University Daily Kansan, April 23, 1985
Page 6
REGGAE
To some people it 's a way of life
Wain McFarland, of the reggae band Ipso Facto from Minneapolis, leads an enthusiastic Hoch Auditorium crowd at the Reggae Sunsplash USA concert Sunday night.
reggae is just another form of music to many, if not most, people. But to its followers, reggae is much more.
Ipso Facto is "trying to spread message of Jah," says JuJu McFarland, top left.
"It's a lifestyle," says Jimmy "Dred"
Eiffiwat, "and love is the key. The message of the music is love, one love for everyone."
Effiwatt, a Nigerian-born KU sophomore, has become an influence on the local music scene with his reggae shows on radio station JHKK-FM and on TV 30. Effiwatt, a Rastafarian who sports dreadlocks, says raggae music attempts to bridge the gap between races and promote international brotherhood.
"It can be a political tool," he says. "It's an awareness, it has to do with the times we're living in. Reggae is for the freedom of all men to live together."
EFFIWATT WAS ONE of about 1,000 fans who attended the Reggae Sunspash USA concert Sunday night at Hoch Auditorium. The Rastafarians, punk rockers and preppies who turned out in seemingly equal numbers were evidence of the diversified popularity of reggae music.
Reggae record producer Dogbie was one of a group of almost 20 Jamaican-born Rastafarians at Hoch on Sunday night. The
'I was born in reggae, and I will die for reggae.'
— Dogbite
Reggae record producer
group of fans has regaged rage music around the world for the past eight years, Duggle said. They are currently following Third World on the Sunspill tour.
"It's our life," he said. "Anywhere in the world reggae is, we will find it. Russia, England, it doesn't matter."
"Sometimes when I listen to reggae music I cry," he said. "It's your love and no one can buy your love from you.
Dophate says he will do anything for reggae.
The late Rob Marley, considered by many the greatest reggae artist of all time, is greatly admired by Rastafarians.
"I WAS BORN in reggae, and I will die for reggae."
"He was more than a musician." Effiwatt said. "He spread the message of love and peace."
"We miss him a lot," Dogbie said. "I feel that if he was alive he'd be here."
Recent reggae artists sing of many of the same problems Marley did. From Third World's 'They're Playing Us Too Close' to Iso Faco's "We Are Soldiers in
Jah's Army," political sentiments were evident Sunday night.
The fight against apartheid, a system of racial segregation in South Africa, is a common cause among reggae artists and followers.
"THE MESSAGE of what's going on in South Africa is important," said JuJu McFarland, bass player for Ipso Facto, which opened for Third World. "Everybody knows that what is happening down there is wrong."
"We find it necessary to write a song like this," he said. "Nuclear arms and weapons are being designed to kill people, while, at the same time, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, are starving in South Africa."
Before Third World's song, "They're Playing Us Too Close," lead singer Bunny "Rugs" Clarke explained the song's meaning.
"South Africa is at the forefront," Efiwatt said. "It is beaheaded oppression of people. It's the only country in the world where citizens are not the same."
Before "You've Got The Power," Clarke asked the crowd to sing along, to "put your voices together to make joyful music so that the President in the White House can hear us."
REGGAE HAS had a big influence in the Lawrence area in recent years. Third World was playing in Hoch for the second time in two years, and local bands such as
The Uptown Rulers, The Zoo, and Common Ground have enjoyed success playing at parties and bars.
"Lawrence comes on to reggae more than the larger cities," said Errol Smith, another in the group of Rastafarians from Kingston, Jamaica. "People are starting to understand what it's all about."
Dogbite said he hoped to help increase the popularity of reggae in the Kansas City area.
"I'd like to open reggae music in Kansas City," he said. "I'd like to learn people to dance to reggae music, to rock to reggae music.
"There are all kinds of music, but reggae is the best. It should be played all over the world."
Apple Rowe, another of the Jamaicans, had a simple explanation for the popularity of reggae in Lawrence and elsewhere
"Reggae is good music," he said.
"That's the reason I like it."
Photos by
Joe Wilkins III Story by
David O'Brien
Lawrence just another stop for Jamaicans following Third World on tour.
Jimmy "Dred" Effiwatt brings reggae to Lawrence on local stations