Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Ijahman Levi released his first album in 1978. He has been on so many tours, it is easier to name the places he hasn't been than the ones that he has performed, yet he is relatively unknown in Jamaica. - Hugh Stone Photo

After Ijahman Levi plucked at the 10 strings of his guitar and lifted his gentle, melodic voice in the first of three songs at the recent launch of 'Western Consciousness 2007', he paused. "There is a saying, you have to dance abroad before you dance a yard. Well, I dance abroad before I dance a yard," hesaid.

The rare 'dance a yard' continues on a wider scale on Saturday, when Ijahman Levi will dance and sing for those gathered at the Llandilo Cultural Centre, near Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland. And it is not that he has been 'foreign-minded', despite doing so many tours that it is easier to name where he has not been than where he has.

"I don't know China yet," Levi said, who counts New Caledonia (five hours flying from Australia) among the far-flung places where he has danced abroad.

"Nobody know where to find me, I don't know where to find anybody," said Ijahman Levi, who has 35 albums released to his credit and about five more complete, but being held close for fear of piracy.

Long enough journey

It has been a long enough journey full circle from his birthplace, in Christiana, to England as a teenager, back home in the early 1980s and from there to all those 'trods', from which he still returns to the hills of Manchester after delivering songs from his Haile I Hymn debut album with Island Records in 1978.

The follow-up albums include Are We a Warrior (1979), Africa (1984), Lilly of the Valley (1985) Jah Heavy Load (1995) and Sings Bob Marley (1996), among many others.

And long before he was making cuts the length of which would be a stretch for even Isaac Hayes, Ijahman was trying his hand at the business of singing, but under a different name. Trevor Sutherland.

"Everything start from Trench Town. I was living off Molynes Road, but most of my time was at Second Street, Third Street, because that was where the music a gwaan," Levi said.

Of course, that is where Joe Higgs held sway as well, the youngster inevitably falling under his influence.