This is my first post I ever made on Reggaejahm and I didn't expect it to be one like this. But TIME IS NOW; and if I wait for the perfect time to get out of the woodwork it most likely never happens. And I don't want to wait for another great to pass away without me paying my tribute & saying "thanks and goodbye"!
You'll never be forgotten & still beat the Nyabinghi drum on my eardrums long after your physical passing. Thank you for carrying on the true spirit of the music that I love so much!
So here I am, @roger.remix, writing from my heart, remembering the Roots, honoring one of the greatest legends of all times in Reggae, Neville Livingston. The man better known as Bunny Wailer, founding member of "The Wailing Wailers" and the last man standing from the original crew, passed away in the age of 73 on Tuesday in the land of his birth that he loved so much, Jamaica. Most of the people connect Bob Marley to "The Wailers" - obviously. Then Peter Tosh may come into their minds, but for me Bunny was always "The Wailer", not just the last one alive.
Wailer died at Andrews Memorial Hospital in the Jamaican parish of St. Andrew of complications from a stroke in July, manager Maxine Stowe told The Associated Press.
Rumor has it that Bunny initially wasn't a big fan of the idea of travelling the world to spread Reggae all across when Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records, wanted to introduce "The Wailers" to an international audience as a Rock Band and advanced $ 32 000 to record the 1st "The Wailers" album "Catch a fire" to be released on Island Records in 1973 without even having signed a contract. Roots, Rock, Reggae. Or how Bunny sings "Roots Radics Rockers Reggae". Blackwell deeply believed in them and held on to his trust in the Rastafari community that he build up during the years he spent in Jamaica.
The reason for The Wailers' disbanding one year later, in 1974, was that Bunny and Peter Tosh, the 2nd lead singer beside "Bob" Robert Nesta Marley, refused to play "freak clubs". The two believed doing so would violate their Rastafarian faith which I totally respect and understand. As far as I know they both never did when they later spread out and hold the red, gold and green flag up high and presented Reggae to the world, especially after Bob Marley's passing in 1981. And it was on Bunny to continue doing so when Peter was killed in 1987 in his house during an armed robbery executed by Dennis "Leppo" Logan, someone who Peter helped getting a job after a long jail sentence. It still puzzles me how something as sinister as envy can lead to the tragic death of another legend.
"But dem caan kill di Rastaman at all" as Bunny used to sing.
So I hope to see you around as "we are reincarnated souls"!
Sometimes I think about how it would have been if things would have turned out differently. With Bunny, Bob & Peter, with me and my soul sister who share the love for Reggae but not one roof anymore - or with ReggaeSteem / Reggaejahm without the Steem vs. Hive wars, the JAHM Fest without Corona or me & @donald.porter working for a bigger goal without two clashing egos. Well, that's all in the "Dreamland" I guess..
I want to use that moment to thank @dmilliz for continuing leading the Reggaejahm movement through the storm "against all odds" .. "when the going gets ruff" how Bunny would say. Sorry that I still didn't make it to a voice call. I haven't forgotten about you & the tribe. A big shout-out also to @justinparke who waves the Reggae banner on Hive from Suriname. Jah bless, bredren!
Let's see what Jah has waiting for us.
Right now life is challenging me hard once again, I'm running behind schedule with the roadmap of the WINE Token and sometimes get lost between to-do's and time zones tbh - apart from all the other crap going on like the continuous lockdown or the burning and looting (once again) here in Barcelona aka "Barnalonia" how my soul sister would call it. All that leads me back to a point in life where I've already been..
Someone got to move - whether it's me or Babylon. I prefer it's the latter, but that takes a lot of hands or the most high himself as it seems.
So I'm preparing myself (once again) to pack my bags and go where the flow of life leads me and as far as "the WHO" allows me. But before that I use this moment to pause for a minute and (re-)start my Reggaejahm journey with a personal post trying to describe how it all intertwines somehow in a strange way and what role Bunny Wailer plays or could have played in this. That could be my first post of many or my last one too writing as @roger.reggae. I don't know yet. I just know that I want this to be out now and that Bunny's death was the initiator to write this from my soul.
If you only want to read about Bunny here I'll surely disappoint you. But he made me write & publish this post so to speak as he has been the inspiration for this release - which I find somehow important now. If you don't, that's okay. This is my personal story including Bunny Wailer featuring some of his songs & albums that I love. I see it as part of a curing process in which I'm in.
In this post I don't want to rip off a Wikipedia article or post his long discography here, but instead take you all on a small journey scratching on the surface on how he inspired me and what impact his music had in my life in this post. The above track "Here in Jamaica" reminds me of the many hot & sweaty nights I spent dancing as the only Mzungu (a white man - or a "wanderer") in the legendary Bush Baby club on Kenya's east coast at Diani Beach when I lived there during an important and formative phase of my youth back in the early 2000s. The club has been burned down in the curse of riots surrounding the presidential elections which made my mother flee the coastal area and settle "up country" to help a water project to thrive while I moved back to Germany some years earlier due to some experiences I've made and briefly touch below if you continue reading.
The last time when I went to Diani & the Mombasa region - back in 2010 - it was really strange to look at places I once called my 2nd home and see them overgrown, teared apart and abandoned.
In a way that's also representative of my personal (Reggae)Steem experience.
I wish I could share some more photos, especially how it looked before, but back then - in 2002 - when I lived in Kenya as "foreign resident" there were no phones with cameras and I wouldn't dare to go out with a camera myself. And even if I did I mostly couldn't afford to develop the photos as they were quite expensive. I still have undeveloped films, but they might have been overexposed over time.
The same as with my DJ equipment I wouldn't be able to access them now anyway. Another "what if" moment. But in a way it's really interesting to live a life "the oldschool style" - without a facebook timeline or a cache with thousands of photos, most of which are filling space, just waiting for someone to steal them - like happened to me with years & years of my "digital memory" due to robberies or jealous exes :'D
So most of the times I still do it this way. Just being there, just be. I try to snapshot the moments as they are and prefer not to have a lense, a screen, a filter or anything in between. Taking the life as it is - live.
Life is telling its own tale and "if you listen carefully now, you will hear" - to describe it in words of Bunny's brother from another mother, Robert Nesta (Marley).
Sometimes it happens that I'm on camera, but that's rarely the case.
But back to "Here in Jamaica" and Bunny. Although I've never been to Jamaica so far, by listening to the lyrics I can kinda connect to how life must have been "dung ina Jamdown ya" at that time and that it wasn't possible for quite some of his companions to make it through all of this alive. Sometimes I felt like being in the midst of turmoil in the streets of Trenchtown or Waterhouse during the Manley vs. Seaga era back in 1978 when I found myself hiding from gunshot battles between the "neighbourhood watch" and thieves who robbed "Mr. Richman" for the 16th time in 2 years who lived at the end of our street. But my battlefield was Diani, Kenya and the year was 2002. Or the time when Ronny Irie, the resident DJ of the Bush Baby & selector of "Amharic Sounds" recorded one of his legendary cassette mixtapes for me while I was outside drinking a Mnazi - a typical Kenyan coconut liquor, not knowing that it was illegal; just to find myself running from an armed police forces chasing us with FN SCARs - comparable to an AK-47 or M-16 - some moments later.
After being cornered I ran into the direction of "Two Fishes" - a closed down hotel which became home for many people in the years after the closure and will always remind me to another tragic incident which caused some traumatic experiences; seeing a man brutally being beaten to death by the cops in the front of my eyes. I was naïve enough to try to help him, but lucky enough that I was quick running for my life when one of the cops came my way trying to beat me down with a baton.
The dried blood lake remained there for the rest of the time I lived in Kenya until I decided to pack my bags.
That's one of the reason why I watch very carefully when something like this happens again in my neighborhood (as happened during the last days - another time)..
(photo of the 2019 Catalan riots in Barcelona; originally taken with my camera, but duplicated manually with my mobile in case that the cops are forcing us to delete it again - as happened to us when I've been on the streets together with a filmmaker from Columbia during that heated time; this time I stayed away since I've been thrown into a cell twice in the curse of "hindering police investigations")
Background story: originally I intended to join the @reggaejahm crew to participate to a Blockchain conference in Kingston, but failed to manage to get a flight which takes less than 36 hrs to be on time; instead booked one to Germany - which I also missed since the train stopped due to the riots -, went back and found myself at ground zero of the inferno.
So once again I found myself at a time & place that I felt like "moving on" - like when I survived the Barcelona terror attack in 2017; but that might be a story for another time. At some point I really ask(ed) myself what it is why I'm surrounded by all this craziness and violence and what's my role in all this.
And here I am now, still in Barnalonia, once again at a point where I feel I have to move, wondering what's next. So what's in the air this time?!? - Apart from the plastic smell which one could also taste in the water of the city's fountains.
And what does it all has to do with Bunny Wailer?
Well, since Reggae is the #1 soundtrack of my life and Bunny Wailer surely is in the everlasting Top 10 of some of the chapters his songs are triggering some profound emotions and memories. It's sometimes so intense in all the goods and the bads that I literally can't listen to them for some years although I love them so much. And when I do all this kicks back in. So let me share a song which I connect to more of a cool experience, for example "Liberation"
..
Ready when you ready
This reminds me to the wild & bumpy rides in the typical "Matatus" - the african version of a minibus where one can be happy every time one gets out of it alive. Why? - because if there's ever money to be spent on these vehicles it's for a fresh and flashy paint, for bigger & better speakers or for the hottest Bunny Wailer or Steel Pulse tape. Forget about brakes, seat belts or even a door that could close. That doesn't attract customers. The "Beba Bebas", the "Bus instructors" so to speak are continuously fighting for new clients. So the one with the biggest boombox and best sound clearly has an advantage - and I agree. "One drop" or "Steel Pulse" have been two of my favorite Matatus in the Mombasa area. And look, the 10 Shilling were really worth it.. I'm still around :D
But seeing a road crash havoc at the side of the street isn't an atypical picture. Look, I barely have any photos of my time in Africa as I told you, but I directly found one to give you an idea how it looks like.
So tunes like this were following me everywhere:
Every morning when I went to school I had to cross the strait with the Likoni ferry to hop over to Mombasa Island, passing by the previous sunken ferry which fall victim to the typical "african overload" and left 272 dead although the shore has been close as most Kenyans can't swim and the non-swimmers are holding tight around the swimmers causing them to drown too. So death is all around and life seems to be less valuable in Africa compared to what we know from the western world. It's not unusual that a mother of 10 ends up having only 2 to 4 children taking care of her when she's old.
So yea, all these things are popping up in my mind when I listen to "di good ol tunes dem". And speaking about trucks and soundsystems. Sometimes you're lucky to see a real soundsystem on a real truck. I'd call that a BIG RIG - like the soundsystem festival we hosted "back in the days".
I even made a flyer out of this one for a charity party series I once organized.
.. but that would blow the post up even more and this story is (somehow) about Bunny and what I connect with his music. At least it all started from there. I've mentioned it because there's nothing better than to hear Bunny's "Rise & shine" over a huge 15 KW+ soundsystem like the ones my buddies used to build in Germany..
(image of one side of the BIG RIG's main floor)
So if you ever have the possibility to go to a real dance with a 4-, 5- or 6-way soundsystem (or 4 of them ;) you should take your chance and reserve your spot directly in front of the speaker. There's nothing better than a spiritual bass massage by a deep Roots track like "Rise & shine" over an even deeper soundsystem:
Dub it up, Mr. Selecta!
It still makes me shiver when I think about how the speakers are pressuring the air, kicking your ass, making your pants flatter & hitting your chest like there's no tomorrow - but with a sweetness only a Reggae Dub can provide you with.
By writing all this and listening to the tunes again I can say that I really miss these days, inviting the Roots & Dub greats to chant over heavy dubs on self-made soundsystems, decorating the space, making flyers, teasers, visuals, cooking and offering chai tea & ital food; basically building everything from the ground up.
Especially now since the "world police" decided to stomp the event scene and huge parts of the society & economy into the ground thanks to the great invisible C and with it a whole subculture which we've grown from some dozens of crazy nerds to some hundreds or even thousands of like-minded people over the years, passing on the tradition of the soundsystems from the Reggae island and mixing it with a UK Dub & Rootstep flavor, but in our own unique way.
If I'd be there & we were as rebellious as we were 10, 15 years ago we'd make huge roadblocks to protest the status quo. Maybe one time in the future I'm gonna publish some material of the "pirate skanks" or our yearly "undercover" Street Carnival parades - or better: going back to my Roots!
Unfortunately we never made it happen to invite Bunny to one of our events or festivals, but fortunately I could see him live on the SummerJam Festival in Cologne in 2009 - and it was epic!
More energy than the "energy god" 8)
Thank you Mr. Livingston for being a "headcornerstone" to Reggae, my #1 music till this very day!
Whenever I hear your name it reminds me to Livingstone, a baby from a mother living in the bush close to our home, which got his name not only because Bunny is respected in Kenya like no other - apart from Bob, Joseph Hill or Burning Spear (which translates to Kenyatta), but also because he nearly died during his childbirth and came to life like a "living stone". And since I also came to life struggling I kind of relate to that.
If there's something that my Kenya chapter taught me then it is that "life is precious". But still I feel I'm not taking good enough care of it with diligence.
Sometimes I ask myself why Reggae catches me so much. And I don't have the perfect answer to it, but one thing is for sure: there's pretty much no music in the world which can express pain, struggle & suffering in such a beautiful and uplifting manner.
But there are also other sides like the sweet sweet Lovers Rock Reggae. So one last time I take my soul sister by the hand and dance with her another dance ..
If there's one favorite song of Bunny that I have to pick it might be this one - or Ballroom Floor; but it depends on the mood & if you are alone or with your lady in your arms. So if I have to chose which is my favorite Bunny Wailer album it's most likely "Rock 'N' Groove". I could never really call it my own. Once I bought it in Ukunda in my chosen Reggae Tape shop which kinda looked like this..
.. but the quality was horrible, so I brought it back. It sounded like the tapes Ronny Irie recorded for me after hearing it in heavy rotation for the next 5, 6, 7 years. Yes, tapes were my #1 Reggae medium since I couldn't afford myself an own turntable & vinyls back then and yes, I heard them until they were nearly demagnetized. Especially the ones of Ronny Irie from Amharic Sounds, because they were so special and absolutely unique.. I mean who else gets his own handpicked best-of list shuffled and mixed with some of the hottest exclusives and some personal shout-outs by the #1 selector of that time & place?! Pretty much no one if you're not David Rodigan, the veteran DJ & World Clash winner who I used to hear on BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) when radio was still a thing and the British troops still omni-present in the "post-war Germany". But back to Bunny. This is his legendary "Rock 'N' Groove" album:
What is your favorite Bunny Wailer song or album?
The one I listened to the most was the "Blackheart Man" album which I bought as a used CD when internet wasn't really a thing, a pre-order was literally impossible and the options more than limited. Do you still remember these days?
Back then there was a whole musical realm to be discovered which is now just one click away. To be honest many times I prefer the "good old days". No mobiles on the dancefloor, no thiefs around, lots of good vibes and lovely people .. and yea, since the new "BC era" one also has to add: no masks and actually having a party. Can you imagine?
And why have I brought up the Reggaejahm intermezzo and some of my own stories like the "Barnalonia" chapter which seem to be unrelated?!?
Well, in a way everything is connected to everything. Let me try to explain without writing a whole new chapter on its own about it.
I met my long-time girlfriend on a Reggae party in Germany and she made me leave my old life behind and move to Barcelona. We broke up and she didn't want to see me, but wanted to go to a party, a Channel One party. I said if you don't want to see me, don't go to this party since I'll be there. There I met my soul sister, a Djane, with whom I hosted the "Steemix Sound Sessions" (which might be a story for another time). Long story short, we both still weren't able to leave our previous relationships and the struggle that came along with it behind and we separated. I went out to make up my mind and stumbled across a wonderful flute player from Nepal, who I also brought to Steem/Hive and who has been a spontaneous guest of the "Steemix Sound Sessions" more than a year before, beginning of 2018. With him I wanted to make some great video shoots over the city's rooftops and looked for a professional recording studio, animation & film editing agency. I found one and also told them about ReggaeSteem and convinced them to produce exclusive content for the platform. They first agreed, but then revoked their decision after realizing that I don't have enough say when it comes to negotiating on behalf of ReggaeSteem due to how decisions were made by the team back then. So I lost my production partner, which was pretty devastating for me at that time. But thanks to the flutist I was introduced to another production studio who's owner happened to be the sound engineer of "Playing for Change" and knows modern Reggae greats like Che Sudaka or Manu Chao. He was fully on board and we've started producing a ReggaeSteem exclusive with an internationally known artist - which is still unreleased to that very day due to a variety of reasons.
The 2 main external ones being me not being part of the ReggaeSteem team anymore and ReggaeTube's account creation & uploading errors (as D.tube was still on testnet at that time) mixed with 2 personal ones - the fact that I left the country heading towards Germany & Switzerland while the studio & label owner had to leave to Chile. He actually made a documentation together with the video maker from Columbia I happened to be on the street with during the riots of 2019, which I didn't know before. The world is a village. And I met my recent/last girlfriend in his studio. And then came Corona. Now he's back in Barcelona, but I might move to Chile in some days while he's also packing his bags to move on to the next chapter in life.
Why I'm writing all this and what does it have to do with Bunny Wailer in the end?..
Well, it could have been such a fruitful collaboration & link-up to make something like this possible..
But sometimes things are not meant to be - whether it's the 3 Wailers touring together, another dance with my soul sister or a Reggaejahm collabo with "Playing for Change". As the ways of Jah are unfathomable we don't know what future brings - and if it's meant to be there'll still be a way to make something like this happening with a Reggaejahm label on top. Anyway. One thing I know for sure: it won't include Bunny Wailer and I'm not gonna force things who are not meant to be. I still like the idea that we were pretty close to touch the sky..
so spread your wings and fly!
Thanks for reading (if anyone did & reached till here)! I hope you could follow my excursions which I wrote during this night by listening to Bunny's tunes and writing down whatever crossed my mind while trying to find the right words and give it at least some kind of order and sense looking at it from an outside perspective. Not sure if it did. So I like to hear your feedback on this if someone's still reading until here.
In case I'm the only one ever digesting it fully it'll be my manifesto on ReggaeSteem / Reggaejahm, inspired by the great Bunny Wailer who passed away before I could ever see him live again - or even make it possible to get some exclusive material for Reggaejahm.
We'll see what the future brings.
Jah bless!
Peace out, Roger.
P. S. : as you see I wasn't dropping names and still left some room for surprises in case (some of) these things do actually manifest in the end - Jah knows!
