Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

The album cover for Ziggy Soul's 'Genesis'. - Contributed

Ziggy Soul takes a melodic approach to songwriting, first working out a melody in his head (and playing the acoustic guitar does not hurt at all) and then finding the words that go with it.

And, for him, those words are mostly just a turn of the page away.

"I open the Bible and where my hand stop I try to use that," Ziggy Soul told The Gleaner. "Mostly, I go to Psalms."

It is no surprise, then, that on his second album, recently released through VP Records by Glory Music, 'Psalmist' appears before the dreadlocked singer's name. And he probably stopped early in his word hunt through the Bible, as the 13-track set is entitled Genesis.

There is a Proverbs, for which there is no need to guess the book of origin, Rescue Me is from Psalms and Love comes from John. Among the few songs not taken from the scriptures are Tell Me Who and (Jesus Is) Trench Town Rock, written by Glory Music's Tommy Cowan and which is about Ziggy Soul himself ("My name is Ziggy, the patient one/God has a plan for me, please understand/originally designed with a purpose/and down in Trench Town/Jesus come first Jesus is Trench Town rock", some of the lyrics go).

Ziggy Soul said he first based Tell Me Who on Marley's Heathen, then asked the musicians to build around it as he wanted to own the song.

"I have so many songs it is incredible. I make songs every day," Ziggy Soul said. There are so many that he has to do demo recordings to preserve them; otherwise, they would simply be lost to memory.

The musicians had a huge input on Genesis, Ziggy's second album after debuting with Born Again, and Ziggy Soul says "what I like about this album, the opportunity I got I did not get onthe first. There were three or four people directing me and we got in people to do the harmony".

Credit

Devon 'Ziggy Soul' Beckford. - Contributed

That harmony makes a huge difference on Genesis - Carlene Davis, Joel 'Bunny' Brown, Lymie Murray, Ryan Berry, Winsome Benjamin, Angel and Joseph Roach providing the full voices. Among the musicians, Ziggy Soul gives lots of credit to keyboard player Othneil Lewis, whom he said would listen to what he had, then have Ziggy Soul sing without music, come up with his own ideas and fuse them all.

With Kirk Bennett on drums, Michael Kennedy on bass, Rudy Valentino on lead and rhythm guitars and Dwight Richards playing trumpet on (Jesus Is) Trench Town Rock, the music is outstanding roots reggae and Ziggy Soul is very happy with it.

"I want it (Genesis) to go mainstream so people can hear the word of God," he said. "I am not the kind of guy who want to make it big. The important thing is for people to hear the word of God."

In (Jesus Is) Trench Town Rock, Ziggy Soul sings "they say I've gone uptown, wearing Jesus' crown", but actually leaving Trench Town to live somewhere else is not an option right now. "I live in Trench Town. I could have left long ago. Is I who decide to stay," he said.

One major tie is a project he started, which he feels will flounder if he is not around. A part of it is a recording studio, which now needs upgrading to keep up with the world of ProTools, which most people use.

"Trench Town have so many (musical) legends and it don't have anything that represent music history. My idea is to have like a Motown," Ziggy Soul said.