Bush Doctor to Sign Record Deal

It was a pleasure to hear from Bush Doctor this morning. Reporting that a UK record company has offered him a record deal to manufacture and distribute his new album which is already receiving decent attention from London radio stations. This is great news for a highly talented, hardworking and committed artist, and I hope it is the start (continuation) of many good things for him. There is also the prospect of a UK tour with Lucky Dube which should be awesome.
Bush has promised to keep me posted and I shall do the same for you.
DadaMan

Salone Music! What Am I Missing?

My friend Tunde in the UK sent me an email with some questions that set me thinking. A slightly edited version of her questions appear below, with my responses. Once again, you are invited to join in, comment, respond, disagree etc. The photograph above is of Emmerson during his US tour (New Jersey leg) in late 2005.

Les – have you had any involvement with Lawrence Coker and this his Supreme Inc – Emerson, Khady Black stuff.

I met him late last year when he brought the Emmerson "Borbor Belle" Tour to the USA. I caught the New Jersey leg. I gather Emmerson is no longer part of Supreme Inc, though Khady Black is. Some acrimony that I haven't been able to get to the bottom of as yet but I'm sure it'll be juicy.

What are your thoughts on these artists generally? Reason why I'm asking – I've just come across Lawrence's website and had the sound on when looking at the various pages. Maybe it's just me but I was a bit perturbed by Khady Black & co. Maybe I'm too conservative and can't see the light with this new genre? Reggae for me has always been the music AND the language. So I find this reggae in English in a SL accent really odd – wouldn't it work better in Krio? As I say – maybe it's just me. Because they are obviously appealing to the folk who are buying the CD's and going to the concerts.

I should re-visit the website, but Khady Black was a dynamic performer live, and though I share your position that alot of the stuff can sound like reggae "lite", we should remember that we ain't the prime audience. Apparently Khady Black is "Massive" in Salone and she certainly had the crowd eating out of her hands here. Flag-waving, "boo-yakka-ing" the whole 9 yards. Her song Mr. President gained her huge popularity & cred. I found her very watchable. I don't have a CD so I can't say whether I would play it regularly without the benefit of "live" performance.

Also – people keep telling me about Emerson Emerson Emerson but I haven't a clue what he sounds like – didn't seem to feature on the Supreme Inc website soundtracks used. As I never go to any SL do's I seem to have missed out on the whole Emerson thing. However my understanding is that he uses krio more.

Emmerson is a different category. Never have I seen a Salone artist generate the fanmania he did. He sold out everywhere. Must have done a dozen shows in Maryland alone. He's recently been in Austria, had police intervene in Brixton, and went all over the USA.

Girls were swooning. No, really. In New Jersey they had to put a police tape barrier around the stage and security guards to intercept the girls attempting to dash across "no-mans's land and invade the stage. It was amazing. And hilarious!

Emmerson's CD, "Borbor Belle is a mix of social/political songs, and straight up party music. He excels in both genre's. The title track and another, "Swegbeh" have that marvellous combination of insight & accessibility. They are songs that contain phrases that become/became instant catchphrases or backtalk. There is now a class of people referred to as Swegbe or Borbor Belle.

When I first heard the songs and learned he was an early twenties Njala University student, I wondered whether he might have a "ghost" writer. Watching him live, I was able to believe he wrote the material himself. Something to do with his comfort and ease with the material. He handled himself excellently on stage and seemed aware enough of his charisma factor to use (not overuse) it to his benefit. He seems to me to be the real deal, though the sophomore effort is always a huge challenge.

I'm not quite sure why reggae is being used as 'SL' music either. I'd understand if it was incorporated into a style that SL musicians were developing of their own but this just seems a wholesale adoption of another culture and an incapacity to do our own thing. Again, maybe I'm wrong and misjudging things – I probably haven't heard a wide enough selection of current SL music trends. One of the very few reasons why I sometimes wish we were nearer London and the SL scene.

For me this is one of the most exciting times musically in Salone that I remember. Actually, I hear more hiphop style stuff than reggae style stuff coming out, but that is the situation continent and indeed world-wide. It has also contributed to the explosion in my opinion.

The effect of Sam Jones (Island Studios) & later, Jimmy B, returning home and setting up studios cannot be overestimated. The model has evolved now so that you have producers that produce "beats" that artists can "ride" or "rhyme". Sometimes it starts to sound a little samey beats wise, but the lyrical expression in English and many Salone languages, is exploding. The singers are addressing contemporary political, social and other issues, sounding much more outspoken as an artistic community than I was ever aware of before.

Will now get off my little soapbox and go back and stand at the back of the room where I probably belong, not having a clue as to what's actually going on out there!!!

Although it is definitely "youth" music, of the youth, for the youth, by the youth, I find it very exciting and believe that if you get a chance to mlisten to a wide selection, you'll be excited too. There is plenty of very good stuff coming out of Salone. Plenty of dross too, but more than enough good stuff to compensate.
(I'll see what I can do to get a selection together for you).

LAGBAJA (Yoruba for somebody, anybody, nobody)

Lagbaja is a very interesting musician that I first came across at WOMAD in Seattle, in 2001. He is a bandleader who aways appears in public masked. This is to highlight and represent the faceless and voiceless people of Africa that never get input into decisions that affect them. Now if you know me, you know that I'd be intrigued by that.

On stage, he handles the mask issue adeptly. Highly colorful, contemporary and attractive costumes, with matching masks, and an ongoing conversation with the audience that is at various times political, informative and humorous. This might all be somewhat gimmicky if not for the fact that his band is a well-drilled and cohesive unit, with plenty of Yoruba-style percussion, and accessible (for me at least) Naija pidgin lyrics. To describe him as a modern Fela is only partially misleading.

Anyway, I mention all of this because

a) That's what this blog is for

b) I came across some photos of his appearance at WOMAD that I took which I hope to soon have online, and...

c) I found his website recently and wanted to let you know in case you'd like to take a look. www.lagbaja.com

By the way, WOMAD (World of Music Arts & Dance), a huge influence in my artistic life is at www.womad.org.

Let me know what you think.

Les/Salonelion/Salonedada

Who Shot The Bush Doctor?

The answer is, I shot the Bush Doctor, several times as it happens. And I will shoot him again, evertime I get a chance. Of course, getting shot by a photographer is not the same as Fiddy Cent's experience, but then the Bush Doctor is a different kind of man and a different kind of artist. No, this is not a jailhouse photograph, rather, it's one taken, in the communal area of a council housing estate near the Elephant & Castle, in South, London.
Emmerson Njawah (Bush Doctor) is a charming, personable, charismatic and supremely talented singer whom I first met back home in Salone about 15 or so years ago. He had been a club & party dj whose skills at toasting over classic reggae dub plates in a style that was relevant to the youth of Sierra Leone, had gotten him noticed by people who encouraged him to try recording an album.

Salonedada Twist
Bush was one of many in the music fraternity that refused to leave even as the war raged and became more brutal. He tells me, and I love to believe him, that he dreamt one day that I told him to leave, and that following that dream, he left Salone promptly. Not long after arriving in Conakry, Guinea (I believe) he heard that militia had visited the compound he'd left in Salone seeking to harm him. I'm glad to have been of service Bush and hope to continue in the future.

So What?
While in Guinea Bush recorded an album that sounds authentically roots reggae, that is, until the lyrics switch from patois, to krio or Mende, or until a Kora seeps into your consciousness from the background instruments, and the connection between Jamaican and other African forms becomes obvious. This album had a limited release, and Bush has now sent me the master, with the instruction to Exec Produce it into a second release, so he can use some of the proceeds to complete a more current recording he is finishinh up in the UK. The new recording may well feature collabo's with artists such as Luciano, though as is the state of play in music, this is not yet certain.
Anyway, I'm hoping one of you tech geniuses (are you there Jon?) can help us get that music (the Conakry recording) up on this blog so any of you ineterested can hear samples. Ade If I remember correctly wrote a rave review of the original release in Mano Vision Magazine http://www.manovision.org/ a few years back and may well be prepared to recommend it to you guys. I'm hoping thsat enough of you, us, will be interested enough to buy a CD duplicating machine, use some of my other Bush photos for artwork, and put out a release, maybe by running off 50 odd copies at a time, marketing them, and helping Bush get the show on the road.

As I say, I was glad to play a part in protecting you from the rebels, albeit a somewhat mystical role, and I promise that werever I see you again, I will shoot you, with my Canon.
One love
DadaMan