| 24th December 2006 01:12 PM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Don't be a deceived
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Fiji Times Online
NEVER be a follow-fashion-monkey, is the advice of Rasta apostle, Fully Fullwood.
The co-frontman of the Tosh Meets Marley tour party went out of his way to stress reggae is not marijuana music.
"Rasta is a religion and part of that is reggae," Fullwood said before wowing fans in Suva and Lautoka early this month on a Radio Fiji-promoted tour.
"In Rasta, marijuana is a sacrament." he said.
"But, it is not every Rasta who smoke, you know. That is a misconception.
"Not every musician smokes. Yes, Bob (Marley) and Peter (Tosh) smoke so much, but ..." at which in jumped group manager Mark Miller to stress that music and marijuana had been married a long time before reggae dropped onto the world stage.
"Marijuana is associated with lots of genres of music.
"Marijuana's link with music came out of the jazz-bepop era," Miller said.
"It permeates many music forms, so it is wrong to say reggae is marijuana music.
"There's not a lot of people doing some really good music who have to light up a spliff every day.
"They just enjoy doing their music."
Bepop grew out of the big band era in the 1940s, with the smaller numbers in groups allowing musicians more time to solo.
It led to the emergence of greats like trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and saxophoniost Charlie Parker, but that is another story.
Fullwood was blunter. "Understand this, not everyone who says Rasta is authentically a Rasta, not everyone who has locks is Rasta.
"There's two things we are talking about. Dread and rasta.
"Dread is fear. Rasta mean love.
"You don't have to have thick hair, it is from here, the heart. Rasta is a way of life.
"It is how you go about expressing yourself.
"It is about respect, self-respect the love that you have to express to others and the respect for each other."
Former Burning Spear member Jawge Hughes then said: "Marijuana is a herb, you pick it, dry it, do what you want with it.
"No chemicals ... natural. Governments say drugs look all the drugs out there," Hughes said.
"It is a herb, a chalice for the Rasta," he said in reference to the chillum (clay pipe) and water pipe used by most smokers when not spliffing.
Fullwood said the true Rasta never dealt in marijuana for profit.
"Rasta here to fight spiritual wickedness."
In the Rasta community, those with the touch till the soil until the work of human hands brings about the fruit of the earth. That fruit is then reverently partaken of.
For them, selling is like joining the proverbial Babylon Rasta is determined to topple. Fullwood is still humbled to have grown up, and played with reggae's holy trinity of Marley, Tosh and Neville Livingstone, who is better known as the spiritual master Bunny Wailer, who coined the phrase follow fashion monkey for all the people who sprouted dreadlocks as reggae mania swept the world in the 1970s and 80s.
"Peter Tosh was portrayed as a militant but, man, he have a great sense of humour. One time Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead walked into our dressing room in Atlanta, Georgia, as Word, Sound and Power, Tosh's band, were getting ready to go on stage. A roadie walked in with him and said, 'this Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead'.
"Peter was having a spliff and he look Jerry Garcia in the eye and say, 'man, you should be grateful to be alive'."
Fullwood became the first overseas act to sing Tosh's anthem, Legalise it. To a raputrous crowd despite the rendition having none of the vocal harmonies of the original or the percussions, which were sorely missed throughout the show.
Fullwood likens making music to cooking. "For Reggae, the drum and the bass are the foundation. Everything else is spice ... like cooking, a seasoning to bring to taste," he said while promising return performances in Fiji soon.
Jah guide.
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| 24th December 2006 01:19 PM |
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| LastChild |
i think i will be converting to rasta |
| 24th December 2006 10:05 PM |
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| lotsajizz |
I already have.... |
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