was said to be involved in for decades. Perhaps I hoped to find an enthralling painting with Rastafari imagery by Haye, haha: from sonic to visual art, so to speak. Or a sculpture or installation by him, who knows.

On YouTube I found only one, short film of Buddy alone when he had become older (without knowing for sure if he was still musically active then), and a few older films of him as part of the Wailing Souls when still a foursome, and filmed before 1984, when he was still part of them. An example is from a BBC documentary, presented by Jools Holland (Wailing Souls performing on the Jamaican streets the Haye-penned song ‘Peace and Love Shall Reign’).

Being a “fan” of an artist is by definition personal and subjective. I think Haye wrote the kind of roots reggae songs that I loved, and sang in a way I liked too. Songs that connected to me, and that “spoke to my heart”, to use an appropriate cliché. I also find his conscious, Rastafari-inspired and philosophical lyrics intelligent: “The world has been uneven yeah, save the massive poor people oh yeah” (from the song 'Baga Trouble'), and the effective “It was the act of affection that puts my love into motion”: seemingly simple yet conveying a deeper, human wisdom. Or the strong, philosophical opening line of the classic song 'A Fool Will Fall':

“A lying tongue is just for a moment. And Righteousness is an everlasting foundation”..

(George “Buddy” Haye, ‘A Fool Will Fall’, 1981)

This line, maybe along with the opening line of Bob Marley’s song 'Rebel Music' (“Oh why can’t we row this open country..Why can’t we be what we want to be? We want to be free”) more or less summarizes also my own life philosophy. It speaks to me that much..

Also the line “It’s true we have been misled..knowing right from wrong” (from the song 'Peace and Love Shall Reign') intrigues me. These are the kind of lyrics I like so much in much roots reggae: Rastafari-inspired, which consists of a spirituality, but still connected with humanity and critical of social reality and injustice..

A FOOL WILL FALL

'A Fool Will Fall', from the Fire House Rock album, is my favourite George Haye song. It is not just my favourite Buddy tune, it is my favourite Wailing Souls tune (though there are close contenders like ‘Busnah’, ‘Mr Big More’ , ‘Bredda Gravalicious’ a.o.). I can even say that it was, and still is!, actually one of my favourite reggae songs ever. And of all genres, for that matter…

What makes this song so excellent, in my opinion? It's also interesting to analyze this in light of the fact that I also write songs myself for quite some time (this way I can learn too). I think it is the combination of a slow “rockers” riddim by the Roots Radics band – who had a sort of “sparse” sound -, the strength of the lyrics, the well-placed and creative harmony and call-and-response vocals (as on many Wailing Souls’ songs), and the engaging, emotive voice of Buddy.

But a good song is also determined by a good general structure, as experienced songwriters can tell you. A basic “verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus” structure is only part of the story. A good song is not a purely rational – or objective – thing of course. Nonetheless some objective “guidelines” can be gleaned: a dramatic development toward the chorus (as climactic/high-point), which synthesizes the central lyrical message, and often this chorus is in higher notes (an higher octave), parallel with the symbolic “high-point” it represents. And with more harmony vocals at the chorus.

The Wailing Souls often make good use of “bridges” in the song structure (between verse and chorus). This is good to point out, because in the later 1980s and 1990s experienced Jamaican musicians began complaining how some new dee-jay’s and singers came with simpler songs to the studio than before: just one- or two-chord tunes, lacking a bridge, and built around perhaps a catchy hook or two. This type of song often is less enduring, gets old sooner, and speaks less to the soul and heart than more complex songs (as in roots reggae was more common up to then), although the simple melodic structure is sometimes compensated well with rhythmic complexity and power (changing the balance).

Other aspects that can make a song good relate to technical musical details like chord progression and a returning ”tonic note” in the main chord (e.g. G-minor), that returns throughout the song at the right moments, providing rest-points or anchors. Technical details, but for the musical feel often important.

All these aspects seem present in most Wailing Souls’ songs, reason why their songs are often outstanding and enduring, while the Wailing Souls' well-chosen harmonies, personal vocals, and distinct reggae rhythms gives them at the same time unique qualities.

The song ‘A Fool Will Fall’ has in my opinion all these good, enduring characteristics of a classic. It is “outstanding among the outstanding”, so to speak, and George “Buddy” Haye’s voice singing on ‘A Fool Will Fall’ has some qualities making the song a bit more “mystic”, or “dreader”, when compared to the tunes by Matthews or McDonald on Fire House Rock, that are nonetheless good in other ways.

Therefore: ”Buddy” will, whatever he is doing now, always remain my “soul buddy”. Music - and the fact that it is recorded - can be such a beautiful, connecting thing..

(What I have found of George "Buddy" Haye on YouTube I have assembled in this Playlist on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBiUHLE6GUMh9M58lOWwsQyJ8SywXWUYS)

Reggae music lovers (in the Netherlands): Bill

INTRODUCTION

How people got to be reggae music lovers or fans has always fascinated me. Maybe partly because reggae still is off/outside the mainstream, also in the Netherlands. It is not found that easily, let’s just say. It requires (to a degree) an extraordinary life path: that is, different from copying the masses, or simply following what’s commonly on television or the radio.

Reggae has of course since decades gone international and widened its fan base, but I have known individually quite different reggae fans within the Netherlands. Black and white (and Asian, or mixed etc.). Males and females. Old and young. Some with little education, some highly educated. Of different class backgrounds. Some combine liking reggae quite equally with other genres (e.g.: some with African, funk, soul, some with hip-hop, some even with non-black music genres), while others on the other hand adhere almost “strictly” to reggae music, and do not get into much else. Some like roots reggae more than dancehall or vice versa. There are even reggae fans – believe it or not - who do not smoke the “ganja herb”. Furthermore, some have an interest or sympathy for the related subject of Rastafari, some do not, or even despise it. The latter, despise, I find somewhat odd since Rastafari is not the same as reggae, but is nonetheless connected to it.

These differences (and similarities) between and among reggae fans/lovers intrigue me, also in relation to personal backgrounds. That’s the reason why I would like to interview specific individuals who love reggae.

About 10 months ago – a post on this blog of 5th of June 2012 - I started this series by interviewing my “bredda” (Jamaican Patois for “brother”, but also “friend” or “mate”) Abenet, who was in his late 20s (see: http://michelconci.blogspot.nl/2012/06/reggae-music-lovers-in-netherlands.html).

This time I interview another “bredda” of mine, Bill.

BILL

Bill is a younger bredda who as I write this is 18 years old. His full name is Bill van Oostrom. He is a DJ (or “Selector” in reggae/Jamaican parlance) of mostly reggae music, playing and selecting songs in different clubs and at different reggae- and/or dub-minded events in and around Amsterdam. His DJ name is (Selectah) Ill Bill.

That is more or less how I first met him: Bill, a younger, Dutch guy with short to medium-length dreadlocks, was at one time “Selecting”, being the DJ, or – as some say - “spinning”, in a reggae-minded club in central Amsterdam (while I was there). But I encountered him more and more after this, since late 2012: at a Mad Professor concert in Amsterdam, other reggae concerts (e.g. of Ziggi), or King Shiloh sound system sessions. And at other times when he worked as DJ/Selector at reggae-minded clubs (e.g. Frontline or Café The Zen) I visited regularly in Amsterdam.

Ill Bill was also one of the Dee Jays at the 10 Years Anniversary party of the (Dutch-based) reggae organization the Black Star Foundation. This party/event named ‘A Decade Of Reggae Music’ was held the 22 of March of 2013, at concert venue the Melkweg in Amsterdam. Dutch and Jamaican reggae artists like Joggo, Vivian Jones, and Spectacular performed at that event on stage.

In short: I know him from the broad reggae scene in Amsterdam, as both DJ and visitor..

Since I heard him “select” tunes (mostly old-time vinyl, by the way) as a DJ in clubs and at several parties, I already got a vague idea of his preferences within reggae. Talking to him in person it was specified more, as well as through (modern times!) Facebook posts by him of songs. Often the songs he either played or linked to I liked as well. Sometimes he pointed me to names I did not know. Partly, our reggae tastes seem similar.

Still, there is enough that remains unknown to me about Bill as a reggae lover, about the person behind the DJ Ill Bill. That’s why I asked him some deeper questions.

TRAJECTORY

Bill estimates he got into reggae really somewhere between his 10th or 12th birthday, at first mostly listening to music of Bob Marley, as well as Dutch-based reggae acts Beef and Ziggi (Recado). Alongside reggae his musical tastes were, at first, varied and he then also listened to hip-hop, rock, grunge, or pop.

He relates that what strongly appealed to him in reggae was the “relaxed vibe” that combined with rebellious lyrics and messages. He also found the apparent “simplicity” of reggae to be - in fact - powerful.

In time he started to specialize and “delve deeper” into reggae. It was around when he was 15 year of age that Bob Marley became less interesting, too well-known for him, and he started checking out other reggae artists who were at their prime at the time: Sizzla, Buju Banton, Capleton and others. He got to like them, and around that time (around his 16th) he had become a DJ, starting to focus then more on Dancehall Reggae, and he got into that: including the type of dancehall with “slackness” lyrics.

He explains how he by then understood the lyrics – in Jamaican Patois and English - better, also of this type of Dancehall. He found out that the lyrics consisted indeed too often of “slackness”, meaning often boastful, and violence- and sex-themed lyrics. He did not appreciate this slackness so much, and got bored with it.

DUB

He tells how he then searched other directions, but still within the broad reggae realm. In his school, the new, not quite reggae, but reggae-influenced genre of ‘Dubstep’ was then upcoming and had fans. Through this Bill got interested in deeper origins of this Dubstep: namely more original reggae 'Dub', as it arose since the Roots Reggae era in Jamaica, in the 1970s, pioneered by King Tubby and developed by Lee Perry and others, and later variants in Britain, such as by Mad Professor and the Vibronics. He really got into dub.

The phat echoes and heavy, pounding bass lines of dub was “what he really was searching”, he states. I imagine he partly means the kind of bass that you, with piled up, large speakers (sound system style), feel vibrating through your whole body, especially your belly.

..AND MORE

This does not mean that Bill since then only likes dub. It is only one of the types of reggae he got into. In fact, he points out how he is a big fan of vocal songs combined with dub versions. It was long common in Jamaican music, in the vinyl age, to have a vocal song followed by an instrumental or dub version of it. This became customary for many Jamaican records since around 1968. Interestingly, Bill says that this dub version of a song actually gives you time to think better about the A-side with vocals, that played before.

Bill surely has maintained this strong attention toward lyrics, also of the tunes he plays as DJ. He presently even claims he knows all the lyrics of all the tunes he ever played/spinned as DJ/Selector! That’s remarkable.

He thus likes Jamaican Dub, and e.g. UK Steppers Dub, but equally - vocal - original Roots Reggae, and Early Dancehall.

VINYL

I saw and heard Bill play (spin) mostly “old-time” vinyl records. That is an observation not a critique. I myself in fact slightly prefer the sound of “vinyl” as well: it just feels as if it makes the music flow better. I think that flow got lost a bit between the O’s and 1’s of digital transcription of sonic waves.

Bill says however he is not a Strictly Vinyl Selector, though I initially thought this. He confirms that recently he prefers vinyl, but he interchanges it still at times with CD or digital music (wav, mp3).

He describes how precisely this switching from digital to vinyl music is a “magical” experience for him. For with vinyl, he gets more the feeling he literally “has the music in his hands”. Added to this, he points at the greater difficulty of mixing vinyl tracks (compared to digital tracks): making it a more interesting challenge for him as a DJ.

His DJ name is, as mentioned, DJ Ill Bill. Why “Ill” Bill?, I asked him. Like many unusual nicknames there is a good anecdote behind it: at the Magneet festival he was with Doctah-T of the Dub Doctors. Soon after he would join the Dub Doctors. As a kind of contradictory joke he presented himself as a doctor who is ill himself. Hence the name. Before this he went under the name DJ Buffalo Bill, but it became Ill Bill.

MUSICIAN

Bill is a Selector, but he is also occasionally a musician, you might say. He has been playing the guitar since he was 8 (thus: for about 10 years now). In addition, he is involved with production of especially electronic dub and Deep Sounds. He also enjoys playing the melodica at times.

He also makes/composes instrumental music, such as dub reggae songs. These, along with his mixes of reggae songs by various artists, can be found on his SoundCloud channel (see: http://soundcloud.com/dj-ill-bill-amsterdam)

Somewhat in line with this musical creativity, though more indirectly, he also spins/plays the reggae instrumental or dub music for others to toast, chat, or sing over. I have seen him spin and change the tunes and collaborate thus live in clubs for upcoming and more settled artists like Netherlands-based (but from Saba in the Caribbean) Rastaman and “cultural” Dee Jay (in the Jamaican reggae meaning of “vocalist”) One Root Freeman, as well as for known Jamaican artist King Kong. Ill Bill selected for both One Root Freeman and King Kong at the New Year’s Party (2012-2013) at Café the Zen in Amsterdam.

RASTAFARI

Bill tells me that the message and lyrics of Rastafari-inspired, “conscious” reggae, the message of “peace, love, unity, and equality” appeared as natural and self-evident to him, and were in sync with his way of being. That is why he loves reggae, he explains: it has a message which meant and means very much for him. Moreover, he says it shows that he is not the only one who sees in daily life things that are in fact wrong and unjust.

PRESENT

In the present Bill is a big, and really committed, reggae fan, listening to it on a daily basis and constantly, and also spends much time searching reggae records. He mentions that on his i-Pod (again: modern times!) he listens now to, e.g., Augustus Pablo, King Tubby, Johnny Clarke, Twinkle Brothers, Black Uhuru, Capleton, Ranking Dread, Kanka, and also to Nyahbinghi drumming like of the Sons of Negus.

CONCLUSION

Bill has in common with the reggae lover I interviewed before on my blog, Abenet, the same importance he places on “positivity” in music and lyrics: Bill did say after all that he was put off and bored by slackness lyrics in much dancehall. Abenet saw aspects he could relate to within Rastafari, and Bill associates even more strongly with the Rastafari message.

Comparing with myself: what I suspected, based on my experienced and informed estimation (I try to avoid having prejudices), seems true: Bill’s taste in reggae is not too different from mine. Not identical, but close to my tastes. I also share the same association/identification with Rastafari, and find - like Bill - intelligent, socially conscious lyrics important.

Musically we seem to have a lot in common as well. A difference is maybe that I like Dub a bit less than Bill (only some selected dub albums and songs), and tend to be also more vocally oriented. I must say that I never got into UK Steppers too much, and even less into Dubstep or Jungle, but that’s me.. I do like some dubs of Augustus Pablo though, including with the melodica instrument, so that I do have in common with Bill, who likes to play the melodica now and then.

In common we also have our love for Roots Reggae, and Early Dancehall in the broad sense. More specific I also like the strong chatting “flow” of Capleton, and I am also a fan of Black Uhuru, to mention some artists Bill said were on his i-Pod. I have never heard before of Kanka, though, another name Bill mentioned. It turns out to be Dub-like.

Since I play bongos (percussion) my interest in Nyahbinghi drumming increased as well, just like Bill listens to it, though I always have been interested in drum patterns, and “grooves”, since I was very young.

All in all Bill has a lot of love for reggae, showing in a strong, sincere commitment to and interest in reggae music and culture, in all its variety, as well as in Rastafari and lyrics. It also made him quite knowledgeable about the genre and related themes. These seem to me good characteristics for someone who is a Reggae Selector/DJ at different venues and events..

James Brown and reggae

‘The One : the life and music of James Brown’ (published in 2012) is a biography on James Brown: it digs deep, while staying humorous. It’s loose yet serious. Engagingly written: partly anecdotic but without losing sight of the bigger story and themes. In other words: it’s a kind of biography I like. Now, it is a fact that I have a liking and strong personal interest for certain biographies, and of course especially of musicians I like the work of, but there may be writers out there able to mess up an interesting life story with poor writing or the wrong (research) priorities. This was not the case with this well-written biography.

PSYCHOLOGY

It was engagingly written, and the author, R.J. Smith, seems to have a particular interest for individual psychology of especially Brown, as well as persons around him. He describes this well. Smith is in my opinion less successful in this work in evoking visual images: description of specific places, or venues, landscapes, cityscapes and such. He seems more internally than externally focused. This tips the balance to good writing more than enough, however, so as to engage me throughout. He does this also with a good sense of humour. The inner life and behaviour of Brown, and how this relates to his life philosophy, provide an intriguing read. This is also the case because I knew some things about Brown, heard before through other media: controversies in his life, conflicts with other musicians, his strict discipline for his band, trouble with the law, his controversial support of President Nixon and in part the Republicans, and his belief in do-it-yourself capitalism.

In this book this is put adequately in the proper, broader context. This starts with his growing up in the racially segregated South as relatively dark-skinned, and in poverty, as well as amidst criminals. Indeed Brown himself got involved in petty crime (stealing) as well, and spent as a youngster time in detention. Brown’s growing up and rearing by his family seemed to have variated between negligence, discipline, and violence. Less constant and present were love and lasting care: this must have formed him. More than cynical, this made him distrustful (which is not the same).

SELF-ASSURED

I think that in Brown’s youth a foundation was laid for a crucial - and widely known - trait of Brown: his well-developed ego. His later monikers – most probably coined by himself – “the Hardest Working Man in Show Business” (the adding of “in show business” makes it actually kind of funny..), “Godfather of Soul”, “Soul Brother Number One”, and more, further attest to this. You can call it self-assured, or boastful, even megalomania, but what it essentially comes down to is this: survival. This book made this clear: survival physically, but as well survival of his personhood, of his basic dignity: always threatened to be denied by people around him, both white and black.

Jamaican thinker Marcus Garvey - the early Black Power activist - said that: “Without confidence in self you are twice defeated in the race of life. With confidence you have won even before you have started”. This seems to apply to James Brown. Smith mentions Marcus Garvey further in this work as well. He compares Brown in a sense with Garvey in relation to the several business ventures that Brown started, but that failed due to his mistrust of others he worked with. Smith sees a similarity with Garvey’s ambitious Black Star Liner project in the 1920s, that ultimately also failed.

I think that in line with his other character traits, Brown was indeed often distrustful of people around him. This also developed in his younger days, I suppose. Due to this mistrust, he did not think equal relationships with people would fulfil his personhood, but rather destroy or limit it. Illustrative of this is his expression “Jump back, I wanna kiss myself”. He repeated this in songs and on stage (and was parodied by Eddy Murphy). Brown felt saver detached – and above – other people: above both white and black people.

This was not in any way out of racial shame: neither did he see the white man as more than him, so he had some genuine Black Power ideas “avant la lettre” (the term as such was popularized in the later 1960s by the Black Panthers and Stokeley Carmichael). This was, however, in a very individualistic way: Brown was not a group or collectivist thinker.

At a later stage, when he had become more famous, he put himself on the same level – mentally – as the president of the US. He did not know his place. I myself tend to admire to a degree people going against the grain, ready to face consequences by not knowing their place, not doing what is expected of them. This was also admirable in Brown, and also the reason why he had so much musical influence. For the genres soul as well as funk he was a crucial originating figure, precisely because he took new routes to distinguish himself as a musician.

RHYTHM

A very important, much-used term in this book is “rhythm”. James Brown’s music was relatively rhythm-focussed, and he was also stimulating this, by introducing innovations over time: the accent on the One (of 4/4) for musicians, and the importance of drums. Brown in time started to use two, not one, drummers and two drum kits, on stage and for recording, complementing each other. Related to this is his strong passion for dancing, since he was a child, even performing at a young age as a dancer. It helped make him more self-assured. Just like confidence, dance and music helped him “survive”. The three were interrelated.

The dancing is an interesting parallel with what I read in another biography, by David Katz: of reggae legend Lee “Scratch” Perry (which I discussed elsewhere on this blog, see post of August, 2012). Like Brown, Perry was also a dancer as a youth – even winning dance contests – before he really entered the music business of Jamaica. You know how to make good music - with good rhythms - when you know how to dance to it. Self-evident but nonetheless a truth.

Like in other biographies of musicians, Smith refers to specific songs and their creative context and specific historic importance. That is good reading. Today, with YouTube, these can also be easily checked, adding extra value. He points at songs of Brown considered “early or pre-funk”, songs that pioneered Brown’s rhythmic focus, the latter being his hit song ‘Out of Sight’ from 1964. That song still had some Rhythm & Blues (R&B) characteristics, but also meant a shift. It was in turn a forebode to his even “funkier” song ‘Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag’ (1965).

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JAMES BROWN AND REGGAE

I am primarily a reggae fan myself. I have been so for over 25 years now. This does not mean that it was all I listened too during that time, of course. I listened to some James Brown songs and albums, and liked the funky grooves and soulful singing. There was also some hip-hop I liked, that often recycled elements of James Brown’s music. These share with reggae that they are Black Music genres, but there are more connections between James Brown and reggae.

In the recent biography of Brown by Smith this is not ignored. Smith says on the matter that Bob Marley asked producer Lee “Scratch” Perry to make him sound like James Brown, apparently influencing Jamaican musicians by then (the 1970s). No conflict there, I think, because in David Katz’s biography of Perry it was mentioned that James Brown was also one of the heroes of Perry himself. Before this, also some Jamaican drummers and others since the 1960s were influenced partly by James Brown’s music. Not that surprising in light of the continuous influence from US Black Music on ska, rocksteady, and reggae. While earlier soul groups like the Impressions influenced some Jamaican artists, the edgier, groovy funk influenced other artists later, especially after reggae originated in 1968.

In my previous blog I mentioned that an Afro-Jamaican (percussive) base was another strong influence on Jamaican music. This is one of the reasons that it is wrong to see reggae or other Jamaican genres as Caribbean offshoots of US Black Music. They stand as original by themselves, while absorbing partly some R&B, soul, and funk influences. These were however creatively absorbed in a Caribbean/Jamaican musical context.

That being said: the connections with other, US, Black music genres remained important: related to ethnicity, language, a shared history of slavery, culture, or comparable social positions. Significantly in this light: while blues and rhythm & blues from the South of the US were also popular among the Jamaican populace in the 1950s, when the (“whiter"/country-influenced) offshoot rock & roll became more popular in the US, Jamaicans lost interest and developed their own styles/genres, loosely based on R & B, along with Afro-Jamaican music etcetera: thus they originated ska, to begin with, around 1960. And the rest is history...

Interest in US Black music later shifted among Jamaicans to some soul, and later funk: including James Brown. It is essentially a black connection. Also James Brown’s ‘I’m Black and I’m proud’ message resonated well with the conscious-minded reggae of the Roots Reggae era since around 1972. James Brown influenced a part of the “feel”, more extrovert, of reggae and roots reggae, also musically. I notice this in a funky feel in some songs by different artists. There are however not too many James Brown covers I know of in reggae. I know of some Marvin Gaye covers in reggae, of songs of the Impressions, Curtis Mayfield, other soul singers, for some reason several of Bob Dylan, even of Elvis Presley, and others, but not so much of James Brown. Yet, Brown’s influence was there.

I notice this influence – to give an example - in the musically somewhat funky song ‘Jah Jah gonna get you’ by the Twinkle Brothers, from their album Rasta Pon Top (1975). It has a groove similar to many of James Brown’s tunes.. Funny how lead singer Norman Grant even seems to include some James Brown-ish “screams” into the vocals, but that may be coincidence..

Smith in his biography on Brown also mentions how the record presses of King Records - used for James Brown songs - were after King Records was sold, shipped off to and bought by interested parties in Jamaica: so there is also a musical “hardware” connection.

Interestingly, Smith also wrote that the entire subject of James Brown’s influence on reggae is worthy of a lengthy essay by itself. I for one would be very interested in reading such an essay, which could be written for instance by a reggae historian like David Katz, or by others. Most of what I know about it I wrote in broad lines in this essay you are reading right now. There is probably enough to unearth on this matter for a more detailed study.

In any case: overall I found R.J. Smith’s 2012 biography ‘The One : the life and music of James Brown’ to be a good read: as informative as it is entertaining.

The One : the life and music of James Brown: RJ Smith. – 455 p. – New York : Gotham Books, 2012. ISBN: 978-1592406579

Reggae music lovers (in the Netherlands): Abenet

INTRODUCTION

How people got to be reggae music lovers or fans has always fascinated me. Maybe partly because reggae still is off/outside the mainstream, also in the Netherlands. It is not found that easily, let’s just say. It requires (to a degree) an extraordinary life path: that is, different from copying the masses, or simply following what’s commonly on television or the radio.

Reggae has of course since decades gone international and widened its fan base, but I have known individually quite different reggae fans within the Netherlands. Black and white (and Asian, or mixed etc.). Males and females. Old and young. Some with little education, some highly educated. Of different class backgrounds. Some combine liking reggae quite equally with other genres (e.g.: some with African, funk, soul, some with hip-hop, some even with non-black music genres), while others on the other hand adhere almost “strictly” to reggae music, and do not get into much else. Some like roots reggae more than dancehall or vice versa. There are even reggae fans – believe it or not - who do not smoke the “ganja herb”. Furthermore, some have an interest or sympathy for the related subject of Rastafari, some do not, or even despise it. The latter, despise, I find somewhat odd since Rastafari is not the same as reggae, but is nonetheless connected to it.

These differences (and similarities) between and among reggae fans/lovers intrigue me, also in relation to personal backgrounds. That’s the reason why I would like to interview specific individuals who love reggae.

ABENET

I start with my “bredda” (= Jamaican Patois for “brother”, but also means “friend”, or “mate”) Abenet, full name Abenet Bakker: a Dutch citizen with an Ethiopian background. He is now in his late 20s.

I first met Abenet in a reggae-minded place in the centre of Amsterdam, about 8 years ago. I soon found out he had an interesting background. He was eloquent and intellectual. He looked Ethiopian and wore dreadlocks then. He spoke Dutch fluently, without an accent (like me). In my case – though my parents were not Dutch - this can be attributed to the fact that I was born in the Netherlands, like languages, and did relatively well in school. In Abenet’s case (besides that he may have some things in common with me: doing well in school, good in languages etc.), this was partly also for another reason, he told me: he has been adopted by Dutch parents as an Ethiopian child.

(Photo left: Abenet in 2011 on the Dutch North Sea coast..)




I soon understood that he liked reggae, confirmed by the fact that I also encountered him, on another occasion, at a Sizzla concert in Amsterdam, some years ago. He later said he told his interesting life story to a Dutch author (Roland van Reenen: also a reggae fan, I understood), hoping this would result in an equally interesting (auto)biographical book, expected to be published, and which would include attention to his Ethiopian background. This book has yet to be published. Abenet said to me that, in relation to this, “going public” on my blog did not worry him so much, since it is in a sense no longer new for him.

All this provided me with reasons why I chose Abenet to start – hopefully! - a series on reggae fans in the Netherlands on my blog.

REGGAE SINCE..

Abenet says he has been listening to reggae regularly since he was 17 years old (about 10 years ago). Yet he heard it already before this age, such as through his mother. He listened to UB40 and Bob Marley since he was about 8 years old.

What appealed to him when he was 8 years old - he explains - was the mere mentioning of the word ‘Ethiopia’. This word indeed recurs throughout lyrics of Bob Marley, of course due to Bob’s Rastafari beliefs.

Around the age of 17 he also, alongside reggae, began listening to soul and hip-hop, and furthermore a variety of genres.

He points out that there has not been an essential change in his music preference since then.

IDENTITY AND CONNECTIONS

I asked Abenet whether he felt more Ethiopian or more Dutch. Thus I entered into the complex - and often burdened - issue of identity.

Abenet answered that he does not really feel to be Dutch, neither really Ethiopian. In the Netherlands this is mainly because of his colour, in Ethiopia because of his “Dutch mentality”. He moreover has lived in several parts of the world - and among various cultures - and sees himself in essence as a ”global citizen”.

He earlier has told me that he has “returned” for a year to live in Ethiopia, about 5 years ago. He was then about 23 years of age. He points out to me that he felt at home there that year, but in fact already felt at home the first time he returned.

That year in Ethiopia did change him totally, he emphasizes. Not so much his lifestyle, as his entire way of thinking. He thus learned a lot about his culture, as well as his own perspective.

Abenet further states that the Rastafari message in the full sense does not appeal to him so much, but that Rastafari contains elements – present partly also in other religions – that he does find appealing, and which he can relate to himself and his Ethiopian background.

ETHIOPIA

He noted in Ethiopia that local music genres were more popular than foreign ones. He attributes this to language issues. Relatively more international music influences he noted among richer people as well as young people in Ethiopia.

He found reggae music to be here and there present in Ethiopia and to be used by local Ethiopian musicians, giving the example of artist Eyob Mekonen, who makes reggae-influenced music.

Abenet explained how he also visited a concert by Jamaican reggae singer Luciano, at the central Meskel square in Addis Ababa. Luciano performed there - along with other artists (Mikey General, Afrikan Simba and others) – in 2007. Incidentally, the entry fee was the equivalent of 2 euros here.

Regarding Rastafari and dreadlocks the general opinion in Ethiopia seemed overall a bit less positive, Abenet noted. Rastafari-adherents (therefore?) tend to remain mostly within the Shasamane area within Ethiopia (land Emperor Haile Selassie once granted to Rastafari-adherents desiring repatriation-MC).

CONCLUSION

While Abenet’s “way of thinking” had according to himself over time in a deep sense changed - especially also because of his year living in Ethiopia - his music preferences did not really change since he was 17. He in the present continues to listen to and like reggae, and especially loves it when it is “positive”, such as lyrically. He for instance likes the band Morgan Heritage.

He further listens presently, besides to reggae, also to African, Ethiopian, jazz and other music, upholding more or less the same criteria: the music should be positive and “made with feeling”.