Reggae.be

Buju Banton wint de Reggae Grammy en verschijnt voor de rechter.

Drukke dagen voor Buju. Gisteren won hij de Grammy voor beste reggaealbum van het jaar, vandaag (14/1) moet hij voor de rechter verschijnen in verband met de coke-deal waarbij hij zou betrokken zijn. Voor ons reden om ons laatste interview met Buju voor hij gearresteerd werd nog even op te diepen. 

De andere genomineerden in de categorie Best Reggae Album waren:

- Gregory Isaacs & King Isaac: Isaacs meets Isaac. (Nooit van gehoord.)

- Bob Sinclar feat. Sly & Robbie: Made in Jamaica (Crap)

- Sly & Robbie: One pop reggae + (????)

- Andrew Tosh: Legacy - An acoustic tribute to Peter Tosh (Geeuw)

- Lee 'Scratch' Perry: Revelation (Het is genoeg geweest).

Dan inderdaad toch maar Before the dawn van Buju Banton, al was het maar als tijdsdocument.

"A testament of my journey through life.”

We meet Buju Banton (Mark Myrie) after his great show in Gent and tell him how much we appreciate the new album (Rasta got soul).

“I am elated. My sole purpose in what I do is to uplift, to educate, and to eradicate all negativity from the minds of the people. I want to change the concept of what has been injected into their minds about who I am and what my music constitutes. It is not my lifelong intention to change the believes of man but I do have a moral responsibility to do my job astutely and profoundly. Every song on this album is a testament of my journey through life.”

You must be in a very positive state then...

“I'm always in a positive state but that has never been reflected. No light has been cast on that. I must respond to the generation of my time but still bring them knowledge from the past, from an era that comforts me. I hope it can also comfort other people.”

For this album you've invited some of the best Jamaican musicians of this time and age. Musically, this is arguably your best work yet.

“It is a masterpiece. Working with these people has been such a pleasure. I've never worked with them before but now I know that they've taken me to a musical level that I have never reached before. It's a new dimension. New alliances, new things happening, new friendships. I've been in this business since I was a boy. These are people that I admire, that I respect and that I've always wanted to work with. Rasta got soul embodies all of that.”

The album has only your own original compositions , no versions, which is quite exceptional.

You don't sing in hard to understand patois this time but in polished, almost biblical and very poetical English

(laughs) “I've always strived for excellence. I'm a perfectionist. It might be funny to say that of myself but I am. Eloquence is part of that striving. To be understood in the first world, in the modern world, we must use the English language to the best of our abilities. I always try to reach out to a bigger audience. Not for me, not to become famous, but for the music. I am a servant. It's all about the music and the people.”

Do lyrics come as easily to you in English as in Jamaican?

“It must! Because I don't fight music. It must flow.”

On the official album presentation in Jamaica you said something that I totally agreed with but that also caused a little uproar. You said you were tired of having to work in Bob Marley's shadow, thirty years or so after his death.

“Bob Marley was one of the best in his time. But in this time we must allow the youths to grow. We don't want to lose Burning Spear and Israel Vibration and all these great artists but who is gonna take the music to the future when their day has come? Who is gonna run the yellow brick road with the reggae banner in his hand? Bob himself said we don't have to live in the past. If people had listened to him, they would not argue what I've said.”

Which artists of your generation play in the same league as Bob? I would say Luciano, Sizzla, you...

“I don't belong to any league. I've never called myself a king or a prince, just a servant. I've received some of the hardest blows in this business. I've experienced the most serious blockades. But I've never turned back. I've never stopped singing. For the people! That's how I want to be remembered, as a servant of the people. Somebody who the sinners can wipe their feet on to enter into Zion to listen reggae music and smoke good herbs.”

“The youths deserve to grow, and not to be sized up with a great icon like Bob. No one will ever be like him.”

Bob Marley's sons are dominating the Billboard reggae chart...

“Because he was the teacher of a genre, the master. He's the Mekka of reggae. Everybody looks up to him and wants to be great like him. Even his own children suffer from this. We have to grow with a clear and focused mind. Let the truth be said because if it's not said today, it will be said tomorrow.”

I've read that several people have inspired you to trod the path you're on now: Yasus Tafari, Lee Perry...

“I have been helped and coached and tutored by some of the greatest men to ever walk the face of this earth. In my sapphire that is, where I exist. Mister Richie Reuben here was also instrumental and fundamental to understanding who I am. From when I met him I've journeyed to try and find solace ina di palace.”

Bedtime story features Wyclef Jean. You've known him for a long time?

“When Wyclef's father died he invited me to America to give him some strength. We wrote many songs together, this is one of them. We already met each other way back in 1991 or 1992, when I did a cameo appearance in a Miami show of The Fugees.”

Sense of purpose, with Third World, reminds me of Prince. I think it's a great track.

“You mean Prince? The Prince? Well, that must be a sign of the times.” (laughs) “Mmm, that's interesting. I've known the guys of Third World for some time. We've played some gigs together in Minneapolis. Yes, Prince city. I know. Sense of purpose is truly a great song. I grew up with it. I feel blessed that I could compliment Donovan Germain's beautiful production with my rendition.”

You've worked with a lot of American and British artists: Busta Rhymes, Finley Quaye, Rancid...

“It was me diversifying, reaching out to other music. All my life I had been in Jamaica. I wanted to find out how it was working and writing with other people. I took great advantage of that in my career.”

Did you ever consider having a truly commercial career in music?

“No. I see myself as an underground force, a rebel force. I've seen the demise of everybody that the Americans touch. They've all come right back tumbling. What I do, I do from my heart. Low rotation, medium rotation, high rotation: they're important but not significant. What counts is my connection to the people and my responsibility to them.”

Rasta got soul is being released as a major record company product, including a fancy, expensive package. Still, it's an independent release on your own label Gargamel.

“Every dollar I earn I put back in Gargamel Music. You know, being a rebel, not many people want to touch me. They don't want to invest in my art. How will I ever become a voice of this nation and this generation if I'm not able to do everything by myself? I didn't come in the music business to have my own recording studio, my own international label, shares in a pressing plant, distribution deals in America and Europe... But I've been working hard and with the support of the ardent fans all around the world it has grown, and it keeps growing.”

There's no ganja tune on the album.

“The world has become a place where they are clamping down on these things zealously. I've witnessed a concert in France that was raided and where Gentleman was courted off. Illicitly in my view. It was a violation of their civil and human rights. Blood and urine samples were taken from them. I don't want that to happen to I & I.”

Reggae artists have been refused entrance to some countries for other reasons, as you very well know.

“Everyone knows the pressure we are under. If you don't realize that you must be an intelligent diplomat, you have to learn the hard way. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. Just act like me.”

Is this the direction you will be going in the future? Or will you keep on recording digital dancehall tunes as well?

“I've got two groups of people to satisfy: one loves reggae, the other loves dancehall. And there's a group that love both! What must I do? Continue making music. Thank you for your time.”

Published on 07/07/2009 by Jah Shakespear