Culture and Society: Lest We Forget, Recalling Coral Gardens

The Rastafari Coral Gardens Benevolent Society invites everyone to the 53rd Commemoration of the Coral Gardens Atrocities on Friday, March 25, 2016 at Jarrett Park, in Montego Bay. 

As a result of the acts of a few persons in Coral Gardens in April 1963, the entire Rastafari community was officially targeted by the State of newly-independent Jamaica, which led to extreme brutality, imprisonment and the death of many Rastafari sons and daughters across Jamaica by the police, army and other citizens of Jamaica. The Rastafari community has never received any apology or compensation for those atrocities committed by the Government of Jamaica. We continue to demand that the Government of Jamaica apologize, pay compensation and make other reparations to the individual victims and the Rastafari community for the Coral Gardens atrocities and the denial of fundamental human rights and freedoms.

The purpose of the Commemoration event is to highlight on-going efforts in the process of agitation for compensation, salute those victims of the 1963 atrocities who are still alive, and raise funds to assist and care for the Ancient Elders in Montego Bay and its environs.

It will be a day and night event starting at 10:00 am with a health fair for patrons as well as the Ancient elders. This will include blood sugar, blood pressure eye tests and naturopathic advice. Gerontologist, Dr. Paul Rhodes, will give a talk on best practices for eldercare. There will also be a fun day for children to include storytelling and workshops in drumming, poetry, bead stringing and pastry making. Other forms of entertainment for children will include bounce-about, slides and trampoline. Popcorn, snow cones and cotton candies will be on sale.

At 4:00 pm, the Society will treat the Ancient Elders in the form of a banquet. During the banquet, survivors and witnesses of the 1963 atrocities will give their testimonies. At the end of the banquet Matriarchs and Patriarchs will be given certificates of recognition for their pioneering work in the Rastafari movement. At 7:00 pm we will host a symposium to discuss the Public Defender’s report and recommendations for compensation of victims of the 1963 atrocities. The Public Defender will participate in the panel discussion along with Attorney at Law, Miguel Lorne, Dr. Clinton Hutton, and Dr. Leroy Binns. 

At 9:00 pm there will be a cultural presentation for family entertainment with clean and positive expressions. Artistes include Mackie Conscious, Paul Elliott, Terry Ganzie, Mikey General, P Zed, Mister Views, Marley Fire, Jah Spiryt, Ras Jaja, Pinkie Dread, Major Lloyd, Tenshan Invasion, Rankin Punkin, Jah Ranks, Changa Changa, Rasta Village, Iwad, King Chavez, Visaya, Asante Amen, Prof I, Rock Top Chanters and many more. Sound by Pulse Sound System and Mutabaruka Blackk Music. MC‘s will be Isha and Steppa.

Album review: Jah Mason extols the natural life on "Love and Wisdom"

One of the more unassuming members of the roots reggae camp, Manchesterian and proud "farmer" Jah Mason reaches the point of elder statesman with this, his 19th (or20th, depending on where you look) full-length disc. While undoubtedly older and arguably wiser, the "Princess Gone" star has not, thankfully, become quieter,  and his wisdom is "tempered" by a fair level of indignation.

That anger and concern comes through on a three-song stretch just past the mid-point of this 16-track production, released on the US-based New Creations label. "From Wah Day"  and Trouble on Your Shoulder" address the age-old Rasta burden of State corruption in refreshing ways, while "Every Likkle Mek A Mukkle" adapts the age-old Jamaican folk saying to advocate for self-reliance and the concentration of economic power to lift communities.

the stridency is a neat counterpoint to the songs of love and experience that start the disc off, following the almost obligatory repeat of his signature hit "Princess Gone", done here in a stripped down remix. "Baby Come Back Home" Cant Get You Off My Mind" and "Girl You Know You Are" follow in quick succession.

Elsewhere, there are other tracks that follow now familiar rubrics; "Cant Stop The Herbs" while as self-explanatory as they come, now has renewed relevance in Jamaica's still evolving post-Prohibition marijuana culture. "Can You Feel My Pain" is the standard sufferers' anthem, while "Polluting the System" continues the worthy advocacy of "grow what you eat" that has been the hallmark of Rasta ideology from the get-go.

What takes these tracks out the realm of the all-too-familiar is Mason's trademark delivery; by turns sly, compassionate, sardonic and carefree, he infuses the tracks with an unforced energy and the production, while uniformly excellent, is deliberately unobtrusive, resolutely in service of an artist who is clear, confident and fully engaged in the task at hand.

Love and Wisdom then, puts Jah Mason squarely in the company of acts who deliver on expectations, definitely not a bad thing in an increasingly uncertain world.

Music: Andrew Tosh extends the Mystic

"I've been singing away my heart since basic school," recalls
Andrew Tosh, the tall, slender third son of reggae legend Peter
Tosh.

Born on June 19, 1967 in Kingston, Jamaica, Andrew seemed
preordained for a life in music. Among his earliest memories are
trips to the countryside of Westmoreland on the rural western end
of the island. There, along the lush banks of a swiftly running
river, he and his father would sing songs together - not just
Peter's militant compositions, but also pop classics by the likes
of Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and Kenny Rogers. Andrew notes that
"Peter always knew I would do something in the music business, so
he encouraged me to study piano, 'cause he knew I loved it. From
the start it was inside me to sing and play instruments." The first
song he learned was Peter's composition "You Can't Blame the
Youth," and from that point forward, he says, "I knew that my
heartbeat was music and one day it would just be music out of my
mouth, and writing and singing my own songs."

Throughout his elementary and high school days in Duhaney Park
on the outskirts of Kingston, Andrew was constantly pulled to the
forefront of the class and made to sing lead. At 14, in emulation
of his father, Andrew began to ride a unicycle too. Although Peter
was often on the road, performing tours that remain to this day
reggae's most lengthy and successful ones, Andrew spent much of his
childhood living in Peter's house, especially between the critical
ages of 12 and 15.

His first recording came in 1985, when he cut a song he wrote
called "Vanity Lover" for Neville Lee's Gorgon label. A keen
observer of the vibrant music scene in Kingston, Andrew was
checking out some of the new talent at that city's famous Skateland
dancehall on the evening his father was murdered - Friday,
September 11, 1987. "I felt my father's spirit come right there at
Skateland where I was," he says, "and the spirit said leave that
place right now." The impact of the elder Tosh's passing made an
immediate and life-changing impression. "I tell myself that Peter
Tosh is gone and it's my need to carry on. Not for want, and not
for the lust of fame and the glamor and want to be rich. No, for
the love of my art and the love of my people, because love carry no
color. Love is love and that's what Jah say, make a joyful noise
unto Me."

Ironically, the first glimpse the public got of Andrew's
nascent talent came when he sang at his father's funeral in the
National Arena in Kingston. His version of Peter's "Jah Guide"
stunned the mourners. "I was astonished myself on stage," he
recalls. "The other song I did was 'Equal Rights,' because everyone
is crying out for peace but none is crying out for justice. When I
came down off the stage, I couldn't stop crying."

Late the following year, he tested the international waters
with a pair of memorable performances in Southern California,
including a show-stopping turn on the stage of Burbank's Starlight
Amphitheater, the site of the final appearance together of Bob
Marley and Peter Tosh. Was he nervous? "I felt elevension," he
laughs, engaging in some of the crafty wordplay for which his
father was notorious. "It was way beyond tension."

From that point, Andrew began working under the guidance of
keyboardist Keith Sterling and his bandmates, Fully Fullwood and
Santa Davis, the bass and drum team from Peter's most ferocious
backing group, Word Sound and Power. Andrew began to tour, wowing
audiences in Europe as well as North and South America. He has been
especially successful in Brazil, where he has appeared several
times in Sao Paulo, Rio, and Curitiba. His first album, Original
Man, was a mixture of his tracks and those of his father. The
follow-up, Make Place for the Youth, indicated a new maturity to
his song-writing, and was well received, earning him a Grammy
nomination.

Currently, he has some new tracks as he seeks to fully assert his own identity and legacy, even while preserving the indelible mark left by his illustrious Dad.

Poetry: One for One (Reluctant Guests)

ONE FOR ONE(Reluctant Guests)

Boxers and
Boats
Christians and
Bridges
Charcoal and
Rails
Of Kingdom's
end 
And Yellow River's
bend
Straight hair
Woolly
Sunday whites
Snake eyes
Drop pan
Opium den
Rasta ring
Bakery
Bank
Septic tank
Ginseng root
Water boot
Street dance
String trance
Yin-yang
Bangarang
MSG and seasoning salts
Family treasures in
Leaden vaults
Legends yet
To be told
Of the reluctant 
Creole
Kong
Fong
Leahong
Shanghai
And Kwangsi
And Kwangtung 
and once again
To the ships
In which their
Forebears
Braved the waves
And to misty homeland
Farewell bade
To slake the unquenchable
Thirst for trade


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