Culture
Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
ON THE telephone, Joseph Hill is courteous and well-spoken, his voice as clear over the wires as it is when it is amplified at 100,000 watts and he is rocking reggae fans as 'Culture'.
A trip up the hill, on the level, past the old blue and white jolly bus that bears the legend 'Golden River, S/Hall, C/Spring' and down a really steep slope yields lots of trees, the sound of running water and a listen to three tracks from the new album, World Peace - but no Culture.
Back in the city, a car pulls alongside at a stoplight and the title track of the album is bouncing on the radio, a dreadlocked head bopping along to we caan tek anodda war/we waan worl' peace.
The Gleaner catches up with Culture the following day and finds a man whose down to earth manner is as unpretentious as the rural area of missed connections - and as gritty as the city where we finally meet. With 30 albums under his belt, Culture remains much like the title of his 2000 set - a Humble African. He has many matters apart from music and tonight's performance at 'Heineken Startime' on his mind.
Natty never get weary, Culture growls in one of his signature tracks and, after a two-month trek across North America to support the July 17, 2003 release World Peace, plus a few hours in the city traffic, he still does look rather perky.
SPECIAL MOMENT
This tour yielded a very special moment for the trio Culture, consisting of Joseph Hill, who is synonymous with the group enough to be bestowed the name, and Albert Walker and Telford Nelson, being honoured with a proclamation from New York City for 30 years of socially-conscious music.
"That was very beautiful. We did not know that so many people were picking up on the positive vibes. Give thanks that it is not falling on stony ground," he smiled, a glimmer of gold showing.
Those 'positive vibes' translate into a Joseph Hill trademark remark on-stage that he has a pickaxe stick wrapped with barbed wire under his coat to beat Lucifer. "I really see too much people big up Lucifer by singing things which is not enriching the people no way. By exercising and promoting positive lyrics to counter negative lyrics, that is how you use your pick-axe stick," he said.
Those coats tend to be a part of rather snazzy outfits that Culture says are "out of my pride."
That pride goes beyond himself and extends to the people he performs before. Profane language is not a part of Culture's repertoire. He defines such language as "Words that depict parts of our dear ladies, who are entitled to much more respect than they are getting in and out the house." Nor will he be "exposing unnecessary profane language to minors... Many children in this country do not really enjoy their childhood in the tender way they should."
While there are those who would not consider the Jamaican audience not too tender, Culture does not think they are tough at all. "They are observant. If they were tough, they would not tolerate so much slackness," he said.
The World Peace promotion tour will continue in Europe "sometime, even if it is not confirmed", with a trip to London, England, sure for December and a fourth sojourn to Suriname, as well as yet another set of performances in Africa in the offing.
"I can hold my umbrella over my head, expecting rain from Sierra Leone. We brought that country on two special occasions to peace," he said. "They have given my group 46 acres of land," Culture said.
He makes a link between the Maroons of Jamaica and Sierra Leone, pointing to a place called Waterloo as the place in the African country they came from.
Culture does not look through rose-coloured lens at Africa, describing in graphic detail acres of ghetto in Kenya. "I just had to buy food and return and distribute and be glad," he said.
In Sierra Leone, "A little 10 year-old with a M-16 across his back said 'I am tired of fighting, I want to go to school.'
"The thing that pains my heart, apart from the fighting, is that they do not treat their soldiers like men," he said. In Sierra Leone, where he would feed the two soldiers standing guard, one evening a strange soldier turned up. When Mr. Hill asked for the regular, he was told that he had been sent to the battlefront and was killed. "May I have his dinner?" the replacement said.
In Ghana, Culture cooked ackee ("which they called bird food") and dumplings and "ease dem off de agouti," he chuckled.
On the first song from World Peace, Sweet Freedom, Culture sings There is enough to satisfy every man need/But not enough to satisfy their greed.
"The Swiss bank is responsible for about two-thirds of that world hunger. When the leaders of the provinces ravish the wealth of the people, that is where they put their money. There is hundreds of tons of gold called Nazis gold, that has to be shipped around by forklift. And people have to be hungry?" Culture demanded.
JAMAICA AND GHANA
He made another connection between Jamaica and an African country, this time Ghana. "I realise where the coat of arms is coming from," he said. However, the wording has had an unfortunate change. "The first wording was that equal rights and justice stand for all," he said.
Going back to greed and need, Culture commented on the inequality in Jamaican society - and its consequences for the rich. "The doctor makes much when him bruck inna dem pocket, 'cause they are taking care of their wealth and not their health. Cause dem not drinking bush tea, dem drinking 'kufeee'. Cause when it turn instant, no coffee no inna it," he said.
"Dem no want fowl foot, dem want chicken breas' an' de hen no have no titty.
"The bigges' thing that money can bring is corruption. Real living, money can't buy that," Culture said.
With these weighty issues on his mind and the proverbs learnt from his elders in his ever-ticking brain, Culture says that after 30 years he has not started making music yet.
"Some sing music for the dollar. I sing music for the brother," he said.
He speaks the truth as he sees it because he sees a terrible situation in Jamaica.
"Please don't feel uptight with me to speak the truth, but someone is sleeping on our luck. We are such a fortunate people, but someone is sleeping on our luck," Culture said.
