By Rasbert Turner, Freelance WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
WHEN DUB poet Patrick Davis was edging closer to completing his album Heconyu Economy four years ago, he ran into a stubborn lead guitarist.
"Him trying to create another expense, while I a focus on the destruction that face the youth. I find myself with my back against the wall, cause I look at the reality. Him a try save money an' I a try save life," Davis said.
The sticking point was, of course, money. Patrick Davis was determined to press ahead. "I sey yu cyan stop this thing," he said. He got a mini tape recorder and set out to collect from the largesse of nature what man would deny him. "I go out to the Forum (now defunct hotel in Portmore), where the sea come in. Couple nights when rain a fall an' thunda a clap, me try get that (at home). An den me go foreign an see a CD with these sounds. I take it to the engineer and say I want these sounds to go with my voice."
RESULTS
The result was Everlasting Rhythm, the 12th of 13 tracks on Heconyu Economy, done for Tabou1 Records in France. The poem not only outlines the frustration of a financially challenged artiste, but also his solution to the problem, as the poet says:
Mi waan fi sing one song
But me no have no money fi pay de riddim man
Me waan fi sing one song
But de price fe de riddim too high
An yu cyaan feel good to hear the children cry
Powercut
No electricity
An de song of freedom have to sing
Earthquake
Lightning
While the children sing
And rock to this thunderous rhythm
Patrick Davis was rocking to that thunderous rhythm for two decades before that album came out. In fact, he literally and figuratively turned a new leaf when he started writing. "It happen so real. I use to read my Bible all de time an do my artwork. I start out writing truths that match with other verse in the Bible. I remember writing on the leaves of a ackee tree (in my yard), using a paintbrush. Words like love, joy, happiness. A leaf is a leaf."
The first leaf grew into a book in 1993, when he published It's A Mind Thing. One year earlier, the recording career had started at Leggo Studios. The value of planting a good seed was seen in 2002, when a poem Patrick Davis had written 11 years earlier, Liberation, was recorded for Toys Factory and distributed by Sony Japan on a compilation album, which also included songs by Freddy McGregor, Daweh Congo and Black Uhuru.
In the works are the poems Lotto and Chiney Man Have a Secret, as well as Political Sports on the West Indies playing South Africa in which he remarks "Ask Mugabe, he will tell you the score." Davis uses live musicians, certainly a more expensive route than using computer-generated rhythms. However, he reasons that he is simply giving back a part of what he would have been charged if sunlight and air were not free.
"I feel more justice having it done that way," he said.
TRIBUTE TO BOB MARLEY
Di Man Try, a poem about Bob Marley, has seen him performing on quite a few Marley tribute shows and he has also done Louie Culture's Portland Splash twice, as well as the poetry nights at the Weekenz Bistro and Bar and the Rootz Lounge in Kingston. Among his overseas performances has been opening for Mutabaruka at SOB's in New York.
The father of four, who is still very much into T-Shirt screen printing, likes the increased attention poetry has been getting in recent times. "Poetry now is the heart and mind of the people. It is here to stay, for it is a reality. It is like simply telling the truth. If yu try hol' dese tings, yu conscience gwine bother yu," Davis said.
