INTERVIEW : RAS MICHAEL
Interview by : Sébastien Jobart & Boris Lutanie
Pictures by : Romane Guillet
on Monday, September 29th 2014 - 7 083 views
A legendary percussionist, singer and radio host, Ras Michael has played a central role in spreading sacred Rasta music. From the late 60s, he played and recorded with his group The Sons of Negus, but also with the Studio One musicians, Bob Marley and Lee Perry. For him, there is no doubt: roots reggae, "the one drop", stems from Nyahbinghi.
Ras Michael defines Nyahbinghi as a deeply organic music, and he readily extends the biological metaphor of the heart to describe the polyrhythmic alchemy of Rasta drumming. The heartbeat then asserts itself as the original, primal and primordial sound that perpetuates the umbilical rootedness in Mother Earth.
Reggaefrance / Our first question concerns percussion traditions in Jamaica. Little is known about the origins of the Rasta music known as Nyahbinghi. Can you enlighten us on the origins of Rasta ritual music?
Ras Michael / As with the Falasha, Rasta traditions come from Lalibela, Axum (in Ethiopia, ed.) and from all of Africa. People distinguished themselves in their communion with the one true God, and that is where the Rastas really come from. With slavery, they took us to the West, but they could not cut us off from our traditions. Our spirituality was built on that heritage, in our blood, and also through the communication of the drums with the “Inner” (the inner universe, the spiritual force of every Rasta, ed.).
It is said that the music played at the Pinnacle, the first Rasta community founded by Leonard Howell, was Kumina drumming and not Nyahbinghi.
You see, in Jamaica, there are different groups of people who arrived with their own traditional concepts. They also played different styles of drumming such as Kumina or Pukumina. That is where it comes from. But when the Rastas arrived, when they became a force, they brought the “heartbeat” with them, and it is this heartbeat that we call Nyahbinghi. When we play it, we recite religious chants and we have our rituals, animated by the spirituality of God.
In Nyahbinghi music, what are the specific roles of each of the drums: the bass drum, the fundeh, and the repeater?
For me, the bass drum is the foundation that supports everything; the fundeh, the one that goes “bop-bop”, reproduces the heartbeats of a man; the repeater, finally, acts like the blood, which leaves the heart and spreads through the different veins and vital organs, all through the body. The repeater plays that role.
 Le one drop est le battement de cœur du reggae 
How did you learn Nyahbinghi drumming? Did you have a ketey master?
I never really had a ketey master… On the other hand, I spent time with the elders, the Rasta elders like Mortimo Planno, George Napier, Marlon. These brethren knew how to play… Some played only with their own heart. I've loved drums since I was very young. I started playing on big boxes, saucepans, empty tin cans… You know, we had those tins of cheese; you take out the cheese, and you can play on the bottom of the tin.
So you learned by yourself?
Yes, but in doing so, I was always spending time with the elders. With time, I learned to play the drums. I also learned to make my drums. Some of the ones I use today are very old. All these drums that you see there (he points to his instruments, ed.) are more than fifty years old… And you aren't fifty years old yourself! Do you understand what I mean? So much has been accomplished. I have always admired brethren like Count Ossie. He lived at Wareika Hill (a hill east of Kingston, ed.) and at the time I was living at Salt Lane, in the Oxford Street area, with Mortimo Planno. But that did not stop us from getting together.
When did you found the group The Sons of Negus? Who were the musicians in it?
I created it in the early 1960s. The Sons of Negus were made up of people around me. My children were in it too… They had to sing, they had no choice since I was their father! (laughs) Other brethren also joined us over time. Because I was the first brother to have a radio show, in 1967. It was called “Lion of Judah Time”, and was broadcast on the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC, the equivalent of the ORTF in France at the time, ed.).
Did you play records during the show?
Yes, and so that the show could exist, after recording my first record, I went all over the place to try to sell it and fund the show. But you know, at that time, the brethren never had any money. I remember once I had money problems, and this brother, Leghorn, helped me so that we could keep the show.
And were you able to keep it?
Yes, until the government drove us off the air. Because it was starting to become very well known. People called “Public Eye” (a programme on RJR radio, ed.) to confess that they switched their radio off after my show ended. We started to have problems. Because we quoted the Bible. I love the Bible. As His Majesty says: “The Bible is the rallying point of all humanity.” And He says that He follows the precepts of Christ. We must follow His example.
Were you in Jamaica during Haile Selassie's visit in 1966?
Yes, I was at the airport too. Yeah Mon, it was truly a mystical gathering. It was raining and when I looked up at the sky, the sun suddenly appeared. Doves were flying in the sky and with them came the emperor's plane. It was so mystical!
The rhythm of reggae is based on the heartbeat. Do you think this vibration comes from the double beat on the fundeh, the one-two?
Yes, this vibration is born from the syncopations of the different Nyahbinghi drums. Each of them has its own exposition, and that creates a rhythm, if you know how to play it properly.
Does the reggae one drop come directly from Nyahbinghi?
Yes, and that is why Bob Marley said: “Listen to the one drop and you'll have time to rock.” (“Listen to the one drop, and you'll have time to move”, ed.). That is exactly it. The one drop is the heartbeat of reggae.
|
|
© 1999-2026
RSS
