Active Voice

Rohan’s Nine Night and Buju locked up in Miami

Young Rohan Laird, a Sickle Cell patient, who was a member of music producer Mikie Bennett’s family, died in November 2009 aged 25. These are some video clips of the fantastic drumming from the Nine Night held for him at Grafton Studios.

what’s interesting is that people are always lamenting how young people have lost the old traditions etc. but these were a lot of young people save for the one guy in the white ganzie.

Meanwhile the nation is in shock over the news of Buju Banton’s incarceration in a federal lock-up in Miami on charges of possession of a large quantity of coke. From 3 pm yesterday Mr. Vegas was tweeting for info from Europe: “hellooooooooooooooooo r u there, any info on buju please?”

And then last night breaking news that Buju Banton is in a federal lock-up in Miami accused of possession of 5 kgs of Coke! More info as i get it. This is shocking news.

Pressure in Berlin: Will Mr. Vegas’s show be cancelled?

RT @MrVegasMusic: There’s a attack against reggae music,now they want me to meet with the head of police in germany to say I will not sing certain songs. they will also be sending their representative who speak patois to the venue to hear if I am singing certain lyrics, so if I do not meet with the police chief my show will be cancel,what is reggae gone to,the bible said it best,whosoever does not take the mark of the beast 666 will not be able to work,nor buy,nor sell,lord your word is coming to pass.

it does not matter if you sing about them or not, as long as you do reggae or dancehall,u will have to meet with them, we’re now being mocked. I don’t give a hell about these people I do not sing them, their shit is their shit, long as they stay in their lane mi nuh business with them. so it is provoking when you trying to get people involve who has stayed far from this shit.

These heartfelt words come from dancehall singjay Mr. Vegas (one of my favourite ‘artistes’), who is touring Germany right now. Apparently the anti-oral sex crusader (‘Heads High’) is feeling the effects of the international gay rights ‘murder music’ campaign. Mr. Vegas uttered these sentiments on Twitter this morning (Dec. 9) in a series of tweets (which i’ve amalgamated here), each ending with the abbreviation ‘cont.’ to indicate continuation, a clever way of getting around the 140 character limit of the medium. Full marks to Mr. V for adept use of the technology. I tell you–if only our journalists would take a leaf out of his book. This, dear PAJ members, is how news is communicated these days; if you want to keep abreast of what’s going on, you need to tweet.

Because Tweety Bird gets the worm, coz Tweety Bird is the early bird! Will Mr. Vegas go to see the German Police Commissioner? Will his show be canceled (He is scheduled to perform in Berlin tonight)? We watch and wait…

5 pm

And a few hours later another series of tweets from Mr. Vegas apparently after he did the needful:

Read.You are not allowed to do public: Appeals,or statements for, discrimination,violation,hatred,or even murder,offensive or insult. no such statements,no such lyrics,no such gestures,against anyone or community,due to race, color,religion,ideology,political views, opinions,ethic,or social origins or lineage,sexual orientation,gender,disability,genetic,features,age or any other personal community, bound characteristics.to German law and German foundation any people living here are equal.any violation of these principles would be a criminal offense and may lead to an arrest and expulsion and will cause criminal proceedings by official [public] prosecutor. in addition a complete suspension for entering the countries of the European Union may be signed on you.[We will give a report to the authorities of other German cities,it might be the base for the decision of taking measures due to your concerts over the .signed vegas.

so I just took the mark of the beast, I sold out God for vanity and Gold.

This is ironic because Mr. Vegas is not one of those who utters anti-homosexual lyrics. So as he points out the attack seems to be against the music now, not individual performers guilty as charged.

Meanwhile here is a video of Mr. Vegas’s hit “I am Blessed”. Some wonderful footage. Hopefully the blessings extend to Germany…

Notes from the interview between Cliff Hughes and Vybz Kartel

Vybz Kartel
NB: have had to rename this post because it was hijacked by a site called mediazoneja which is passing it off as its original content and harvesting the resulting traffic. please note that these are my notes, and only i have the right to disseminate them. Originally this post was called: Vybz Kartel Makes an Impact: “when two gladiators are gone 2 more will appear”

Nov. 14, 2009
Ok, sharing my notes from the interview between Cliff Hughes and Vybz Kartel on TVJ’s Impact which aired on November 12, 2009. Remember this is not verbatim, much of it is my shorthand to myself. And there are occasional gaps, i didn’t try to note every single detail. Occasionally i comment in bold type. i frequently summarize CH’s questions. VK’s responses are italicized. He often refers to himself in third person as Vybz Kartel. There has been so much demand for news about the interview (judging by the hundreds of page views this blog is suddenly getting) that instead of waiting till i can write a proper post about it i thought why not share these notes? They provide quite a glimpse into the path the interview took if not actually being a blow by blow account. i thought Vybz was in complete control and this interview is a striking record of a very important moment in Jamaican cultural history–i have much to say about this but for now here is almost the full 100 i promised yesterday. Incidentally Cliff neglected to ask the two top questions anyone with some knowledge of popular culture here would have asked. 1) is it true that Kartel has pierced his tongue? 2) Is it true that he bleaches and if so, why?

8 pm, TVJ, November 12, 2009, Impact
crazy ads before show, real coup for Cliff, interview outdoors in uptown Gaza (?), nice yard, Laing is clearly lurking in the background judging by asides addressed to him by Adidja “Vybz Kartel” Palmer

VK introed as the most popular DJ, most influential entertainer in Jamaica, incredible lyricist with an incredible fan base spanning socioeconomic grps. Also a shrewd businessman who owns rights to all 4000 of his songs.

Interview kicks off, Why is yr music so controversial?

I don’t know. VK just does music…

How do you see what you do?

as music, as art, art is a reflection of life

my creative right as an artist

a musician, not a religious leader nor a political one nor a social one

parenting, takes responsibility for teaching his kids

sylvester stallone, Rambo, shooting officers, action movies from Hwood? What about those?

I DJ about life in Jamaica

VK is not a killer

I do a lot of socially conscious songs most of which are not played

i’m an entertainer, I get paid to entertain, its not my responsibility to grow fatherless children.

Society has a responsibility…

children in the ghetto need social programmes, they need motivation.

I don’t see anyone in Cherry Garden going out and killing anyone after listening to my music

How do Cliff H, VK, the PM help Jamaica? Cliff includes himself which is good…

VK employs a lot of Jamaicans, I have a company, that is my responsibility to Ja–to be a good citizen

If VK is to be held responsible as an artiste then Hwood must be held resp….

all of us grew up on gangster movies…

only VK buttons have been focused on by the media

media out to get him

VK most influential artiste…

VK finds this a burden…asked to mind people’s children, to care for everyone’s children

he condemns sale of buttons, he wasn’t involved with manufacturing them, his own posters are about staying in school, abstinence make sense etc. Daddy don’t touch me there, is that to be interpreted as actually having happened to Queen Ifrica?

what is your message to the young people? Cliff asks. “Stay in school, always use a condom…”

VK: gaza gully superimposed on schisms that exist, can’t expect mavado and him to bear the burden for what society has created, the decay in society isn’t created by them. They are mirrors.

Cliff; but you’re contributing to it! You’re most influential, you;’re a very bright man, that’s why you’re under pressure, you’re capable of doing much better than that…don’t you accept that there comes a point when u say my country is at risk, I have a talent, ray ray ray ray.

VK: the right people to ask are the politicians, people who have access to money, to knowhow, the resources, people who can help the garrisons, lightbulb scandal, how many millions that could have been spent on improving quality of life of the poor…

when do we, cliff and kartel, use our talent to say to the people of this country blah blah…why the violence in his music?

Because it sells basically…

since start of this year i’ve done 4 gangster songs, they get ratings, sound sytem play, dub plates are made…

anything the people want the people will get

at root of violence are the socioeconomic conditions, gun culture cultivated by our politicians,

CH: take off the artiste hat and put on the citizen hat, what wld u say to the politicians?

VK: I have nothing to say to the pols, as artistes we stay far from politicians, Gaza mi seh

CH: what gaza mi seh mean?

“Gaza means Fight for what you believe in against all odds, against all adversity”

Mr. Addy the teacher…how he arrived at name Gaza?

When I left the Alliance VK came under so much pressure, i said to Blak Rino and others we need to form a group. But we need a perfect name

the 1st war was just happening in Gaza, israel was bombarding them but the people were fighting back regardless, and VK said to Laing, we’re going to use that name coz it means to me–dem people deh serious and dem nah back down. Makes link to the pressure he came under when he left the Alliance, when his career was threatened. So that was the perfect name for him at the time.

1996…VK and a singer called Escobar and another friend decided to join forces, they got the name from a movie about Escobar and his infamous cartel…how come this attraction for notorious, infamous people etc

VK: No, the idea of adopting the name Kartel predated that becoz “a cartel is a group of people coming together to limit prices and control competition and that’s what Vybz Kartel wanted to do at that time”

“we distribute music, legal narcotics…”

falling out w Bounti happened over the latter’s desire to control his life, but VK is a man, couldn’t allow that, no matter how grateful for the start BK gave him; also his friendship with Beenie didn’t help

whence the rivalry w Mavado?

when I fell out of grace w BK so to speak, I guess Mavado figured he shld defend his honour.

CH: are u prepared to go on a stage together etc to make statement to yr fans?

But, VK responds, they did this already, with Mark Shields, but he’ll do it again, no problem

ready to go to schools and talk to students, but no one has ever approached them, tho there is a series of school tours with other artistes

“sometimes I wonder if its like a conspiracy by society to watch us fight in the ring like a gladiator and till both of us die. Why nobody don’t step onto the field and say we need u to go into the schools and this event will be sponsored by this company or that company–“

“i’m shocked that society took so long to come to us w a plan like that.”

CH: Greatest threat acc to prinicpals—the G culture–

VK says he knows: Ganja, guns, graffiti, Gaza, Gully–

VK is a musician, limits to what he can do, he is willing to do something but who will take the initiative? Private sector not stepping up, no one else coming forward

“remember. when two gladiators are gone 2 more will appear.”

CH: Bounti Killa says Vybz Kartel the worst thing he has ever done to dancehall…(VK used to be BK’s protege)

that is typical bad man BK, that is his persona, I have no comment

born in Waterhouse, four sis one bro, third in fam, eldest sis a teacher

speaks to his Mom almost every day…

Life is life and we live and we die…the only thing that is certain in life is death

“except smoking which is bad, don’t do it…”

VK was a truant always sculling school and going to studios, got expelled from Calabar

good at litt, tells all children, “education is the key and VK is not a dunce and if u want to be a good artist u have to have an education”

he just meditates the lyrics, doesn’t use pen and paper anymore…a lot of artists do this…Sizzla too.

Name Adidja Palmer…”made me feel more special, more indigenous to what I was doing”

i’m a very spiritual person, not necessarily religious, rel too confusing, he reads bible, close links w family and friends

how many kids, by how many women? Five, 6 to 3 mths (honestly would Cliff ever ask an uptown citizen this? And why not? many of them have several children by different women)

An artiste has to remain a bachelor, so to speak, to maintain his appeal. (refuses to be drawn on his love/sex life–smart move VK)

Family is basis of society and civilization, I’m a great father, my kids and I are friends. Didn’t get to bond w his own father who was working 24/7

music business doesn’t follow a set time, in between time lots of time for family

never heard anyone say of his son…yu see is thru him father is a dj…1st thing his son has to do is his homework. Normal family life, coz when VK steps into his home he is not VK—he is Addy the Daddy.

Not the teacher…Daddy, which is the ultimate teacher, That’s why we’re saying–family is first– Jamaicans shld take the responsibility as parents and adults to grow their child in the right way and not leave them to outside influences like a DJ or a taximan in the street playing a VK.

CH: Lapping up etc…bus porn. VK’s reactions. (reminds me of time years ago when Cliff Hughes and was it Carol Narcisse visited Gemini or Caesar’s or one of the nightclubs and Cliff unabashedly enjoyed a lapdance, live on radio as it were–hey this is my memory of it ok?)

VK sings Schoolgirl don’t go inna di schoolbus. complains he has addressed things like this over and over but these songs never get highlighted by media or played very much…(why don’t Cliff, Boyne and com ever harrass media owners and managers about things like this?)

VK doesn’t have a US visa, was turned down, doesn’t know why, has reapplied. The Empire is touring w/o a problem, the Empire only concerned with the musical aspect no control over member’s lives

proud of products such as Street Vybz rum, ‘Daggerin’ line of condoms. “I’m a conspiracy theorist you know” wonders why the name of the condoms was banned the moment it came out. (referring to Romping Shop controversy and ban by Jamaica Broadcasting Commission).

CH: anything to say to fans and detractors?

Well we have nothing to say to our detractors coz if u don’t like VK I guess you probably never will. As I have told people before i’m a musician and I will never stop doing music.

Appeals to his fans in the streets not to take the Gaza Gully thing to an extreme “Just keep the music as music” and don’t take it literally don’t fight over this GG thing, and give your artiste a bad name because at the end of the day it is Mavado and myself who have to take the blame yknow what I mean for what is happening in the streets. But I have nothing to say to my detractors becoz if u nah like mi you nah go like mi and if you love mi you a goh love mi, Vybz K is not somebody you can like, you have to love him or you have to hate him.

no in between?

No in between, no gray area…

Tweet Tweet! Tweetmeats anyone?

Former ACP Mark Shields as depicted by Clovis in Observer, Nov. 5

Well, we know who the new Bank of Jamaica governor is going to be–Brian Wynter, son of Hector Wynter and nephew of the brilliant Sylvia Wynter. When it comes to the new Police Commish, your guess is as good as mine. No, contrary to previous speculation in this blog it won’t be L.A. Lewis, or Hell A. Lewis as some have named him. And much to the regret of many, his fans at Tivoli notwithstanding, its unlikely to be The Most Wanted Whose Name I Dare Not Utter here. So that leaves Daddy Cool, Mr. Reneto deCordova Adams, and a field of unknown talent. One grasps at any clue, however faint, and in that context i offer here the last three tweets of Mark Shields, or @Marxshields as he’s know in in Twitterland. These are the most informed 140 characters you’re likely to encounter anywhere on the subject of the new Commish. Tweet Tweet!

Yesterday, my worse fears came true. The beginning of an erosion of external influences over an organization that is already inward looking.
@Marxshields Mon 02 Nov 12:42 via web

The aftershock. Uncertainty and speculation. Insider or outsider? Let’s hope they act swiftly; make the right decision for JM; and not them.
@Marxshields Mon 02 Nov 22:00 via web

A job description has been requested from London. The post will be advertised but is it a foregone conclusion? The fool will apply – again.
@Marxshields Thu 05 Nov 08:21 via web

Who’s the fool? Who Who? and the new Commish? You have a clue?

Hardley Surprising…Let us resign ourselves…

Clovis, Jamaica Observer, Tuesday, November 3 2009

Well, you might say the country is resigned to it. We have resigned ourselves to the fact that the economy will continue to decline while the crime rate continues to spiral. The mood of resignation even influenced some influential people into resigning over the weekend. On Friday the 30th of October the Governor of the BOJ resigned. On Sunday the first of November the Police Commissioner resigned (Hardley Lewin), incidentally just a few hours after I wrote about the pressure on him to resign (see below).

Derick Lattibeaudiere had been Governor of the BOJ since 1996 and was no stranger to the public sphere where his unorthodox expense accounts had come under scrutiny. He was not however one to profile with the Page Two class and seemed to share a sense of privacy almost as comprehensive as Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke’s. Like the latter he was said to rule with an iron hand, and shunned rather than courted media attention. In fact when contacted by Cliff Hughes (Nationwide radio) for an explanation of his sudden resignation, his forthright rebuff seemed to suggest that it gave him no end of pleasure to turn Hughes down because for once he didn’t HAVE to answer a journalist’s questions; he was no longer a public servant obliged to account to the media for his actions. When the pugnacious Hughes persisted, Latty, as he’s fondly known, essentially terminated the interview by exhorting the media whiz to avoid vulture-like behaviour.

You have to remember that both these resignations have taken place while an IMF team is here negotiating terms with the Finance Minister (or explaining whatever new method of lassoing us it has developed) for a loan. I would have to conclude then that these two resignations had the approval of the IMF, if not actually coming at their instigation. Someone like Latty would have been a prime candidate for an IMF-recommended chop. He was hired in the 90s when neoliberalism reigned supreme and fatcat salaries were the order of the day “because if the public sector wanted the best they had to pay private sector salaries and perks.”

Click image to view full size editorial cartoon
Clovis, Jamaica Observer, Nov. 2, 2009

Whereas fatcat CEOs have fallen or been taken down in the US as a fallout of the failure of their banking and investment system we haven’t gone through such a process here. Maybe this is the beginning?

By the way there were some interesting responses on Twitter and Facebook to the Police Commissioner’s resignation:

bigblackbarry Since mostly clowns get the work I wonder if dem going to give Hell A Lewis the commish job??

Winsome (Fbook)

Strait! Me go start a campaign dis week fi Hell A! Plus e ave nuff nuff button pon him clothes already!

@Fledgist: Dem a go mek Dudus di commish.

and echoing that this last one from the comments on the Observer website is priceless:

kgn 13 yute

Christopher Coke is the man for the job. If all the JLP enclaves are under one order and the prezi gives the orders, he most certainly can handle the job

Ask some police officers, they are already under the order.

I will wait sit here in the US and be the first to nominate Mr. Coke.

jackasses

The extradition of ‘Dudus’ and Good Cop, Bad Cop…

At first I thought it was someone banging on the door; then I realized that the persistent hammering that woke me up in the wee hours of the morning today was the sound of gunfire from August Town. The barely healed wounds of this historic community that lies less than a mile away from my home are once again being ripped open after almost three years of calm ensuing from a peace treaty signed by all contending parties. August Town, adjoining the University of the West Indies, has also benefited in many ways from the outreach programmes of the university and it is sad to see what had become a model for other violence-torn communities being destroyed like this.

Although public discourse in Jamaica might lead you to believe that at the root of the country’s problems are the ‘irresponsible’ lyrics emanating from its dancehalls, reality suggests otherwise. And that reality is now staring us in the face with the kind of unblinking gaze that makes it difficult to keep it under wraps anymore. I’m referring to the case of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, wanted by the Americans for a number of drug-related crimes. Their demand for his extradition to the United States to stand trial for his offences has literally thrown a cat among the pigeons here for the government seems in no hurry to ship Dudus off to keep his tryst with destiny.

Las May, The Gleaner, September 27, 2009

Las May, The Gleaner, September 08, 2009

“Why are we waiting, Prime Minister Golding?” asked Jamaica and the World a blog that never fails to put its finger squarely on the problem. The blogger went on to remark:

“Then today, October 15, 2009, we hear that our Commissioner of Police Hardley Lewin is being pressured to resign. Probably because he doesn’t like the Prime Minister who is presiding over the non-extradition of “Dudus” and the non-resignation of Joe Hibbert, complaining that the Jamaica Constabulary Force isn’t doing enough to combat crime……. Yeah, right.”

The problem to put it quite bluntly is that Dudus is probably Jamaica’s most important ‘non-state actor’. Dudus is widely credited with wielding influence not merely amongst supporters of the ruling party but also across party lines in West Kingston, an area that is almost a state within the Jamaican state. A shadowy figure, he runs the ‘mother of all garrisons’–Tivoli–strategically located near Kingston Harbour. Garrisons are vote banks, communities where all residents are required to toe the political line set down by the strongman, in this case Dudus. Tivoli also happens to be the constituency of the Prime Minister. But if the Prime Minister appears too anxious to please the US by handing over the ‘President’ (as Dudus is also known) he stands to lose the political support of a constituency that has always been loyal to his party. This could prove devastating to his term in office as his party rules by a very narrow lead.

As a result of this tense standoff Jamaica stands uneasily poised between the long arm of the world’s de facto ‘police’ force, the United States, and the united state of West Kingston which has already showed its muscle once before when another strongman from the area, Donald ‘Zekes’ Phipps was arrested in 1997. Despite the fact that Zekes was a PNP don, the entire West Kingston area, which is predominantly JLP, united in closing down downtown Kingston to protest his arrest. Dudus is the person who is said to have engineered this unprecedented unification across party lines and if anything the respect for his rule of ‘law’ has only increased over the years (much of the power of the ‘Dons’ comes from their ability to deliver swift justice and maintain peace in the areas they govern in the absence of a functional state judicial system). “Don’t Touch Di President” warned Bunny Wailer (of Bob Marley and the Wailers), in a song pointing out the benefits Dudus had brought to the people of West Kingston. “If you remove the Queen Bee from the hive you get a lot of mad bees,” Wailer declared in an interview with Cliff Hughes on TVJ’s Impact programme.

In fact the entertainment world is making the most of this uniquely Jamaican predicament. Entertainment Report, TVJ’s pertly provocative telemagazine has been putting the question “Do you think Dudus should be extradited?” to a range of unsuspecting interviewees from the man on the street to the Honourable Edward Seaga, former JLP party leader and architect of Tivoli. All have ducked the question, with one man actually exclaiming, “You can’t ask me that!” and then turning tail and running for his life from the probing TV camera. Below is a youtube video of the Twins of Twins spoof of the Dudus situation:

Source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com

BREAKING NEWS! The commissioner has resigned since
I wrote this post this morning.

Meanwhile rumour has it that Jamaica’s beleaguered police commissioner may soon be leaving to take up a lucrative contract elsewhere. In a recent speech he identified the nexus between crime and politics as one of the top obstacles in the ever escalating battle to control crime. He has also spoken out against corruption within the force as did the previous police commissioner Lucius Thomas. A week or so after Lewin’s speech Assistant Commissioner of Police Les Green, one of the UK imports into the police force, roused the ire of the Police Federation when he said that some cops who are murdered may be involved in illicit activities themselves. Predictably the Federation demanded his head on a platter claiming that there was little truth to his statements. Well, if there’s any truth to these statements what else would one expect them to say?

Clovis, Jamaica Observer

Needless to say speculation is rife about whether the Police Commissioner is being pressured to resign. Another UK import, Mark Shields, who was until recently also an Assistant Commissioner of Police here has recently set himself up as a security consultant. A wise move considering the lay of the land, wouldn’t you say? He has also joined the twittering classes and his laconic but telling tweets are worth following. On October 22nd this was what he tweeted:

“…Another attempt to remove the Commish. Beware the elements from within. They’ve a personal interest in removing ALL outsiders.”

And two days before that: “Things looking up? http://bit.ly/MCKzZ”.

When you clicked on the link it took you to the following letter in the Daily Gleaner:

Police force needs a DCP Mark Shields
Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Dear Editor,

One cannot fault persons for believing the “rumours” that Commissioner of Police Hardley Lewin had resigned. While the commissioner has speculated as to who such rumours could be attributed to, and their less than honourable motives, I wish to put forth a simpler, less sinister motive: the commissioner is no longer seen nor heard from at a time when crime remains our most pressing concern!

The only person within the JCF who seemingly realised the need for visible leadership, and who was willing and brave enough to be the “face” fighting crime was former DCP Mark Shields. Since his recent retirement from the police force, no one seems willing or able to take up that mantle. While Shields was vilified in some quarters (wrongly, in my view), for constantly being both seen and heard, it is exactly the type of reassurance that a frightened public need, not to mention it was only under DCP Shields that the public’s confidence in the JCF was restored, in that witnesses finally felt they had an incorruptible but approachable person in whom they could confide. Again I ask, who is taking up that mantle at a time when much of the public views and fears the police in no different a light than they view the common criminal?

In his usual manner the commissioner claims to be “working quietly behind the scenes”. While I am not questioning that fact, with all due respect, Commissioner, the job calls for far, far more. The public needs visible and inspirational leadership in the fight against crime. We need hope. We need someone to inspire confidence and a trusted “face” in the fight against the ruthless criminals who terrorise us daily. Dare I say we need a DCP Mark Shields? His departure is certainly a case of our not knowing, nor appreciating what we had until it’s gone! …”

Richard Isaacs risaacs35@yahoo.com

Now that is the kind of refreshingly cheeky tweeting that I thoroughly enjoy. I hope @Marxshields the tweeter enlivens the Twittersphere for a long time to come though I predict that like the Indian Minister, Shashi Tharoor, he may encounter several attempts to clip his wings. In the meantime it does seem that Jamaica could definitely use “an international crime and security sector” shield of the kind he is offering.

For an update from March 2010 click here.

Buju Banton’s Gay Inquisition

Sitting here wondering whether to have another cup of this wonderful brew i brought back from Costa Rica. Just the packaging alone is a joy to behold, and the coffee itself is decidedly superior.

Yes, we do have the most expensive coffee in the world in Jamaica but it’s a tad too delicate for me, and considering that you have to use twice as much to get a decent tasting cup, its even more expensive than you think. Also i do wish Jamaican companies would invest more in package design; the Costa Ricans could really teach us a thing or two there. I mean the burlap bag is a cute idea but when you remove the tinfoil pouch from the little jute sack there is nothing to identify what brand of coffee you’re drinking and it’s very hard to keep track of changes in taste, quality and so on unless you happen to scrawl the name of the coffee on the blank tinfoil.

See what i mean? Two different Jamaican companies, Wallenford and Coffee Traders, both using jute bags but when you discard the bag there’s no way to distinguish one tinfoil pouch from the other! The Costa Ricans on the other hand print the tinfoil pouch itself with a super attractive, brightly coloured depiction of the landscape the coffee was grown in. There were so many different varieties available at the airport, all in brightly coloured packages. Fortunately there were also coffee salespersons available to advise. Now there’s a country that takes its coffee seriously.

Ok, i know this is a bit of a leap, but trust me I won’t let you fall. One of the things that caught our attention here in the last week or two was what you might call Buju’s Gay Inquisition in San Francisco. The so-called meeting produced the following photograph which was widely distributed and reproduced showing a serious-faced Buju surrounded by a group of gloating individuals who one presumes are gay rights activists.

Buju Bows, screamed headlines in Jamaica, “bow” being the local term for the subjection of a person to humiliating defeat at the hands of someone far more powerful. A comprehensive account of the meeting was carried in The Star.

The Jamaica Observer carried the responses of the local gay rights organization J-FLAG which actually disagreed with some aspects of the strategy employed by the group in San Francisco. J-FLAG’s position is that no “tangible results” had ensued from the meeting nor were likely to.

“The Jamaican society has not necessarily increased its tolerance towards homosexuals over the last five years according to J-FLAG,” (says the Observer article). I beg to disagree. Change is a process, a time-consuming process that can neither be bullied or “bowed” into existence. This was vigorously discussed in the comments section of my recent post Eyeless in Gaza (Gully). Sometimes the comments section is almost better than the post itself, check it out.

Source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com

I marvel at the naivete of the gay activists who demanded at the meeting that Buju “hold a pro-gay town hall meeting and sing pro-gay lyrics”. Yeah right, the Jamaican public is going to listen and learn from a castrated Buju when he tells them he has recanted and they should all follow suit by becoming ‘pro-gay’–whatever that means.

They need to listen to Mutabaruka for the best expression of the Jamaican view on the matter (on his radio programme Cutting Edge). Not only is it a thorough and lucid exposition of local views on the subject he actually recieved a call from Buju Banton in California during the programme to discuss the latter’s much-hyped meeting with gay groups in San Francisco (about 15 minutes into the recording). Incidentally I don’t agree that Buju is being hounded only for his early 90s song Boom Bye Bye that was written in response to a widely reported man/boy rape case in Jamaica. It has been alleged that in 2004 he was part of a group of who brutally beat six men believed to be homosexuals at a house near Buju’s recording studio.

Muta’s discussion of the San Francisco meeting neglected to take into account the above incident and more recent pronouncements from Buju on the subject of homosexuality. Still, if you listen to the audio provided below you’ll hear Muta criticize DJs who threaten gays with violence during their stage performances (towards the end of the recording) and he has often said that he wished DJs would speak out as vehemently against the various forms of violence and criminality plaguing society as they do against the free expression of a person’s sexuality. His is a considerably more nuanced view of homosexuals, homosexuality and homophobia in Jamaica than the campaign of foreign gay rights groups would have you believe; And one that is representative of quite a few prople here. The campaign’s weakness lies in not having either an informed strategy or grasp of the local ground and mindset. So like Napoleon Bonaparte in Haiti approximately two hundred years ago, they may win the battle of the moment but they will lose the war. Is this what they want?

Here is the excerpt from Mutabaruka’s Cutting Edge. You will need to know some Patwa in order to understand the audio fully.

Buju Meets with Gays – Mutabaruka

A few of my favourites…

In lieu of having anything amusing, meaningful or useful to say at the moment I’m going to present a selection of videos, blogs and articles i find totally worth recommending.

First, on the tail of my last post did you know that there is soon going to be a movie version of Bashment Granny? Click here for the Bashment Granny movie trailer which certainly looks promising. The film boasts good production values which bodes well for what might soon become an important new chapter in Jamaican film-making.

And the region is beginning to produce world-class animated shorts as well. Check out this absolutely charming flick about rivalry between street vendors of different nationalities in the republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The innovative cartoon focuses on the jostling between an African sno cone vendor and an Indian ‘doubles’ man. Featuring hilarious dialogue and a creative plot, the two resort to karate moves to settle their argument. The film won Animae Caribe’s 2009 Most Oustanding Caribbean Animation Award.

Another innovative video offering from Trinidad and Tobago features Gabi Hossein, a lecturer at UWI, St. Augustine. A dedicated activist Gabi has employed her formidable creative skills to produce a video blog called “If I Were Prime Minister…” in which she mercilessly lampoons and takes down the political directorate of TnT about the absurdities that pass for governance. In the process Gabi also slyly parodies the aggrieved, aggressive posture of young male rappers. There are only two video so far but i look forward to regular instalments.

Gabi’s introductory shot:

and her latest volley in which she deconstructs poll numbers:

And from further afield I really like this Zina Saunders portrait of Michael Jackson, done originally for The Progressive. What do YOU think?

Also check out the Booman Tribune for the best response to all the criticism of President Obama, it looks like a great blog which i’m going to try and check regularly.

And on the increasingly dismal Literature Nobel an excellent post by the Akhond of Swat:
Who, or why, or which, or what, Is the Akond of SWAT? well click on the link and find out!

Now to wind up, here’s a despairing post from a schoolteacher in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. They are beginning to feel the kind of violence that we have become inured to here and Abbott, who is a powerful and eloquent writer vividly captures the sense of being drowned by a crime tsunami. Is this the way small islands crumble?:

“For the past month or so, SVG has been suffering from one of the most belligerent heat waves that I’ve ever experienced. My headaches, which had all but disappeared due to my quitting smoking and putting myself on a strict health regimen, are slowly becoming a constant irritant again. The other day, one of my students stripped off his shirt in class because the room where all my classes are held is a two by four plywood box that holds heat like a Pyrex dish. I allowed him to carry on simply because my own shirt was moulded to my body like I’d just been in a wet dress-shirt contest or similar. “Me skin hat” is a Vincentian Creole expression that goes further than just saying, “I feel hot”. It implies that the heat is so oppressive that your very skin feels as if it is peeling away from your flesh, the way an envelope peels open when it is steamed. This is the kind of heat we’re facing here.”

And if you need a pick-me-upper after that read the latest Letter from Jamaica on what five years in Ja has taught the author: “1. White people who live in the ghetto are apparently either: (i) NGO workers (ii) crazy (iii) ‘wutless’ or (iv) German roots reggae singers.”

Finally Heart of a Pirate, a novel about Anne Bonny by Pamela Johnson, the female pirate who once inhabited these shores, is now available in local bookstores.

Eyeless in Gaza (and Gully): ‘Mi deh pon di borderline’

Clovis Brown, Wednesday, October 7 2009, Jamaica Observer

Gaza. Gully. The two words, inscribed in locations all over Kingston and Jamaica, signify internecine zones of conflict competing for supremacy in the dancehall universe here. For those who don’t know: Gaza=Kartel and Gully=Mavado. Mavado, popularly known as ‘Gully Gad (God)’, comes from Gullyside in Cassava Piece, an impoverished community in the foothills of Kingston. Kartel comes from a neighbourhood in Portmore that was once known as BORDERLINE.

And thereby hangs a tale. A story you wouldn’t find in the normal media yasso which specializes in skimming the surface and shallow moralizing. The Jamaican media generously accommodates both sinners and sermonizers, protecting the former by voluntarily gagging themselves and the latter by giving them as many column inches as their sermons demand. In the US it is citizens who usually “plead the fifth” and have “the right to remain silent”, both stemming from the Fifth Amendment of their constitution. In Jamaica the media seem to have arrogated such rights to themselves; they provide a minimum of in-depth coverage of events apparently on the grounds that the information given could be used as evidence against them!

So like me, you may not have known the etymology of the term ‘Gaza’ in the Jamaican context (Talk bout the media being eyeless in Gaza!) or why Borderline came to be so renamed. It’s a fascinating story which is intimately connected (as a batty is to a bench you might say) with this culture’s notorious attitude towards male homosexuals or ‘batty’ men as they are called here.

Shebada Ramsay, the ‘Gender Bender’

It all has to do with an actor called Shebada, the star of a super successful series of plays put on by Stages Productions. This company produces what is known in local parlance as ‘roots plays’, a kind of farcical, over the top production with picaresque characters performing or acting out the issues of the day. Sex is a big part of it, and subtlety is not, but Stages Productions whose slogan is “Comedy is serious business” always plays to full houses.

Stages Productions has also pioneered the explicit exploration of alternative sexualities and Shebada himself, whose stage persona is camp as they come and twice as provocative, sports a bleached face and gay-ish attributes that complicate the argument that Jamaica is unremittingly hostile to Gays. In fact international Gay rights groups who have targeted the island’s musicians repeatedly would do well to analyze such productions and feed the resulting insights into their jackhammer strategies at outing and combating what is touted worldwide as Jamaican homophobia.

The induction of the name ‘Gaza’ into the Jamaican firmament came about because in the very first insanely popular Stages Production, Bashment Granny, there is a scene where a policeman confronts the sinuous Shebada asking “Yu a man or yu a woman?” “Mi deh pon di borderline” declares Shebada unabashedly, emphasizing his retort with an exaggerated wag of his hips. The phrase became so popular in the context of discussions about sexuality that Vybz Kartel decided that the name of his community ‘Borderline’ had been irrevocably contaminated by association. He therefore adopted the name of the most violent place he could think of at the time—Gaza in Palestine.

Again Fernando Guereta, or Mr. Previous, as I have nicknamed him, the man responsible for the film, Why Do Jamaicans Run so Fast? has been quick off the mark. He is already in the middle of his next film, which documents the Gully Gaza phenomenon (please note he was NOT the source of information for this post). The interview with him I promised is still pending. I will unveil it over the course of the coming week. In the meantime check out these two video clips of Shebada in Bashment Granny (the relevant declaration is four and a half minutes into the first one). The second one has some priceless footage of Shebada teaching Bashment Granny how to walk and dance with credibility. Enjoy!

The Boy with the Golden Shoes

[usain.JPG]
Sign in Jamaican storefront during Beijing Olympics

One of the things I most regretted about being in India this August was that I wasn’t in Jamaica during the World Championships in Berlin. Having experienced the sheer exhileration in Kingston, August gone, during the Beijing Games, I knew only too well what I was missing. Because of the time difference and probably because India itself had minimal participation (for such a great nation we have produced remarkably few great athletes) I wasn’t able to watch any of the races live, though by the end of the month Usain Bolt had become a household name all over again in India as well as the rest of the world.

In the last couple of weeks the airwaves and other media have been buzzing with reactions to the Government’s decision to rename Highway 2000 (the superfast major cross-island artery built with French technology) the Usain Bolt Highway. Yesterday on Facebook a local journalist posted what are allegedly a parliamentary reporter’s notes on a Cabinet discussion about honouring Usain Bolt…read on.

Yesterday at 5:38pm

So I managed to pull off a coup. A major scoop so to speak. I got hold of some very interesting cabinet notes on honouring Usain Bolt.

Apparently, Prime Minister Bruce Golding asked his ministers to come up with ideas on what tangible things the country could do to honour Usain and here’s what they came up with:

1) Change Jamaica’s Coat of Arms to “Bolt Arms”

2) Rename the parish of Trelawny – Usain Bolt

3) Rename Yam – call it Usain

4) Make him our 8th National Hero ( It was decided this will come after the next Olympics, they’ll need that long to research how to accord a person National Hero status)

5) Put him on the 10,000 dollar bill (Audley assured Cabinet that the denomination would be coming by next May)

6) Have 9.58 days of bashment celebrating Usain ( I swear Babsy did suggest this)

7) Rename William Knibb High School Usain Bolt High ( Ruddy Spencer asked who is William Knibb and why does he have things named after him? )

8) Declare August 21 Usain Bolt Day and make it a public Holiday ( Cabinet was very upset with Chris Tufton for this one. Andrew Holness said it sounded too PNP. Di man hold up di “fist” one time and tell Jamaica to put di “X” beside di Head and dem won’t let it go.)

9) Make his home in Sherwood Content a national landmark ( It was pointed out that the community still lacks piped water and Dr. Horace Chang couldn’t guarantee that they’d get it in Usain’s lifetime.)

10) Make Usain’s favourite food the National dish and create a new designation national night club and give that to the “Quad”.

11) Change the national dress, to all Puma and make it mandatory for everyone to wear the Yamm shoes. (However all agreed they certainly wouldn’t be orange like the ones that Usain wore. Chris Tufton was eerily silent).

12) Finally settle this Gully/Gaza mess and make everybody say Gaza since ah dat Usain say (I feel Babsy in this again)

13) Write Oxford to have the word “fast” in the dictionary replaced with “Usain” (Mike Henry). Babsy agreed and thought we should get “sobolious” added as well!

14) Rename Air Jamaica, Usain Air.

15) SUGGESTION FROM BRUCE GOLDING: Rename Jamaica – Usain. The PM said “There’s no honour that’s too great for this young man and right now the national profile has been taken to echelons far beyond our greatest expectations because of Usain’s feet!”

Well, long before the Jamaican government decided to honour Usain Bolt and before he became a household name outside Jamaica a Spanish national named Fernando Guereta (Nando) decided to honour Bolt and Jamaica’s athletes with a film celebrating their exploits. Called “Why do Jamaicans Run So Fast?” this superbly conceived and crafted documentary-style film creatively captures the environment these athletes spring from in Jamaica.

On the verge of signing major distribution and international TV rights deals Guereta has scooped the world on this. With a beautiful soundtrack and interviews with Usain from the age of 15 onwards the culture that has produced such indomitable talent is centrestaged, with a prominent role accorded to dancehall music and the dances that inspired Usain, Melaine Walker, Shelly Ann Fraser and others to dare to grab their share of the pie.

I asked Nando about the role of music in the film and this is what he said. Keep in mind that he’s not a native English-speaker which makes what he’s done that much more remarkable.

“My two main concerns were to cover all music genres, from ska, to roots reggae and moving towards the latests dancehall hits. The second concern was to make the music match the images properly, even if I sound a little bit arrogant I think we achieve to deliver very well in both matters.

Heptones’ Country Boy matched Bolts origins, Bob Marley’s Bad Card reminds the world that dem a go tyaad fe see Bolt face, Movado reminds Melaine Walker not to forget about the Gully, Bugle ask Carl Lewis what have Bolt done to him, and Jah Cure seh as long as I live he will remember those days.”

Watch this spot over the next week for more from Nando on the making of “Why Do Jamaicans Run so Fast?”