World-renowned reggae grooves Knoxville
by John Sewell
In the world of reggae music, Burning Spear ranks among the greats of all time. A prominent force in the emergence of reggae and its continuing evolution, who has recorded and performed relentlessly from the nascent days of the '60s to the present, Burning Spear (née Winston Rodney) has created a strong, universally respect body of work that has shattered musical and cultural boundaries worldwide.
To put this in a local perspective, let's just say that Burning Spear is to Bob Marley and Peter Tosh what bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley is to Bill Monroe. Burning Spear is the heir apparent of the surviving reggae dynasty. Spear is the real deal and one of the few reggae musicians who has seen and experienced it all, from day one to the present.
Born is St. Ann's, Jamaica, Rodney was a close friend of Marley, recording his early albums at the same studio. Throughout his career, Rodney's music has been socially conscious—blending spirituality and philosophy in his lyrics.
Spear often references the legacies of prominent black leaders, especially Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Marcus Garvey. A constant theme of Spear's music is peaceful self-determination for those of African descent. So it's only logical that Spear finds Garvey's message particularly enlightening.
"Many times I sing about who the man was and what he did," says Rodney. "I think it is very important to remember the man [Garvey] in the music. Garvey is really outstanding, perhaps even more than Malcolm X or Martin Luther King. Garvey came before the others. I'm not saying that the others weren't very important—they were all important. But Garvey was the first and we should remember him."
In his three plus decades of life as a musician, Rodney has traveled the world over. The Jamaican expatriate now calls the United States home. He usually tours 10 months a year, including an average three junkets to the homeland per year.
The old sacred versus profane quandary has not been lost on the world of reggae. Many of today's dancehall singers routinely delve into the gutters of sexist and downright nasty lyrical imagery. Not to mention the influence of hip hop and dance music styles, which is not always consistent with the spiritual goals of the early Rastafarian musicians.
Burning Spear boasts of "real drums, real horns, real bass—real reggae music." The music of Burning Spear is considered to fall in the traditionalist camp, and that's fine with Rodney.
"Since the 1970s, there has been a lot of transformation of the music," says Rodney. "Some of it has been good, and sometimes the music has lost its focus. Some of the musicians have gone away from what is sacred. But [the music] is coming back into focus now."
Always a musical and spiritual leader, Rodney has definitely come into focus as of late—winning a Grammy award for his most recent album, 1999's Calling Rastafari (Heartbeat Records). It's almost farcical that it took so long for dimwitted critics to finally bestow honor on a musician who has always been a leader. But that's how it usually works: the journeyman musicians are forgotten in favor of flashier, more photogenic artists that reap big sales.
But critical accolades and huge sales figures aren't the primary consideration for Burning Spear. Instead, Rodney & Company prefer to keep churning out new rhythms, suffused with a message of peace and liberty for all people.
The real miracle is that Burning Spear is even playing in Knoxville—much less smack in the center of town and for free. Never a hotbed of reggae activity, it's almost unthinkable that our fair city would play host to one of the all-time greats: a worldwide figure on par with Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia or Robert Johnson. This week's Sundown in The City concert will surely be one of those that will fast become a local legend.
Though Burning Spear exists in the entertainment world, he is revered as a sage, a spiritual leader, historian and teacher. Choosing his words carefully with an almost impenetrable Jamaican accent, Rodney explains how his music serves as a conduit for information.
"I am an entertainer and that is primarily what I do," says Rodney. "I am an arranger and a songwriter. There is a message, but the music is what is most important. That's what I am."
Rodney explains that oftentimes, people who are drawn to reggae as party music eventually come around to the deeper philosophical ideas espoused in the songs.
"I think people follow clichés. But people ultimately respect music; and they understand what I present to them: I present love, I present equality, I present philosophy, I present history and I present justice and equal rights. And people can come to an understanding of these ideas through music."
September 27, 2001 * Vol. 11, No. 39
© 2001 Metro Pulse
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