The news of Nigerian carnival attendees at the Liberation Stadium in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, hurling empty water bottles at the reggae icon, Luciano, will be received by many reggae enthusiasts as not only shocking, embarrassing and disheartening, but sacrilegious. For the icon remains simply the finest the industry currently has in genre, style, and message, especially after the demise of icons such as Lucky Dube and Joseph Hill of the Culture fame.
To bring the level of irreverence home to the Ghanaian music enthusiasts, this might sound like the good old Osibisa band being driven off stage with boos, empty cans, and bottles in Nigeria. To the South African, it might be their own Lucky Dube; and to the Ivorian, Alpha Blondy. It must have been a horrifying experience to the man known in private life as Jepther McClymonth and difficult to believe.
When I watched the Jah Messenger, as he is affectionately called by his fans, at the Accra Sport Stadium in Ghana in December 2007, memories of the night still live on after four good years. It is captivating to watch your musical idol do his/her rendition in a live concert. Nothing compares to that electrifying feeling which connects the adherent and his idol in a moment of passion.
Luciano was the star par excellence of the night. Even though he shared stage with John Legend, a recipient of nine Grammy Awards, he established his connection with his audience and stamped his authority on stage in the course of the night. With a highly energetic performance, he erupted the crowd to sing along when he rendered his track It’s Me Again Jah with both knees down and both hands up in veneration before the Lord. I pardoned Ghanaians for knowing very little about John Legend and his exploits, in my estimation, and for that matter not warming up to him, and so did I excused the promoters of the show for lining up the two icons – John Legend and Luciano – of widely varying musical genres as costar performers of the night. John Legend would have done better with American or European audience, but not a Ghanaian audience as far as reggae was concerned. There is simply something about the Ghanaian and reggae!
Having been an enthusiastic disciple of the Jamaican reggae scene from my high school days, I have grown to appreciate the multiplicity of reggae genres – lovers’ rock, roots rock reggae, dancehall, and other indeterminate genres - to have emanated from the Island that produced the likes of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff, and Culture. I only chanced upon the name Luciano, for the first time when I visited my friends in Monterey Bay, California, in 2004. They treated me to one of his latest releases at the time and the tracks were just what one could expect from an icon who strives for perfection. I later realized I must have listened to his Sweep over My Soul album many times on Santino’s Sunday Reggae Reasons on Vibe FM in Accra without really paying attention to the name behind those renditions.
Luciano, as humble as he is, prides himself to have been a product of some of the unequaled traditions the music industry has ever known. Influenced by Stevie Wonder, Frankie Paul, and the late Dennis Brown, he came out of the shadows of these great icons and carved an image for himself as the Jah’s Messenger. His renditions such as It’s me again Jah, Lord Give Me Strength, and Give Praise are just a few of his works that attest to his quest to use reggae to intercede between man and his maker.
His style and message are a clear departure from that of the trailblazers of reggae – Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff, and Burning Spear - whose time was characterized by great social transformations – post-colonial euphoria, the feminist rapture, the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, among others - which reflected their songs to an agitated world seeking answers for discrimination, inequality and injustice. Unlike the “protest coloration” of early reggae, Luciano’s style and message are purely prayers and praises or what the born again Christian might refer to as gospel. The message can only be consonant with our time when many are still searching for meaning in life and seeking to build a meaningful relationship with their maker.
One, however, begins to wonder if it is as a result of poor rendition of this musician that would lead youthful concert attendees to exhibit this level of intolerance for a great musician publicly, or it is just the manifestation of the religious intolerance that has engulfed Nigeria leading the youth to face-off what they might consider as blasphemous.
Whatever the cause of this unruly behavior, it has not helped the image of Nigeria. It has only added to deepen the unsavory tales about the level of intolerance some miscreants amongst its good people exhibit from time to time. No matter how our differences, lets eschew violence and appreciate the process of arbitration and respect for human dignity, especially when we have foreigners among us.
To the Messenger, we all in unison, with one voice, say we are sorry for the misdemeanor of our Nigerian brothers and sisters. You still remain our reggae idol and you are welcome to Ghana anytime, any day. Your fans are waiting for the message.
In 2001, Luciano was nominated for the Grammy Awards for his song A New Day. He received the Mandela’s Cultural Artist Award, the Most Spiritual and Educative Award, a Plaque from the Government of Jamaica for his great works, and has received many other awards worthy of note. He remains the best the industry can boast of in reggae currently. Let’s give him his due. Respec!
