Tweet
Story of the song - 'Sweet Jamaica' a golden anthem
published: Sunday | October 14, 2007
Tony Rebel
Mel Cooke, [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]Freelance [COLOR=orange! important]Writer[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]
In a country where nationalism runs as high as the migration figures, Sweet Jamaica is a beloved take on the "[COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]land[/COLOR][/COLOR] of wood and water". However, just as the black, green and gold are held dear but the lines outside the U.S. Embassy in Liguanea are thick and long, deejay Tony Rebel captures the contradictions of the country with "the system might no proper, but we love the food vibes and the culture".
And, just as many Jamaicans [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]discover[/COLOR][/COLOR] the true value of home when they go abroad, Tony Rebel deejays melodiously "me neva know a serious ting until me reach a foreign, sey what a nice place to live, sweet Jamdung".
Then he follows with "the only problem is, dollars nah run".
Some gold followed Sweet [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]Jamaica[/COLOR][/COLOR], though, as it sold gold by U.S. standards (over 500,000 copies) as part of the soundtrack to the 1993 movie Cool Runnings, a largely humorous, fictional tale centred around Jamaica's historic bobsled team entry in the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympic Games.
As powerful now as when it was recorded nearly 16 years ago, Tony Rebel says Sweet Jamaica "is like the unofficial [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]National [COLOR=orange! important]Anthem[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]".
"I wanted to do a patriotic song. Me always want to do one, because from a yute coming up we used to hear songs like 'sweet sweet Jamaica, nah lef' ya'," he said. Still, he wanted to do something different. He wanted to "do a song complimenting Jamaica, but speaking about the ills. Me did want to emphasise that too, because I did not want to make it look like a paradise without any problems".
The things you know
The rhythm, long made popular by Eric Donaldson with the 1971 Festival Song Cherry Oh Baby, was revived by producer Bobby Digital and Tony Rebel was given a listen. The song did not take long to write, "Maybe a few hours. When we have a rhythm a work with, we work. It wasn't hard to write a song like that. It is about things you know."
There was also someone who he knew well from his days in Manchester, before moving to Kingston in 1988, who was there when Sweet Jamaica was being written. "Garnett Silk give me some line inna it," Rebel said, deejaying "from money inna yu pocket an' God inna yu heart, crowd a people what more yu want?"
The melody was based on a song from a different genre and a different country. Rebel based it on the Mighty Sparrow's Mr. Walker, "but we modify it in a way so that if I don't tell you you don't know".
When Sweet Jamaica came out in late 1991 it took off immediately, including a performance at the annual 'Sting' concert that year. In fact, Tony Rebel says he thinks when he performed it the first time it was a singalong affair, with the audience singing along with the chorus the second time it came around.
And so it is today.
Rebel notes that when the song came out it was on every local chart. "I don't remember if it went to number one, but it was close ... Certainly it was number one in the people's hearts," he said.
Sweet Jamaica continues to evolve, as Rebel says "I make different verses that I do from time to time". These are based on "any social commentary that have something to do with the country". One of these developing lines was delivered at an Emancipation Park concert, where he urged "take down the statue and put up Miss Lou".
Tony Rebel dismisses any notions of a contradiction between him being a Rastafarian and doing a song patriotic to Jamaica. "I have done many songs talking about Africa," he said, among them being Break The Cycle. "I am aware that I am Afro-Jamaican. The traditions of Africa are with me. Me hol' it up same way. Me pay my way to Africa, me do extensive studies on Africa and know what is going on," he said.
"Me repatriate in my mind," he said, emphasising that repatriation in the mind is important before there is physical movement.
"In the meantime be patriotic to where you live. Keep the surroundings clean and make sure the environment is conducive to livity," he said.
"Be prepared in your mind before the physical move," he advised.
Impact abroad
Although speaking strictly about Jamaica, Tony Rebel says that Sweet Jamaica has an impact abroad, "especially in the places where you have the Jamaicans and the Caribbean people. Jamaicans who live outside Jamaica find it a song that is fitting for them. It reminds them of something and it makes them feel patriotic".
And "it resonates with the people who live abroad, never come to Jamaica but love Jamaica".
However, there are some who might not be totally happy with the not-so-sweet part of Sweet Jamaica. "Nuff time in the political arena you have people who don't want you to speak the truth, that 'dollars nah run'," Tony Rebel said.
"Nuff time me a perform it, me perform it among a lot of political figures and you can see it make them uncomfortable," he said.
A 'Rebel' with distinction
Long before talent contests became nationally televised affairs, Patrick 'Tony Rebel' Barrett came from Manchester to top all comers in a 1984 deejay competition.
Not only did he win, but 'Papa Tony' delivered in a style that captured the urgency of dancehall, yet included elements of more laid-back singing. It was a style that many years and practitioners later became known as 'sing-jaying'.
In a move reminiscent of Rhygin in The Harder They Come, in 1988 Rebel and Garnet Silk came to Kingston to follow their musical dreams. There was a big difference, though; in the movie Jimmy Cliff took a bus. Silk and Rebel were in a taxi.
In the wake of the digital dancehall revolution started with the 1985 'Sleng Teng' rhythm, Tony Rebel got his big breakthrough with the love song Fresh Vegetable in 1989.
The hits kept coming and after Sweet Jamaica, Nazarite Vow and Armour Tony Rebel was signed to Colombia Records, resulting in the album Vibes of the Times.
He had two cuts on the Grammy nominated Stir-It-Up compilation, struck gold with the Cool Runnings soundtrack and made Weekend Love with Queen Latifah, to hit the Billboard Charts.
After 20 years, with many albums and compilations to his credit, Tony Rebel heads up Flames Productions, but his name is imprinted on the early January concert that pulls thousands to the Port Kaiser Sports Club in St. Elizabeth.
Artistes confirmed
The 2008 staging of the concert is on January 12, with pianist Monty Alexander and the Hotstepper Ini Kamoze already confirmed.
He has applied his 'Rebel' music to many a cause, including providing the soundtrack to the launch of the International Year of the Volunteer in 2001. In 2002 he was awarded the Order of Distinction (OD).
Known for his work on raising awareness of AIDS and compassion for those who have the disease, his Peace Love and Unity was a call for national harmony ahead of the 1997 general elections. And, when the Reggae Boyz went to France in 1998, they dribbled to Tony Rebel's confident "if Jah is standing by my side, why should I be afraid", the song also being translated into French and Spanish. This has been a busy year for him, as he not only released the I Rebel album but also did the festival circuit in Europe, including stops in Germany, Italy, Belgium and Holland, with the United States and Canada also in the musical mix.
published: Sunday | October 14, 2007
Tony Rebel
Mel Cooke, [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]Freelance [COLOR=orange! important]Writer[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]
In a country where nationalism runs as high as the migration figures, Sweet Jamaica is a beloved take on the "[COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]land[/COLOR][/COLOR] of wood and water". However, just as the black, green and gold are held dear but the lines outside the U.S. Embassy in Liguanea are thick and long, deejay Tony Rebel captures the contradictions of the country with "the system might no proper, but we love the food vibes and the culture".
And, just as many Jamaicans [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]discover[/COLOR][/COLOR] the true value of home when they go abroad, Tony Rebel deejays melodiously "me neva know a serious ting until me reach a foreign, sey what a nice place to live, sweet Jamdung".
Then he follows with "the only problem is, dollars nah run".
Some gold followed Sweet [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]Jamaica[/COLOR][/COLOR], though, as it sold gold by U.S. standards (over 500,000 copies) as part of the soundtrack to the 1993 movie Cool Runnings, a largely humorous, fictional tale centred around Jamaica's historic bobsled team entry in the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympic Games.
As powerful now as when it was recorded nearly 16 years ago, Tony Rebel says Sweet Jamaica "is like the unofficial [COLOR=orange! important][COLOR=orange! important]National [COLOR=orange! important]Anthem[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]".
"I wanted to do a patriotic song. Me always want to do one, because from a yute coming up we used to hear songs like 'sweet sweet Jamaica, nah lef' ya'," he said. Still, he wanted to do something different. He wanted to "do a song complimenting Jamaica, but speaking about the ills. Me did want to emphasise that too, because I did not want to make it look like a paradise without any problems".
The things you know
The rhythm, long made popular by Eric Donaldson with the 1971 Festival Song Cherry Oh Baby, was revived by producer Bobby Digital and Tony Rebel was given a listen. The song did not take long to write, "Maybe a few hours. When we have a rhythm a work with, we work. It wasn't hard to write a song like that. It is about things you know."
There was also someone who he knew well from his days in Manchester, before moving to Kingston in 1988, who was there when Sweet Jamaica was being written. "Garnett Silk give me some line inna it," Rebel said, deejaying "from money inna yu pocket an' God inna yu heart, crowd a people what more yu want?"
The melody was based on a song from a different genre and a different country. Rebel based it on the Mighty Sparrow's Mr. Walker, "but we modify it in a way so that if I don't tell you you don't know".
When Sweet Jamaica came out in late 1991 it took off immediately, including a performance at the annual 'Sting' concert that year. In fact, Tony Rebel says he thinks when he performed it the first time it was a singalong affair, with the audience singing along with the chorus the second time it came around.
And so it is today.
Rebel notes that when the song came out it was on every local chart. "I don't remember if it went to number one, but it was close ... Certainly it was number one in the people's hearts," he said.
Sweet Jamaica continues to evolve, as Rebel says "I make different verses that I do from time to time". These are based on "any social commentary that have something to do with the country". One of these developing lines was delivered at an Emancipation Park concert, where he urged "take down the statue and put up Miss Lou".
Tony Rebel dismisses any notions of a contradiction between him being a Rastafarian and doing a song patriotic to Jamaica. "I have done many songs talking about Africa," he said, among them being Break The Cycle. "I am aware that I am Afro-Jamaican. The traditions of Africa are with me. Me hol' it up same way. Me pay my way to Africa, me do extensive studies on Africa and know what is going on," he said.
"Me repatriate in my mind," he said, emphasising that repatriation in the mind is important before there is physical movement.
"In the meantime be patriotic to where you live. Keep the surroundings clean and make sure the environment is conducive to livity," he said.
"Be prepared in your mind before the physical move," he advised.
Impact abroad
Although speaking strictly about Jamaica, Tony Rebel says that Sweet Jamaica has an impact abroad, "especially in the places where you have the Jamaicans and the Caribbean people. Jamaicans who live outside Jamaica find it a song that is fitting for them. It reminds them of something and it makes them feel patriotic".
And "it resonates with the people who live abroad, never come to Jamaica but love Jamaica".
However, there are some who might not be totally happy with the not-so-sweet part of Sweet Jamaica. "Nuff time in the political arena you have people who don't want you to speak the truth, that 'dollars nah run'," Tony Rebel said.
"Nuff time me a perform it, me perform it among a lot of political figures and you can see it make them uncomfortable," he said.
A 'Rebel' with distinction
Long before talent contests became nationally televised affairs, Patrick 'Tony Rebel' Barrett came from Manchester to top all comers in a 1984 deejay competition.
Not only did he win, but 'Papa Tony' delivered in a style that captured the urgency of dancehall, yet included elements of more laid-back singing. It was a style that many years and practitioners later became known as 'sing-jaying'.
In a move reminiscent of Rhygin in The Harder They Come, in 1988 Rebel and Garnet Silk came to Kingston to follow their musical dreams. There was a big difference, though; in the movie Jimmy Cliff took a bus. Silk and Rebel were in a taxi.
In the wake of the digital dancehall revolution started with the 1985 'Sleng Teng' rhythm, Tony Rebel got his big breakthrough with the love song Fresh Vegetable in 1989.
The hits kept coming and after Sweet Jamaica, Nazarite Vow and Armour Tony Rebel was signed to Colombia Records, resulting in the album Vibes of the Times.
He had two cuts on the Grammy nominated Stir-It-Up compilation, struck gold with the Cool Runnings soundtrack and made Weekend Love with Queen Latifah, to hit the Billboard Charts.
After 20 years, with many albums and compilations to his credit, Tony Rebel heads up Flames Productions, but his name is imprinted on the early January concert that pulls thousands to the Port Kaiser Sports Club in St. Elizabeth.
Artistes confirmed
The 2008 staging of the concert is on January 12, with pianist Monty Alexander and the Hotstepper Ini Kamoze already confirmed.
He has applied his 'Rebel' music to many a cause, including providing the soundtrack to the launch of the International Year of the Volunteer in 2001. In 2002 he was awarded the Order of Distinction (OD).
Known for his work on raising awareness of AIDS and compassion for those who have the disease, his Peace Love and Unity was a call for national harmony ahead of the 1997 general elections. And, when the Reggae Boyz went to France in 1998, they dribbled to Tony Rebel's confident "if Jah is standing by my side, why should I be afraid", the song also being translated into French and Spanish. This has been a busy year for him, as he not only released the I Rebel album but also did the festival circuit in Europe, including stops in Germany, Italy, Belgium and Holland, with the United States and Canada also in the musical mix.