Kesi Asher, Staff Reporter
Patrick Coombs, gospel singer and town crier. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
IN THESE days of email and text messages, there is still a place for the town crier. Patrick Coombs goes around town in his van, equipped with loudspeakers and posters, singing the word of the Lord. "I use my van as a town crier, to spread music and ministry," said Patrick.
"Is basically to mek the people on the road know what a gwaan. Sometimes you don't get airplay, so I carry my thing on the road for promotional purposes and to get the message on the road," Coombs said.
It is not only his music, though, as Combs shares his 'town crying' service. "I believe in helping people, so I don't only play my music. I play other people music too," he said.
"People know the van, and know me as Patrick Coombs," said Coombs, who hit the road last year.
Coombs also ministers in a less mobile way. "I sing at concerts and churches and I have an album out that I'm promoting," he said. The album, Radikal Messages, is a compilation of songs done from 1997 to 2005.
His first recording was I'm Nothing if You Don't Have Charity.
The focal points of the album are are Dem A Go Halla and Trust in God. Contributors to the full-length set include Bless, the Panton Brothers, Rohan Cargill, True Prophet and Natalee Adams. Musicians involved in the project are Boris Gardener, Dennis Rushton, Henry Robinson and Chris Meredith.
Coombs sings in patois. "I'm bringing a radical approach to Christianity. I am a roots Christian. I can sing traditional, I can sing Standard English, but I like to sing in patois so I can reach a wide cross-section of people, like the grassroots people," he said.
Coombs is intent on sending a message to the youth, to society and to the church. "I want to use my music as a radical spiritual revolution, a different approach to what's going on in the country. We ignore the problem and the problem exists. People look to the church for moral principle to impact the nation. Not to say we not doing anything, but more needs to be done," he said.
He also preaches the message of love to all. "There are good people everywhere, both in the Rasta faith, Christian faith, all 'bout. I try to spread this message," he said. He has been managed by Clement Oneil Davis since 1997.
Patrick was exposed to Christianity at five, when he stayed with some Christians. He was first baptised as a child and later rebaptised in 1980.
"I don't really like to talk about my personal life. It's not about me. It's about the work of the Lord and his musical ministry," he said. "I want to be rigid with the street people. I want to help them.
"The criminals want people to worship them, but I try to tell people that the word of God can protect all," said Patrick Combs.
