Bassculture Islands No 5
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Jamaican photography, music, film, art and Jamaican influence on artists around the world.
Transcript of Bassculture Islands No 5
bassculture islands
PLATFORM FOR CREATIVE MELTDOWNS
EDITOR’S NOTE
Firstly, let me explain myself. This is a 5th is-sue and it is heavier and richer than any of the previous ones. It is overflowing with amazing content that I was not able to deny. It’s a sim-ple illustration of the richness of culture and talent that Jamaica has to offer. When you get to the middle and ask “How much more?”- Think twice cause the best is yet to come… To enjoy the work of the most inspiring Jamaican photographer Adrian Mcdonald, you have to find his ‘beauties’ across the whole issue. In between, there are outstanding illustrations of Taj Francis, henna tattoos, jewelry, Jamaican music, Jamaican film and Jamaican influence on absolutely positive Polish reggae artist Ka-mil Bednarek. Oh...and did you ever wonder what is going on with these bearded guys? We explained this trend to you too… now…let me present to you this thick, rich and dripping sweetness issue no 5 for your viewing plea-sure…
Ania Orlowska
ISSUE
5
Photographer: ADRIAN MCDONALD
Location: JAMAICA
CR
ED
ITS Editor in Chief
Ania Orlowska
Creative & Art DirectionKerron Riley
Managing EditorLina Komin
Graphic ArtistKerron Riley
Advertising & Creative ContributionMarko Dependerwww.bassculture.nl
Special thanks: Photographer ADRIAN MCDONALD Caribbean CreativityBassculture FoundationAndre Choo QuanCoppa Stone
Cover : Photography by Kerron Riley Model: Lisa Marie Brown
EDITOR’S NOTE
Firstly, let me explain myself. This is a 5th is-sue and it is heavier and richer than any of the previous ones. It is overflowing with amazing content that I was not able to deny. It’s a sim-ple illustration of the richness of culture and talent that Jamaica has to offer. When you get to the middle and ask “How much more?”- Think twice cause the best is yet to come… To enjoy the work of the most inspiring Jamaican photographer Adrian Mcdonald, you have to find his ‘beauties’ across the whole issue. In between, there are outstanding illustrations of Taj Francis, henna tattoos, jewelry, Jamaican music, Jamaican film and Jamaican influence on absolutely positive Polish reggae artist Ka-mil Bednarek. Oh...and did you ever wonder what is going on with these bearded guys? We explained this trend to you too… now…let me present to you this thick, rich and dripping sweetness issue no 5 for your viewing plea-sure…
Ania Orlowska
ISSUE
5
Bassculture Islands
SUMMARY
Photographer: ADRIAN MCDONALD
Location: JAMAICA
Photographer: ADRIAN MCDONALD
Location: JAMAICA
click on icon for more info
132 144
92
106
20
42
52
106
66
120
Lizelle Guinness
Kim Lee-Inniss
Mark Samuels
Storm Saulter
Taj Francis
Beard Movement
Herbalize -it
Kingston RapRoger Seepersad
Bacchanal Jamaica
80
Kamil Bednarek
154
Movie Review
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Bassculture Islands
J a m a i c a
The
TENF
OLD
Opus
pro
ject
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Tenfold
The TENFOLD Opus project is a collaborative effort with several producers and musicians. The project is an Au-dio-Visual Album, I don’t want to give away too much about its’ final state, but it will be a mixture of genres. The new video I’m releasing is very different from the previous one done with reggae artists: Pro-toje and Chronixx. It is a different genre all together, and the imagery is a little darker and more personal. It is less of a “commercial” release, and more of an expressive statement piece. I don’t want to say too much of what it means to me, because I’m more interested in seeing what people take away from it for themselves, and not influence that with my own view.
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A rt & Music
I definitely feel like there are close ties with music and art, I’ve always been inspired by music and sound, and it’s the whole reason why I decided to do this TENFOLD Opus project. Both music and art are the result of a creative mind, tools, and a medium to deliver it in. The creator, whether visual artist or musician is the core aspect of mak-ing great art, you can draw so many parallels from them. The two disci-plines support each other so well. We see it in cinema, music videos, live concerts are way more exciting when you are visually stimulated as well, even television commercials. What I’m doing isn’t an entirely new thing; I’m just packaging it and delivering it in a different way, and for people to see it from my per-spective, as a contemporary artist of sorts.
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Jamaica
The art scene in Jamaica is con-stantly growing. It isn’t as strong as the music scene is, or other art scenes, but it is getting there. So many talented, creative minds have been constantly buzzing and try-ing new things and getting their art out there. I believe art in Jamaica is more active now, than it has ever been in this country, so I am very optimistic about it. I see a bright future for it, from those doing it now, and especially from the youth coming up.
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T h e T E N F O L D O p u s O N E L A S T T I M EC o m i n g s o o n
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Bassculture Islands
Bassculture Islands
M O V E M E N T E X P L A I N E D
by Mikhail Ragoonanan
Tri
nid
ad &
To
bag
o
TH
E B
EA
RD
Mikhail is born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago. He owns a private gym in San Juan, Trinidad. He works full time as a personal trainer with over 50 clients. He loves seeing people happy when they achieve a goal. He also won the bronze medal in the 2014 National Champion-ships in Trinidad as an amateur boxer. Once a while he does some modeling and has passion for anything adventurous and physical. He loves to travel. Most of all, he is a proud member of The Bearded Vil-lains and he explains to us what the Beard movement is really about. How to become a member? There are beard move-ments by different groups all around the world. Basically, you become a member by being a positive role model for bearded men. Most of the groups are on social media. Once you have a great beard and you start posting pictures and hash tag-ging them, beard groups will take notice and be interested in affiliation. When they post a photo of you on their Insta-gram page, you become a member. You receive a digital patch made by them with your name on it. People in the group start talking to you from all around the world. It’s more like a brother-
Photography: Elise Romany Outfitted by Millhouse
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hood. So it has it’s perks of meeting some really cool people. Most of it is just for fun and a way to look exclusive or cool compared to people without beards. Beard movements are always positive.
Who joins this movement? The people that join it are guys with amazing beards. It represents masculinity for obvious reasons. It represents exclusivity and unique-ness. I always get com-pliments anywhere I am, all the time about my beard. It represents going against the norm. Growing up, I was al-ways told rules. “Look clean, dress well, be quiet, respect elders” etc. I’m not the type
of person to follow. I think that’s why I hated school. I always believed from a young age that I had better answers and better ideas than every-one else. Most of guys listen to their parents and follow their jobs description where they have to be clean shaved. I love being on the op-posite end. Somehow people gravitate towards going against the status quo. Especially when you do it right.
True man is…Everyone has their own opinion of what a true man is. In my opinion it has nothing to do with his looks. A true man is an exceptional human being that represents positivity to his fellow people and the world he lives in.
Perfect beard is…I not saying every guy should grow a beard, but they would be miss-ing out on all the fun bearded guys have. It’s a bless-ing. Some guys are blessed with height and some guys are blessed with beard.
There are lots of ugly beards, guys who can’t grow it fully and guys who don’t know how to trim it. The beard must be ta-pered so it does not make your face look round. You can grow the hair around your chin as long as you want but the sides must be faded into your sideburns and be in line with your face. Also the start hairs on your cheeks can be shaved to give the beard a neater and fuller effect.Trend or lifestyle?It is in trend now and I believe it will come and go as all trends, but a great looking beard will always be a spectacle to look at. I didn’t always have a beard. I grew it because I was blessed with the genetics to grow a full, amazing beard and just for the fun of it. So why not flaunt my gifts. It was in trend and I started it be-fore most guys so I was ahead of the curb. I al-ways am one step ahead. Trends are what keep
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life interesting, fun and it gives you something to look back on. Do you remember looking at pictures of your dad with an Afro when that was in style or with bell bottom pants? Those pictures are so cool!
Any benefits? There is no real significant benefits, it’s basically just for fun or to en-hance your look and gives you a sense of style in the moment. Living in the moment is some-thing people forget. One of the benefits I got is meeting more people, that way I can market my business to more people. Meeting friends all over the world and getting publicity like this interview.
Do women love or hate it? To women it’s a love-hate relation-ship. But I can’t see why they won’t like it unless it’s untidy or just doesn’t suit the person. I know some women love it to death and some women want to shave my face in my sleep. You might as well kill me while you are at it! It’s one or the other!
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Copywriting . Photography . Consultancy . Graphic design . Web design . Social mediaw w w.dudesinyourface.com
Copywriting . Photography . Consultancy . Graphic design . Web design . Social mediaw w w.dudesinyourface.com
The
Net
herl
ands
Satisfying that quench for good music
Photography by Scaro Levi (Sound Addict TV)
Sound SystemH
erba
lize –
It
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for what we do comes first, the rest is then easy. We find a way to always entertain and educate; the two most import-ant things for us when we step onto that stage. Creating memories, sat-isfying that quench for good music and quality entertainment.
Tell us a bit more about sound clash culture. What makes it so popular?We are seeing an inter-national resurrection of sound clash culture and this is fantastic. The scene was getting a bit boring and clash fans lost their excitement and motivation to go witness clashes. In the last cou-ple years things are slow-ly turning around and
Herbalize-it is a reggae/dancehall sound system root-ed in The Netherlands in town called Enschede (En-Ska-Day). In 1998, Stef and Sultan officially started the sound out of their love for reggae music. Between 1998 and 2005 Herbalize-it saw a few members come and go, but from 2006 after the addition of D-One, followed lat-er by Souljah, Fyah Monk, Carlito and Dave, the sound has been blessed with a solid team and dedicated fami-ly, all with the same goal of keeping the ship smoothly sailing forward. Sultan, the MC of this sound, explained to us all about the culture of sound systems and sound clashes. Although many have seen a Dj and Mc on stage, people still might wonder: what ac-tually is a sound system?Well, nowadays there are different definitions and varied opinions of what a soundsystem is. We can only say what a soundsystem is to us and what our vision is for our sound. Firstly, we try to stay true to the origi-nal idea of the Jamaican soundsystem culture, which is basically a DJ or selector playing reggae music and an MC com-plementing the music with relevant speeches to further entertain, entice and “hype” the crowd. A real soundsystem has its own unique tunes, recorded on known
musical compositions known as riddims with text performed by artists usually saying how big and bad your sound is. These tunes are called dubplates and if done right are exclusive only to your sound. Then a real soundsystem clash-es. Competitions where different soundsystems enter a musical battle. A battle where strategy, tune selection, quality dubplates and a uni-fied attack of selector and MC are essential elements for achieving victory. Then there is the party side. And here it is also very important for us that we can perform and satisfy any crowd re-gardless of their musical preference and knowl-edge about reggae music or soundsystem culture. This is where our love
the buzz is coming back. We hold a yearly clash here in Europe called War Ina East and for ten years we have seen constant growth into the biggest sound clash in Europe and one of the most anticipated and respected clashes world-wide. We focus on en-tertainment. Soundclash is a very underground genre and the true fans demand authenticity. It’s a new generation so you have to think outside the box to make it interest-ing, while staying true to the authentic nature of the sound clash. A few
weeks ago in Berlin we held this year’s edition and the event was sold out. Why? Because peo-ple were curious and had that desire to be a part of something great. So in our experience and opin-ion clash culture would continue to grow as long as the masses still have that interest and excite-ment.
You have been to Jamaica many times. What is the biggest differ-ence you can see when it comes to sound systems
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from the island and the Europe-an ones? It all depends on the soundsystem but the main differences would always be the language and knowledge. Euro-pean MC’s would never have that original “yardie accent” notorious with soundsystems. Grow-ing up and living in the Caribbean also exposes you to the music and culture 24/7. Uncon-sciously you absorb things from your envi-ronment that forms your character and influences
your mentality. Euro-peans must learn about the culture whereas, for Caribbean soundboys, it comes from a natural confident ease. When it comes to clashing, European sounds tend to be a bit more organ-ised and prepared since sometimes you might be going up against a sound from the Caribbean with an extensive dub-box with every artist imag-inable. When you don’t have this luxury, a well thought out plan is nec-essary. Again, this is not always the case but it is a characteristic of Europe-an sounds.
You are a MC of the sound, how
imporant is this job in the over-all success of the sound? How do you know what the crowd needs to have a good time?The MC is seen as the front man of the sound and the person the pub-lic identifies with. I love my role in Herbalize-it because I have a great supporting team each and every time I step onto that stage. A sound cannot survive without a good MC. It’s just not possible and that’s due to the DNA of a soundsys-tem and the nature of clashing if winning is on
your agenda. In Herbal-ize-it knowing what the crowd needs is the least of my worries with a se-lector like D-One on the turntables. There are of course moments when I suggest a tune or two but basically my job is to make sure that every tune gets delivered with the right energy. Being aware of the massive is key for us and after do-ing this for so long you just know how to opti-mize and get the most out of your performance. The younger team of Carlito (selector) and Dave (MC) are growing with this same blue-print to make sure and hold up our title of “Europe’s Party Machine”.
Herbalize it is one of the most rec-ognized reggae/dancehall sound systems. How did you guys get to this level? What does it take? Hard work and more hard work. Having a clear plan, staying focus and being original is what we do. We have dis-putes and quarrels but
our love for Herbalize-it and love for this music and culture is too great and goes before the indi-vidual. Plus if you know us, then you would know we love to have a good time. We’re a fun, crazy, party loving group with insane energy and peo-ple see it loud and clear. It’s who we are, no fak-ing, no show. Our advice to sounds on their way up would be most of all
be yourselves and find your own identity. Be prepared to work hard and make sure you’re doing this for the right reasons.
Where is the best reggae/dancehall crowd?We have had amazing crowds in so many different countries
The best/most memorable performance of Herbalize it?Tel Aviv Israel 2009
The best dancehall tune ever ?Doesn’t exist but the best dancehall artist ever for us are Supercat, Buju and Vybz Kartel
Where is the best reggae/dancehall crowd?We have had amazing crowds in so many different countries
The best/most memorable performance of Herbalize it?Tel Aviv Israel 2009
Herbalize -it in 3 words?Professional, Energetic, Passionate
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The best reggae tune ever?Doesn’t exist but Beres Hammond all the way
when it comes to reggae
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TASTE BUDS CHOCOLATEOrganic Wild Raw
Leliegracht 8 1015DE Amsterdam The Netherlands
TASTE BUDS CHOCOLATEOrganic Wild Raw
Leliegracht 8 1015DE Amsterdam The Netherlands
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Trin
idad
& To
bago
Jewellery D e s i g n s
Kim
Le
e-In
niss
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Photo by Kerron Riley Model Starlet Lewis
ALTHOUgH SHE AppLiED fOr grApHiC DESign prOgrAm AT On-TAriO COLLEgE Of ArT AnD DESign, SHE EnDED Up in mATEriAL ArT & DESign prOgrAm wHErE firST SEmESTEr prOvED EnOUgH Of An inTrODUCTiOn inTO THiS wOrLD.
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‘Jewelry design grounded me, i am happy creating in this art form, because of its’ sheer beauty, the freedom with which to play and the patience required to make something even more beautiful. ‘
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‘i sold pieces to people of all ages from 16 to 40 +. As long as they love my pieces i am very happy.’
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‘i want to create a brand that contin-ues to find people in many parts of the world in all walks of life.’
“This is what i am going to do for the rest of my life.”
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Photo by Kerron Riley
a b O u t J a M a i c a , n E w a l b u M a n d d R E a M s
Kam
ilB
edna
rek
Po
la
nd
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Photo by Kerron Riley
Let’s talk about your new album “I’m breathing” (“Oddycham” in Polish). What is special about it? What does it rep-resent to you?“I’m breathing” it is an album which contains all of my best memories of the past two years. It’s an emotionally charged work. I don’t have a fa-vorite song; every tune reminds me of a certain time in my life, some sort of exceptional moments. Certainly, the hardest one to sing was the song my father wrote for my mom. Our relationship over the years was not al-ways perfect but lately he has been very support-ive. I thought that re-cording this song would be a nice gesture of my appreciation. Nowadays, people need more joy, time seems to accelerate perpetually and the per-
spectives in my country for the youth that follow their dreams are not the most promising. I want-ed to collect all my joy-ful memories, record an album and share them with people.
Is there any dif-ference between Polish reggae and Jamaican reggae music? One must consider the era when the music was created to reflect on the differences. Jamaican reg-gae music was born as a prayer, but it has evolved since then. I do not play pure reggae, I mix differ-ent genres to create my unique sound. There is a connecting element: in the 80s Polish and Jamai-can reggae was a ‘fighting’ music. When it comes to playing reggae, we can-not perform like Jamai-can musicians; the reggae is in their blood. Con-
versely we can’t teach Ja-maican musicians to play Polish highland songs on a violin the way the high-landers do. The approach to music is complete-ly different… but these kinds of disparity can be prolifically educational. However, I think in many aspects these two styles of reggae have a lot in common.
When you record-ed in Jamaica in Tuff Gong Studios did you have time to experience Ja-maican culture? I loved it when we were out in town. We found some time to enjoy the culture and see the ev-eryday Jamaica, not just the one from pictures and beautiful beaches. The nature is absolutely amazing, it’s green every-where, full of fruits and fish…I love fruits…I definitely could live there.
Kamil Bednarek is one of the top reggae artists in Poland. Play-ing annually over 100 gigs in the most prominent festivals and venues, he has earned a legion of devoted fans, and his music resonates across ages. Kamil’s upcoming album was partially recorded in Tuff Gong Studios in Jamaica, a country that has profoundly inspired him. It’s a story about a man, who dreamed of the distant land, free minded people, and, above all, its music. It’s a story about an artist and a great talent who has followed his dreams all the way to the top of the Polish music charts.
The coolest thing about it is that you don’t need money to survive there, there is lots of sun, just amazing…but, there is also a downside to it. The poverty causes the place to be unsafe. Of course the places that we have visited with our guide were not dangerous, as we walked the streets of Kingston, but some ar-eas are troublesome and should be avoided. It is very inspiring to im-merse in the ‘third world’ culture: the streets that are not as hectic as ours, and there are no brand new cars or ostentatious-
ly dressed people. Jamai-ca is completely different with different rules. I be-lieve that anyone empa-thetic to other people would feel humbled here. It is such a meaningful disparity between the lifestyle in Poland and Jamaica. I think that Ja-maicans, living in small villages are much happier than the Europeans with our perpetual chase of the money god.
Recently I have watched a mov-ie about your trip to Jamaica. Have
you fulfilled your dreams yet? What advice would you give to young tal-ents who still dare to dream? I actually fulfilled all my biggest dreams but with each one a new one is born. The lifetime dream has already come true; it was my visit to Jamaica. If I was to give an advice... these days’ young people have very little humility. If your dream is about music and being famous you definitely have to watch the distance to-wards yourself, the music
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Photo by Kerron Riley
Photo by Kerron Riley
industry and showbusi-ness.
Humility is very import-ant. This word stuck to me as it helps you to see your own mistakes and allows you to grow much faster. You should never force anything, but if you truly believe in what you doing it will happen. In life, when you do some-thing with a pure heart you attract good people who would help you to reach your goals. At this point, cooperation and mutual respect are of the most importance.
Questions From Fans:
How important are your fans to you?They are very important, and if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be singing. It’s a symbiotic relationship: I give them my energy and they give me theirs in exchange. Of course, awards and radio play are very rewarding, but I’m happiest when my fans come to see me perform.
How do you cope with being away from your closest
friends and family while on tour?There are really hard mo-ments. Luckily, my mates in the band are great and they help me cope a lot. I’m happy to tour with them and the fact, that I can pour my heart out to them when it’s need-ed, helps to take some weight of the world off my shoulders.
Will you be per-forming at this year’s Ostroda Reggae Festival?Yes, I will be there and it
will be a special concert. Ostroda Reggae festival is celebrating 15th anni-versary and Reggaeland festival 10th anniversary, the festivals are joining their forces and I’m hap-py to be a part of this.
Do you plan to take part in any TV shows as a part of jury or coach?Due to lack of free time I won’t be able to take part in any shows, definitely not as a jury. I think I do not have enough expe-rience yet to be able to
judge a talent, but being a coach…it worked out before so if I had an op-portunity and time for it I would do it again.
Do you ever have moments of doubt and want to run away to hide from all the fans and me-dia?Often, at the end of very long tour, I feel burnt out. Especially when I meet a lot of needy peo-ple and I’m not talking about fans who want an autograph or a photo. It’s
more about tricky peo-ple. To be honest there are moments when I feel like giving up and hiding from everyone. I think that everyone has mo-ments like this, and it’s great to have a getaway place. I have one but I won’t reveal where it is.
Is there anything that people in Ja-maica have what we, here in Poland, lack?Jamaicans find happiness on their island much eas-ier than we do here; I
think it’s all rooted in cul-ture. We, in Europe, are always in a hurry to reach our goal, which primarily is financial. They have a different approach to life. I’m positive that some-times they also would like to get away and expe-rience the life we live, but I don’t think it would be for the better.
Photo by Kerron Riley
bassculture islands
TASTE BUDS CHOCOLATEOrganic Wild Raw
Leliegracht 8 1015DE Amsterdam The Netherlands
TASTE BUDS CHOCOLATEOrganic Wild Raw
Leliegracht 8 1015DE Amsterdam The Netherlands
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What started as a tribute to his friend Rushay Angeliqué Young grew to be his daily life, his work and passion. Mark Samuels is a Jamai-ca based henna artist. He has been practicing henna for the past 4 years. He tells us about his work, gives us beauty henna advice and shares his latest project. Ex-clusively for Bassculture Is-lands, Mark Samuels reveals his new work - face paint-ing.Each pattern I make is my own. I actually have a strict policy against copying the work of others but I will do reinterpretations upon request. I used to just combine the different el-ements from the traditional Indian style of henna in different ways, but these days I have my own style that is informed by nature and plant forms. I have also developed a unisex style that many persons seem to gravitate towards these days.
Although henna is commonly used by women, quite a few men get henna done as well. Most of my male clients ask for less flowery line work. Generally, they prefer designs with a more restricted look, rather than something that is freeform.
Henna dye and tattoo inks are quite different and should not be confused. Like tattoo ink, however, it is just an artistic medium that can be translated into all sorts of imagery, like all other artistic media.
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“The time that natural henna lasts for is a week. If you want good looking and long lasting hen-na, then you should keep the henna paste on your skin for a minimum of 6 hours. Avoiding water for 24-48 hours after the henna paste is re-moved from the skin is crucial to the process”
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“One of the BIG-GEST myths about
henna is that the stain will not show on dark skin. It DOES NOT
MATTER HOW DARK YOUR
SKIN IS. Henna will always show on your
skin as long as the instructions are cor-
rectly followed.”
FACE PAINTINGby Mark Samuels
Even though I am inspired by henna for the creation of these patterns the original inspiration for marking the face actually came from anime and manga like “Zoids - Chaotic Century”, “Tenchi Muyo” and “Mononoke Hime”. In these anime the characters often times had facial markings that helped to define them. I suppose it left a really strong impression on me and when I started painting faces I wanted to recre-ate that same aesthetic that I found in the anime characters, but the influence of the henna just came naturally in the process.
THE PROCESS1. The model is covered in a coat of waxy body paint, which becomes the base for my canvas.2. I apply a layer of neon paint over the model which becomes the texture of the skin.3. The design is done in a fluorescent paint that I cone out in the same way that I do henna.The patterns are informed as much by my feelings as they are by the shape of the models face.ExC
LUSI
VEL
Y FO
R B
assc
ultu
re Is
land
s
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Bacchanal Jamaica
Photographer : Anthony E. Maugée
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Photographer : Amiel Barrimond
bassculture islands
Photographer : Anthony E. Maugée
bassculture islands
Photographer : Anthony E. Maugée
bassculture islands
Photographer : Anthony E. Maugée
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Do’s & Dont’s for Bacchanal Jamaica Carnival
Anthony E. Maugée
2. Do not miss any parties or limes. It’s a full week of events
1. Do bring your posse (cir-cle of friends) with you. You have to experi-ence this car-nival with your peoples
3. Do drink Appleton Rum VX, 21 Year or Reserve. Even if you are not a rum drink-er, any one of these 3... Heavenly 4. Do not
speed when driving – Jamai-can police offi-cers are no joke (although they do mistake peo-ple for Machel)
7. Do sample the variety of wines. A Tri-ni wine is very different from a Bajan wuk up, also different from a Jamaican bubble
5. Do go to Hellshire for the local cuisine “odd” location the seafood food and the prices are fantastic
6. Do not leave any valuables in any car, at any location, at any time!!!8. Do go to
Maiden Cay and enjoy the beautiful water, the marvelous sand and the unimaginable vibe and posi-tive energy that it provides
9. Do not wear your beads when jumping into the ocean … they will be lost
10. Do play Mas (in cos-tume). Bac-chanal Jamaica Road March is in our Top 3
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Trinidad & Tobago
ARt BASED ON fEAR AND LOvE.
Leiz
elle
G
uinn
ess
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I use, pens, coloured pencils, graphics, beach clay, and acryl-ic paint. I love layers upon layers and adding lots of tex-tures and details to my work, it makes it interesting and en-joyable getting lost and upping my dopamine and serotonin whilst doing it. Some ideas are a quick thought though, yearning to be doodled, for ex-ample the avocado doodle is a joke about being the right kind of fat and being a little over-weight myself it was kinda of a “duh” type of thing you know. As for the cockroaches, I get hysterical or as Trinis would say “dotish” when I see one, so I thought by doing a series on them it would have somehow break the vicious cy-cle of their jedi mind tricks with me. Did it work? Well let’s just say my heart survived seeing one of them fly across the room last week. I have this obsession with birds as a kid, my family’s main income was selling chickens/fowl.
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The recurring birds drawing, doodle or painting is an ode to that period in my life as a child and now as adult and artist. I draw and base most of my cre-ations on fear and love, as with the cockroaches, I have a big fear and love for frogs and I dealt with them by publishing my first children’s storybook “Poppitz the Frog who Flew” – This is a story of a young frog whose wish is to fly, but fac-es a harsh reality and aims to find another way to fulfil his dreams – a dream I think most of us share, to fly! I mean how awesome would that be?! As for my dog drawings, one of my biggest passions is my love for those furry creatures, a lot of my time is spent, loving and trying to help in whatever way I can to raise awareness for their cause. My dogs are probably the reason I’m still alive today. Like art, they are my salvation.
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Trin
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Phagwa p h o t o g r a p hy
Roge
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what makes a perfect picture?A good photo tells a full story in one image, it shows person’s feelings, personality and the whole story happening when it was taken. what makes you want to take your camera out and take a picture?i always feel like i should have my camera on me because when you miss something or the moment is gone, you can’t have it back… i am always will-ing and ready. A lot of times i look at colors that attract my at-tention… even a colorful dust bin on the street can make me grab a camera. what is the ‘higher’ purpose of photographers in the world? Do they have a special role for humanity? photographers tell stories; we just look at things differently as if we are looking at something for the first time… It’s very im-portant that we do that… And everything matters to us the colors, shapes and angels… We influence the humanity by delivering to them images of faraway places, situations and people, capturing moments important for the whole world.
“I wanted the people behind the colours to shine through”
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The Celebration The festival of Phagwa is celebrated throughout Trinidad and Tobago by the Hindu community, a religion prac-ticed by about 20% of the country’s population. Its’ date is marked by the full moon in March each year. Known as the Festival of Colours, Phagwa, or Holi, is popular for its vibrant and ubiq-uitous colours, which are created by par-ticipants throwing coloured dye known as ‘abeer’ on friends and strangers alike. Despite Phagwa being a Hindu festival, as with any other religious celebration in Trinidad and Tobago, the country’s unique multi-cultural make up allows for non-Hindus to take part as well.
This Series When people think of ‘Phagwa’, they think of faceless people in a sea of co-lours. Most photos just show the action of throwing colour, but I wanted view-ers to be able to feel connected to the celebration not just through colours but through the participant’s reaction and feelings. The way I chose to show this is by going at it in more of a portrai-ture style. I wanted the people behind the colours to shine through.
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FInd us on
Graphic by Supa Nova
A super hero’s Mo-dus Operandi, or MO, is that they always need a se-cret identity, so what is your giv-en name? What is your stage name? What is the story behind it, if any? How did you de-cide on that par-ticular name?Inztinkz: My given name is Jason Nelson. My stage name is Inz-tinkz (pronounced instincts). I was play-ing my music to some friends one day, and one of them remarked how natural my music sound-ed, almost like I was doing it off instinct. The
name stuck from there.
Sly Rankin: My given name is Jason Rankin. Sly Rankin is the mon-iker/nickname/stage name. Sly is an adapta-tion from my first ever rap name “Slylock da Fox.” After my first cy-pher at school one day, me and some friends decided to go home and come up with names. I was 12. I stole the name of a comic book charac-ter that was famous in the Jamaican newspaper. I just liked how it sound-ed. People eventually just started calling me ‘Sly’ though. That’s what stuck. Then when I got serious about having a solo career I decided to
make my music more personal so I added my real last name, “Rankin.” Coincidentally “Rankin” was also an old Jamaican slang word for “O.G.” so it worked well.
Five Steez: My given name is Peter Wright. I go by Five Steez and the name actually evolved over time to become that. I went through many rap names as a teenager but by 15, I settled on Five Star, to represent the highest quality, for example, five star restaurant, hotel etc. 5 is also a special num-ber for me. Over time, people started calling me Five Steezy (just like Lil’ Wayne became Weezy
It is a known fact that Kingston is the undisputed capital of reggae music and culture. What many don’t know though, is that deep, within the immense shadow of Reggae, lays a bur-geoning, underground Kingston hip hop scene. Jeff Chang (American journalist & Hip Hop music critic), describes hip-hop as a “generation-defining global movement” that was “forged in the fires of the Bronx and Kingston, Jamai-ca;” due to the fact that DJ Kool Herc (who was originally born in Kingston) is credited with originating Hip Hop mu-sic at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, during the early 1970s, in New York City. Hence the organic connection between the two cultures of Reggae & Hip Hop that has always existed. Here in Volume 1 of “JA Universe Chroni-cles “, you will meet three heavyweights of the underground Kingston Hip Hop scene: Five Steez, Sly Rankin & DJ Ink-stinkz.
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and Kanye Yeezy) or Five Steez... so I stuck with Steez ‘cause I un-derstood what the word meant and it sounded cool.
Kingston is defi-nitely the undis-puted capital of reggae music, so why hip-hop? Why become an emcee in a world of deejays?Sly Rankin: At the time, I fell in love with how much the rappers were saying. They had a min-imum of sixteen bars. Dancehall songs had
eight and two verses. Also the hip-hop pro-duction was widely var-ied. It had a crazy range. And the rappers at the time had a lyrical range as wide as the produc-tion. I just wanted to be a part of it and express myself within those lim-itless boundaries.
Five Steez: “I bomb atomically, Socrates philosophies and hy-potheses can’t define how I be dropping these...” (This is a verse from Inspectah Deck on the Wu-Tang Clan’s classic track entitled “Triumph”). That’s why.
I heard superior rhyme skills and more room for expression in Hip Hop than I did in Reggae and Dancehall. I also liked that it could have almost any sound and sample from any genre, includ-ing Reggae and Dance-hall.
As many people may or may not know, the ori-gins of hip hop are deep-rooted in Kingston, more specifically in the com-munity of Trench Town, where a man by the name of DJ Kool Herc
spent his forma-tive years...that being said, in terms of Kingston Hip Hop, is there someone who could be consid-ered the godfather of Kingston Hip Hop? What would be the equivalent of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in Kings-ton?
Inztinkz: There is no real story of the origin of Kingston hip-hop so to speak. The first lo-cal hip-hop recording I heard was a cover of the
Sugarhill Gang classic “Rappers Delight.” In 1991, I heard about two MC’s name Smesh and Slick. From there, the first real hip-hop scene developed in Kingston. Familiar names in Kings-ton hip-hop in the mid to late 90’s were Doom (son of reggae icon Jim-my Cliff), Armagheddon (Nephew of reggae leg-end Grub Cooper, from the band Fab 5), Ho-locaust, Keystone, and Chicago-based rapper Cess, to name a few. The most important aspect of Kingston hip-hop at that time was a radio show on Fame FM with DJ’s
Alrick and Boyd called the “Phat Block. “ The “Phat Block” showcased local hip-hop and many of the names I just men-tioned. My peers got regular spins. After the demise of the radio show the scene kinda died down a bit but started to reemerge in the late 2000’s and is going even stronger now.
Sly Rankin: I can hon-estly say when my group Gangsta Colony banded together, I was about 14, and I thought we were the only Jamaicans rapping. Till we met a group called Holokast,
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who had a CD before we dropped one. We ended up doing a lot of work together and forming kind of a collective called 13th tribe. They had the first Jamaican hip-hop video that I saw on local TV. A lot of rappers have had separate firsts since then, but I regard them as the firsts with TV and radio play.
Five Steez: I’m not sure if there has ever been any “Godfather’”. DJ Boyd was that in his time, I guess, when he was doing “Phat Block” on Fame FM. He was spinning a lot of local Hip Hop and support-ing the artistes however he could. And at that time, opportunities were fewer. A show like “Pay Attention” wasn’t in any-one’s thoughts... there was no Internet... there was just radio and every-one wanted to get signed by a major label. The game was different then.In terms of a landmark place, it would have to be Gambling House Re-cording Studio. For over a decade, it has accom-modated multiple crews and numerous rappers and producers. I never knew of the wider scene
till I started frequent-ing Gambling House 10 years ago. To this day, it’s a space where Hip Hop practitioners and lovers are still getting a chance to meet, reason and work together.Last, but not least, if ever on a lay-over, like Anthony Bourdain, what is that “one spot,” every visitor must
visit in Kingston in your opinion? Inztinkz: Port Royal would be my first choice or White Bones restau-rant.
Sly Rankin: My spot in Kingston to visit would be in Harbor View by the roundabout. You said layover, and its right by the airport. On week-
end nights after dark, there are a lot of local seafood cooks out there with conch, fish, jerk chicken, soups. A lot of local foods. It’s also right by the statue and school dedicated to Donald Quarrie, he was the first popular Olympic medal-ist Jamaica contributed to track and field, which we eventually went on to dominate globally. So there’s also some history there. Once you said An-
I thought had too much of an overseas vibe.
Five Steez: I almost said Hellshire, maybe Port Royal, lots of history there, plus I like fish, festival, bammy and dem ting deh. So a stop at Gloria’s restaurant would be included.
thony Bourdaine, imme-diately I began thinking food though. It’s also in Harbor View where I reside in Jamaica, so of course I’d wanna support the local vendors. But aside from that, it’s good food, it’s by the seaside, close to the airport and it’s a truly Jamaican vibe. So I’m assuming peo-ple wanna know where the good eats are at. I wouldn’t recommend a foreigner to go anywhere
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Film Announcement by Emiel Martens
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Welcome to the Smiling Coast offers a rare in-sight into the daily lives of fifteen youngsters who are struggling to make ends meet in the margins of the Gambian tour-ism industry. Although the smallest country on mainland Africa, the Gambia has become a popular holiday destina-tion for European tour-ists, especially among older white women. Since 2005 the country typically receives over 100.000 foreign visitors every year, earning its reputation for being Af-rica’s Costa del Sol. Just
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Welcome to the Smiling Coast: Living in the Gambian Ghetto
New documentary on tourism in the Gambia, West Africa
a 5-hour flight away, the all-inclusive hotels give them the perfect package for the ‘triple-s’ African adventure of sun, sea and sex. Ironically, many Gambi-ans, particularly young-sters, reside in poor neighborhoods only a few steps away from the tourist hotels and beach-es. With this lure of a better future just around the corner, the danger-ous ‘back way’ across deserts and high seas to Europe is always linger-ing in their minds. Do they eventually try their
luck abroad or find their peace at home? Taking a light but critical tone, Welcome to the Smiling Coast shows the varied and creative alterna-tive strategies Gambian youngsters employ to secure their livelihood. Capturing their strug-gles, hopes and dreams, the documentary puts a human and positive face on the informal econo-my that lies behind the glitter of the Smiling Coast of Africa.
The first test screening of the film took place on Wednesday March
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25 at Movies that Mat-ter, the annual human rights film festival of Amnesty International in the Netherlands. The sold-out screening was joined by the film’s di-rector Bas Ackermann (Upperunder / State of Mic) and Alhagie Man-ka, one of the Gambian youngers appearing in the documentary. Wel-come to the Smiling Coast will soon be enter-ing the international film festival circuit.
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Towards a New Caribbean Cinema?Interview By Emiel Martens of Caribbean Creativity
Jam
aica
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Storm Saulter is a Jamaican filmmaker, photographer and visual artist. He is best known for directing the award-winning Jamaican feature film Better Mus’ Come (2010) and co-founding New Caribbe-an Cinema, a DIY collective of young filmmakers in Jamaica and the wider Ca-ribbean who are dedicated to creating a new wave of Caribbean filmmaking.
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How did you get in-volved in the arts?
My parents always en-couraged us – me and my brothers and sisters – to express ourselves creatively, so there was a very strong artistic streak embedded in us at an early age. As a teenager I started taking pictures, as in still pho-tography, and around 2000 I moved to LA and entered the Film Immer-sion Program of the Los Angeles Film School. It was a very hands-on experience. In between my school schedule I
worked on music video sets. I was the hardest working PA you could ever meet. I was out to prove it! One day I met hip hop video director Little x, who took me under his wing. I worked on a lot of his sets as a second unit director and just rolled a lot with him. At one point I decided to move to Miami to work with Joshua Bratter, a friend of the family who wanted to invest in my first feature film. This seemed a good opportu-nity, as, after all, I wanted to make movies! After a few years I had to go
back to Jamaica to renew my visa and I realized I wanted to make films there. So I decided to stay and give it all.
How did you set out to make your ambition to become a filmmaker in Jamaica a reality?
My brother Nile also returned to Jamaica after finishing film school in London, so we decided to pursue our filmmak-ing passion together. We also linked up with Joel Burke, who I already knew from before. We just came together and
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started to make short films. Then we, together with Paul Bucknor and my parents, came up with the idea of hosting an annual film festival. This became the Flash-point Film Festival and our shorts provided most of the content. The festival was very influen-tial for us as beginning filmmakers. We all of a sudden needed to create content. It was extremely guerilla, low-budget and not necessarily scripted, experimental filmmak-ing. We spent one sum-mer shooting our films and after that we edited
our own projects with advice and suggestions from each of us. We probably made all the mistakes that you can make as a filmmaker, but after experiencing that whole process I was real-ly much more equipped to do my next story. It was a major learning ground.
When did you come up with the idea of your first feature film, Better Mus’ Come, and how did this project materialize?
I really wanted to make a film about the seven-
ties. I had always been fascinated with the Cold War and the interna-tional geopolitics that has affected Jamaica so much. I read all these old newspaper articles about the tensions on the is-land and began to con-struct scenes from those articles. It became clear that, for me, the ultimate story of the Cold War era was about the poor people, the sufferers, so the story had to repre-sent them. At one point I came across the infor-mation about the Green Bay Massacre, the secret operation carried out in
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This interview is an edited excerpt of a longer version that will appear this Fall in a special issue (6.2) on ‘Caribbean Cinema Now’ of Imaginations: Journal of Cross-Cultural Image Studies: www.csj.ualberta.ca/imaginations/?p=6099.
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This interview is an edited excerpt of a longer version that will appear this Fall in a special issue (6.2) on ‘Caribbean Cinema Now’ of Imaginations: Journal of Cross-Cultural Image Studies: www.csj.ualberta.ca/imaginations/?p=6099.
1978 by a special unit of the Jamaica Defense Force under a People’s National Party, in which five supporters of the Ja-maica Labour Party were shot dead after they had been ambushed at Green Bay. That dramatic event helped me to anchor my story. I pieced together snippets of information and loosely reconstruct-ed the lives of the people who ended up at Green Bay. The Green Bay Mas-sacre became the end-point of my story, which I then built backwards.
In 2010 you co-founded New Caribbean Cinema, a movement to foster filmmaking in Jamaica. Why did you decide to launch this initiative?
I founded New Carib-bean Cinema along with Michelle Serieux, a St. Lucian-born filmmaker living in Jamaica, basical-ly because we felt a need to put out work. Not only our own work, but also the work of other Ja-maican filmmakers. We saw a good amount of young and talented peo-ple on the island doing commercials and music videos, who wanted to
make the step towards short films and even-tually feature films. So Michelle and I decided to join forces to create opportunities for these young filmmakers to produce work that could put them on the map. The idea was to write stories that could be shot in one single day, so that it could actually be done. There was no money to spend; it had to be as cheap as possible. So New Caribbean Cinema became a mix of a feeling of getting work done and a method of how to get it done – a ‘by any means necessary’ approach to filmmaking.
The first release you put out under the banner of New Caribbean Cine-ma was Ring di Alarm (2013), a series of short films. What were these short films about?
Ring di Alarm was the combined effort of the Nile, Joel, Michelle, Kyle Chin, Michael ‘Ras Tin-gle’ Tingling and myself. We all made one short film and worked togeth-er on each other’s films. Although the films are very different from each other, I think they all
have in common that they have a slight inter-est in the dark side of life, an element of death – whether it is death coming and not knowing how to deal with it, or the premeditation of a murder or its aftermath. It’s a common element in much storytelling, but I definitely see it very directly in the Ring di Alarm films. Even the comedic work is darkly comedic. I think it gives you some insight into what the Caribbean per-son of our age is thinking about, particularly in Ja-maica. We are obsessed with death – we are all dealing with death on a day-to-day basis, it feels omnipresent. In film-making these things rise to the surface.
How does an average working day look like for you? Honestly, when my week starts, my phone starts ringing. And sometimes the week does not end, because my phone is ringing in the week-ends too. There is no set schedule. I do quite a bit of commercial work. That’s actually what I do most of the time. I usu-
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ally have a few of these projects going on at the same time, in different stages of development, on which I work as a director or cinematogra-pher or both. Through-out the week I am often in touch with a couple of production companies. I oversee treatments, I deliver edits, I go to meetings, I scout loca-tions, I am in pre-pro-duction or I am actually shooting. I am also one of the primary people doing the marketing of our films through social media. While I have people helping me with that, I am the engine. And on top of all, that I
am supposed to be writ-ing, because I always have scripts to write. I am often cursing pure bombaclat! about when I get to write. But in the end everything kind of completes itself in its own time.
What do you aspire to achieve in the future with regards to filmmak-ing?
Maybe it sounds com-petitive, but I want to make the films that epitomize Caribbean cinema. I want to make the films that introduce a new aesthetic. I want to develop a style. I want
to be as great as the film-makers I look up to. I want my work to be seen by all film lovers. I am very aware of the fact that my most immedi-ate audiences, and the audiences that can allow the film to travel, are the local and diaspora Carib-bean audiences. I see the value of these audiences, as a source of support and a gateway to a larger global audience, but I want as many people as possible to see my films. I want millions. At the end of the day, I want to have a big presence in the world of cinema.
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