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 Anderson
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
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.
roots 'Voodoo Reggae' spoken word style and though he is a Rasta to the
core, his family tree sprouted in
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,
Trade bombing.
Saturday Night Fire
JA: When you hear the word
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, which 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 an 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,
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
to your mind?
Gramps: Country (smile)
Peter: Yeah, for real. (Laughter)
Gramps: Or the
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 its contributions to Reggae music and what happened?
Peter: Dancehall music is good because it represents a form of the culture
that is in
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
children make themselves out of nothing. You know, when people talk about
ghetto in
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
other countries where people like you and I see these things happening to
their cities and their countries year after year. The war between
since Pearl Harbor and still yet that was in
has never been touched that way. The people of
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
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
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
to your mind?
Una: Down South. I feel a lot of love from
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 can be reached at thepoetwarrior@hotmail.com. In the Wings of
Reggae copyright 2002.