This path is a true blessing
We sit around and talk about the history of Jamaican music, leading into reggae music and the truth is in the music
Nuh guy can come tell wi what reggae is... unless you feel it
And we can tell if you do or you don’t. We can see and smell the culture vulture a mile off and there are many of those
They use the music in commercials to make their products more pleasing and acceptable. Actually, they are seeking the “cool”
Popular artists on major record labels throw in a reggae track or get a reggae toaster on their tunes so that they can gain their street cred
Put Jamaica, reggae or the word “jerk” into something white and suddenly it is cool
CBC, The CRTC, Billboard Magazine, Rolling Stone or any other colonizer organizations can’t tell me shit about reggae. Combined they have less information about the music and the culture than aliens from outer space
“You can’t fake the funk”
Reggae is a truth serum
Don’t put it in your mouth and don’t expect repercussions...positive or negative
Reggae’s path is a truth saying, along with world class beats and riddims, creating a spiritual frequency that can only be felt. It isn’t always an intellectual ideology that solves the deeply spiritual genre of music. The intelligence of the spirit is far beyond intellectual. There are no language words for reggae
You feel it or you don’t
It is inclusive to all sentient beings and a detriment to the vampire in all of its forms
So I mostly focus on the positive
Reggae Music
So very grateful for this reggae path and the ability to speak about it and encourage performances as well dialogue on all aspects to continue my own learning of this genre
Feel Reggae
A program where we take the musical history of Jamaican music from mento, ska, rocksteady to reggae and have discussions around the music and its creation / creativity
Dr. John Jason Wilson is a professor at Guelph University and also a protege of the late, great, Jackie Mittoo, sitting at Jackie's knee since he was about 15 - 16 years old
Jackie taught him well
Jason combines his Celtic background of folk tunes to jazz, to rock, R&B, to ska, rocksteady and reggae all within the same song at times
In this blog, I invite you to a performance on your time, at your convenience. The goal is always to build an energy, where events of this caliber are well attended enough to pay the artists for their talent and work
All over Europe this commerce ensues daily yet here in colonizer Canada we seem to have an issue paying artists of any genre except for what “they” deem important
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$7.5 MILLION dollars for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for ONE celebration, Canada 150 yet $0.00 for reggae music EVER!
Zero!
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It is appropriate that I rant at the end of this performance, Warrior, a tune Jason co-wrote with the late Jackie Mitto and also fused with another reggae gorgon, Willi Williams, Armageddon Time, speaking of the dread times in which we reside, a Jamaican cultural icon Willi still is today
Authentic reggae history, present and future continues in Canada
Bless Jason Wilson for being one of the flag bearers and soldiers
It is an old-time reggae / ska standard that many have played yet Jason plays it well. Sunray’s drum solo was tight and on point
I was blessed to be there
I am compelled to tell a story that the colonizer can’t tell
Because they can’t feel it
Grateful for the reggae heads globally who feel what I feel
Another awesome session was with poet, song writer, Michael St. George, featured here with Peter Holung, founder of IBADAN, who have worked together many times in the past and this is the flavor of what the creativity brings, which is more along the lines of R&B yet still based in dub
At the first Feel Reggae Session she joined up with Peter Holung to do an improve of “Wishing You were Here” with the ‘waiting in vain’ bass-line
Mojah is one of the founding members of Truths & Rights, a reggae band in the 1970s which included the late Garry Lowe on bass
A RasTafari band, globally respected
Many apologies for the film quality but our camera broke and we had to use cell phone technology and grateful that we got the performance
Fergus, another pioneer of the Canadian reggae scene, a cofounder of the Sattalites along with Jojo Bennett is one of my friends, mentors and a true lover of music
This one isn’t a reggae track yet so worth the listening time and effort
"Fade to Black" featured with Peter Holung on that trusty bass
Spirituality is the basis of reggae music
That spiritual frequency of the truth
“If reggae is not accepted universally, around the world, what is the use of the music” ~ Peter Tosh