Interview by : Nicolas Swartebroeks
Pictures by : Benoit Collin
on Friday, October 31st 2008 - 9 983 views
Kiddus I has had a career far removed from where his talent could have taken him. The fault of some very firm ideas that earned him a prolonged exile from the scene. After long years of silence, his 1970s singles found a place on a compilation put out by a Japanese label last year. His work on Makasound's acoustic Inna De Yard series has also put him back on the musical map. He talks to us about those wilderness years, his appearance in the film "Rockers", the evolution of the music scene, and his commitment to reforestation.
Reggaefrance / How did the Inna de Yard concept with Makasound come about?
Kiddus I / It's a collaboration with Earl China Smith. We are always rehearsing together. When Nicolas from Makasound came to see us, he saw us playing like that. The "Inna de Yard" concept is something we normally do, he captures rehearsals, everyday creations in Jamaica.
That was your real first album after several singles. Your career has remained very discreet...
I had already recorded enough to make eight LPs, but they never came out. I must have put out seven or eight singles. That was all that was available then. Inna de Yard was my first album. I had already released a few tracks of my own under my name. The last track I put out on my Shepherd label must have been in 1980. Between 1978 and 1980, I released all my first recordings on 45s. The Japanese put out a compilation of my work, on the Dub Store International label, last year.
Why did it take so long for this compilation to come out?
Sometimes I wonder myself why. People used to say of me that I was the artist who recorded the most without ever being distributed, in Jamaica. Because of that, I lost a lot, a lot of tapes of my music over the years.
Do you feel you're living a second career?
Since I was young I've known that I'm a musician, and that I have a message to give. At one time, I was deliberately isolated, people said I was too aggressive in my songs towards society, I was told nobody wanted to wake up and hear what I had to say. I was part of the Peace Treaty Committee in 1978, I got on stage and made very aggressive remarks about society, the establishment, the government. They thought it would be better if I were put aside, "white-listed" (a play on "black list", which he turns into "white list", ed.). In the 1980s, some people had imagined that Jacob Miller, Peter Tosh and I could break through internationally. But nobody came to help me, I had to do everything on my own, all the production work, the recording... With the re-release of the film, interest in me came back. Time has perhaps healed the wounds... I'm now ready to offer the world what I have.
Let's go back to your beginnings in music...
From the slap the doctor gave me on the bottom. You know, when you've just come out of your mother's belly! Yeah !
You became famous through the film Rockers. How did you end up in the cast?
In 1976, I was recording the same song, in the same studio. Jack Ruby, the legendary producer of Burning Spear, came in with Ted Bafaloukos, the director of the film. They asked me not to release the song straight away, because they wanted it for the film. We re-recorded the track in 1978 for the film.
How did the shoot go?
At that time, there was a definite tension in Jamaica. A state of emergency had been declared, there were soldiers in the streets because of the conflicts... The cast of the film was mainly made up of artists and musicians. There were a few disagreements here and there but generally speaking, it was good energy and a good vibration.
The song Graduation in Zion, which is part of the film's soundtrack, was never released as a single. Why?
To be honest, I lost the original tape... But it came out again on an LP. I found a copy of the tape in January this year. A producer from New York gave me back the tape after 27 years. So it's going to be re-released in its original version, which is incidentally a much better version than the one on the film's soundtrack, which was recorded on the tapes used for recording outdoor sound for films. The recording that was made at Harry J's is a bit longer, more accomplished. Michael Century's New York label is going to release it on an LP called "Rocking Rebel" with tracks I recorded between '78 and '81... 17 tracks exactly.
You have seen almost the whole evolution of the music in your country over the last 40 years. What is your impression of today's music scene?
There's some good, but after Bob Marley died, society no longer wanted to hear culture music, truth music, the kind that awakens people's consciences, broadcast on the airwaves. They promoted dancehall, whose slackness lyrics played down the values of reggae. In the end, they lost control of it. By the early 90s, it had become so vulgar and aggressive... Children repeated what they heard... So they got sick of it! But they deliberately played down the real values of reggae for ten or twelve years.
Now there is hope, because the young artists and producers are inspired, they are plugging into the true values of creation. In these times of global warming, it is the hour of revelation. It is the moment when the conscience of humanity must embrace the symphony of life. We can become the shepherds of Mama Earth. It can't go on like this, trust me! I don't know what our children are going to inherit. There is hope, a spiritual quickening is under way in creation. I see it in many young artists...
In the DVD "Une ballade jamaïcaine", you talk about the great days of Tivoli Gardens, where people used to go out back then, before the government closed the place down...
Back then it was the same thing, just like what they did to the music. Because if Jamaicans unite… The voice of Jamaica has been very important. The first African nation in the Caribbean to win its independence was Jamaica. Then there was Marcus Garvey, who motivated and stirred the diaspora across the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America and South America. We are talking about 15 million people… So much so that the establishment took fright that these people might leave their country, which was their workforce. So they played Marcus Garvey down. Then came Rastafari. It is a voice for the world that Bob Marley awakened through reggae. Our message is so powerful that society never wanted Jamaicans to be self-sufficient and independent. So we have always had interference from outside, to destabilise and to divide. Because if we are united, can you imagine? This little island would become a major voice of the Third World, for all the people who suffer around the world.
How do you see the future of music in Jamaica?
It's a cycle. At one time nobody was interested in truth and rights, but today a lot of young producers and musicians are listening to old-school music.
Some dancehall artists sing conscious lyrics...
What matters most is what you put on the riddim, how you dress it: the message you send out. If your message pulls people down, you won't take anyone anywhere. If it's the truth, then it's positive, and you can lift people up with that message.
Is music a spiritual thing?
Music is part of the vibration, it is a vibration. We ourselves are vibrations and resonances of other vibrations. If we are in harmony, then it is infinite, it is part of the symphony of life.
What are your next projects?
Making music… There is also an association called Green for Life, a worldwide reforestation programme where we set up tree nurseries. The association is based in Jamaica. We hope to bring a lot of people together and work in Ghana, Suriname, Central America, the Middle East… Wherever there are great forests, we want to be there to set up nurseries so as to protect them and replant. To heal Mama Earth.
Do you think these issues will one day reach Jamaica?
It is happening, but slowly. As it is all over the world, for that matter. But in Jamaica, with the price of oil and the problem of agrofuels, the price of food has soared. On top of that there is a lot of unemployment, and people can no longer provide for their children. That creates conflict, the prisons are full, the police have more and more work with the surge in theft… They wanted it this way, Jamaica should have become self-sufficient. But we hope the best is yet to come. The world's spiritual awareness is awakening. We don't have much time left now.
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