In
the Wings of Reggae:
Fire & Water Embrace for Two Days of Music, Art & Entertainment
at
New Orleans, Louisiana International Arts Festival 2002
Reggae Greats respond to 911
By Jolivette Andaerson
International Arts Festival 2002 brought out the best
of the Reggae World and the international music scene. Mixed with
down home southern flavor, perfectly blended with a cultural consciousness
regarding the Black Diaspora, each note, chord and lyric served
to remind and unify. From the 'blazin' fire lyrics of Capelton
to the soothing cool water vocals of Morgan Heritage, the two
day festival brought in the summer season Louisiana style. The
energy of the performances were in sync with the weather as bayou
heat danced with cooling rains while fire lyrics and cool water
melodies blazed and baptized the crowd. The line up alone was
enough to draw me down to New Orleans from Mississippi and when
I arrived and surveyed the terrain I began to anticipate a visit
from the holy ghost, as I sat backstage 'In the Wings of Reggae'.
A small stage at the Pavillion on the park grounds was
showered with poetry, spoken word, African dance and vendors.
Kudos to the festival organizers for including this conscious
raising art form. Poets from Pozazz, the Southern Cypher and others
showcased their skills and won over listeners in between main
stage acts. Wearing two hats made for a busy time for me, running
from the Pavillion to catch artists as they were going to stage
or finishing their set. Thanks to the way the festival was organized,
I survived. Positioned in the wings, I witnessed today's greats
of Reggae music in some of their most loving, passionate and intimate
moments. I managed to get interviews from the likes of Capleton,
Morgan Heritage (Peter, Gramps, Mojo and Una only), Kola Nut,
Leon & The People's Band and others. Before the Saturday night
headliner burned up the stage with his 'more fire' performance,
the crowd was blessed with the surprising performance of Cee-Lo.
Surprising because he is known for his work as a hip-hop artist
working with the likes of Goodie Mob, OutKast and others. He literally
'rocked' the house with his band bringing the blackness back to
Rock and Roll. He also covered tunes by Frankie Beverly, Bill
Withers and the 1980's pop group True. His unique vocals intrigued
and brought a Baptist preacher testimony vibe to his music. He
would later tell me that ". . . gospel music is inherent,
all other things acquired. "
The Peoples' Band featuring Leon (The Five Heartbeats)
pleased audiences with classics like "Lovely Day", "Waiting
in Vain" and Daddy's Home and when called back to the stage
for an encore they performed the classic, "Legalize It".
Coolie Ranx featuring FNB (Rooster & Prowler) provided a hard
rock beat smoothed over with mellow, floating hooks, a ska flavor
and hard Jamaican dancehall style lyrics. New Orleans own, Ben
Hunter, shared his roots 'Voodoo Reggae' spoken word style and
though he is a Rasta to the core, his family tree sprouted in
Mississippi where his father was born.
A mild mannered gentleman named General is manager to
Capleton. His eyes welcomed me as I asked for a few minutes of
the Fire Mans' time for an interview. His graciousness guided
me into one of the highlights of the night as Capleton answered
the following questions regarding impressions of my home state,
Mississippi, Dancehall Night at Sumfest 2001, and the World Trade
bombing.
Saturday Night Fire
JA: When you hear the word Mississippi what is the first
thing that comes to your mind?
Capelton: The ocean.
JA: I was at Sumfest last year, and I witnessed the Dancehall
clash between Bounty Killer, Beenie Man and Merciless. How do
you feel about Dancehall and what happened?
Capleton: After I make survey upon the whole show and
check the level, I already see that that was going to happen that
is why I did not do the show because I was booked for the show.
You can't have artist feud against each other and them perform
on the same night, that is on the promoters level. On the artist
level, artist must realize that Sumfest is an international show
that attract people from the four corners of the earth so if a
man want to have clash he should go to sting because sting is
designed for that. You don't bring it to Sumfest. So fire upon
both sides, both on the promoters and both on the artists who
cause the confusion and the animosity.
JA: After 911, the World Trade Bombing, have you changed,
are you moving stronger in the same direction or do you still
feel the struggle still continues for a Black man period?
Capleton: I am going to say the struggle never ends and
not just only for Black people, it is the four corner of the earth
because every nation faces injustice in terms of a economical
level, minimum wage, you understand. The struggle, it not going
to stop but it is up to us to look at it more collectively so
we can motivate each other in the benefit for our nation. We have
to organize and centralize, collectively. Anything we do we have
to do it collectively. Capleton alone can't make it happen, Sizzla
alone can't make it happen, Mississippi alone can't make it happen,
New York alone can't make it happen. It is this level of consciousness
that make Capleton's performances draw crowds all over the world.
He is a master of using art as activism for fostering humanitarian
and political thought and consciousness. His honesty and truthfulness
burns away ignorance and confusion and it has a healing power.
The Sunday show was wet, wonderful and entertaining with the band
Morgan Heritage headlining. Early in the day Bamboula performed
and good things definitely do get better with time. It had been
over a year since I'd seen them live. The Cuban band, Havana Soul,
delighted the crowd with classic Cuban songs moving the crowd
to dance and have a good time. Other bands included The Wild Magnolias,
the politically outspoken Kola Nut, who gave praises to the late
Femi Kuti during his performance and during backstage conversations
and interviews. Majeek Fashiek blessed the stage before the King
of Soca, Arrow, who stayed true to his reputation of keeping the
show, 'hot, hot, hot'. As I sat, waited and watched, three vans
pulled into the park grounds. My heart skipped a beat as the Morgan
family got out and began to prepare for their performance. Traveling
with 9 of his children, Denroy Morgan introduces the band at the
beginning of the show. They form a unity circle at the foot of
the steps leading up to the stage. The love they have for each
other and the work they are doing is thicker than the bayou heat
and just as penetrating, reaching deep down into the core of the
soul. During the show, Mr. Morgan is surveying the crowd and making
sure things are in order. While watching the audience reactions,
I happen to look up and catch the elder Morgan and son Peter as
their faces beam with pride and joy when the 3 younger Morgan
sibling (LMS) take the stage and send the audience into near frenzy.
The expression of a father who is witnessing the fruits of much
labor sent chills through my spine. Reggae does bring back love
and Morgan Heritage not only talks the talk they walk the walk
when it comes to family, love, commitment to art and reggae music.
I managed to catch 4 of the 5 for interviews. Peter responded
to the same questions asked the previous day of Capleton while
Gramps commented little while hanging with us during the interview.
Sunday Afternoon Water
JA: When you hear the word Mississippi what is the first
thing that comes to your mind?
Gramps: Country (smile)
Peter: Yeah, for real. (laughter)
Gramps: Or the Mississippi River
JA: I was at Sumfest last year, and I witnessed the Dancehall
clash between Bounty Killer, Beenie Man and Merciless. How do
you feel about Dancehall and it's contributions to Reggae music
and what happened? Peter: Dancehall music is good because it represents
a form of the culture that is in Jamaica and anything that represents
the culture of our people is good. You know, sometimes people
say it is negative because of what they say or what they do but
what they say and sometimes what they do is a reflection of where
they come from and there's nothing wrong with that, that's just
being real to yourself and letting the world see the hard life
you come from and what you are making of yourself. In Jamaica,
a lot of the ghetto children make themselves out of nothing. You
know, when people talk about ghetto in America, it's nothing compared
to the ghettos of Jamaica, you know. So when I see the ghetto
youths of Jamaica make something of themselves, I say ghetto children
anywhere in the world can make something happen, you know, and
its just that you're seeing in them, the vibration of the struggle
that never leaves the people. You can take the people out of the
ghetto but you can't take the ghetto out of the people. Not saying
that anything is wrong with the ghetto because this is who we
are and we can't deny that, but it's just the fact that people
have to understand us just like they want us to understand them.
JA: After 911, the World Trade Bombing, have you changed,
are you moving stronger in the same direction or do you still
feel the struggle still continues for a Black man period?
Peter: It give us more strength because we foresee these
things. The Rastaman been talking about these things for years,
that the judgment of the world will come back on the world, so
we have to be careful of what we do cause what you reap is what
you did sow many years ago. Not saying that we are praising what
happened but a lot of time America is involved in wars in other
countries where people like you and I see these things happening
to their cities and their countries year after year. The war between
Iran and Iraq went on 10 to 12 years. America never experienced
nothing like this since Pearl Harbor and still yet that was in
Hawaii, the Pacific so America has never been touched that way.
The people of America have never experienced anything like that
since the Revolutionary War or the Civil War and that was hundreds
of years ago. So this is an eye opener to the American people,
we hope, that they see that what happened in other countries can
happen here too, and we must take heed that don't be just alarmed
at what happens here but be caring about what is happening everywhere
else in the world. So it just give us strength to continue on
doing what we are doing.
JA: Would you guys be brave enough to come to Mississippi
to perform since its in the 'Bush'? (smile)
Gramps & Peter: Yeah Mon, we love the country you
know, yes we love it! (laughter)
We can't wait to come to Mississippi.
Since Una Morgan is the only female in the band, I switched
up the questions a bit to bring in a feminine energy that is not
always present in Reggae. The first question was the same.
JA: When you hear the word Mississippi what is the first
thing that comes to your mind?
Una: Down South. I feel a lot of love from Mississippi.
. . just that good, country down south loving.
The questions took a turn toward a sisterly direction
as we spoke candidly about the business of being an artist and
a woman.
JA: I am changing the questions from what I asked all
the men because you are the sister on stage, and I want to know
what it is like being the girl out on the road, being a woman,
being a black woman and doing your thing?
Una: That's a big question, but you know something, because
I am a woman it kind of aids in how things get done for me. I
get a little bit more attention, I admit that you know, a lot
more care and my family is very protective of me, my brothers
and my dad and I give thanks for that. Being a mother is very
hard. Sometimes, I cry literally because I do miss my children,
but I know that the good Lord has chosen us for this work so because
of that I do gain strength and daily He strengthens me so I give
thanks for that.
JA: As a woman, how old were you when you first realized
that you were different from men or when you first began to love
yourself and see yourself as beautiful?
Una: Oh, my goodness, that was not long ago to tell you
the truth, it wasn't that long ago at all. I mean serenity is
very important in a woman's life because we function as two roles,
we are the Earth and we are the Moon. The men are the Sun energy.
We need them to nurture, we need them to reflect so it's a little
bit harder for us because when you have to function as the moon
you have to reflect the sun but a lot of us don't have strong
suns in our life. As the Earth we have to nurture, we need the
sun's energy to nurture and a lot of us don't have that. We have
to gain that from the omnipotent energy that rules the earth.
So because a lot of these obstacles that are in today's world
it is a little bit harder for the woman but with the strength
of the living God of Israel, we shall overcome.
No greater words have been spoken and what better way for a Mississippi
Reggae DJ and writer to end an article than with the anthem of
the Civil Rights Movement 'we shall overcome' spoken by a daughter
of conscious reggae music. Indeed we shall overcome and continue
to spread the love of reggae music all over the world.
Jolivette Anderson is a poet/ activist/ and educator. She is author
of Past Lives, Still Living: Traveling the Pathways to Freedom
(book), Love & Revolution Underground (cassette) and "At
the End of a Rope, In Mississippi (CD). She lives works as an
Arts-in-Education Consultant for She Prophecy Entertainment LLC
and co-hosts the Reggae Jam Session on WMPR 90. 1 FM. She can
be reached at thepoetwarrior@hotmail. com or visit www. sheprophecy.
com . In the Wings of Reggae copyright 2002.
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