On the table with U-Roy*
(One of the last interviews of the reggae legend)
Carlos Albuquerque
The child and the Hollywood shadow will enter the scene at the end. For now, what is happening is the following: U-Roy – the baton of reggae, the man who popularized spoken singing, which was the seed for the emergence of rap – is sitting across from me, on the second floor of a restaurant at Cobal do Humaitá. Wearing a bowler hat, black shoes, a blouse and gray pants, he takes a vegetable soup, boiling like the temperature outside, fifty degrees and there goes smoke, on one of the hottest days of the year (so far, Greta). At 77, however, the First of His Name, Kings of MCs, Lord of Rappers and Protector of the Seven Reggae Kingdoms doesn’t care for the heat.
– I feel very much at home in Brazil. I like the food, the fruits, the music and that Jamaican atmosphere – he jokes, who remained silent and half asleep at the table, in energy saving mode, until I turned on the recorder.
In fact, U-Roy (Ewart Beckford) woke up a long time ago. In the early 1960s, when Jamaica was celebrating its independence from the United Kingdom, he took the microphone and never let it go. Influenced by a deejay called Count Matchuki (note: in JA, MCs are called deejays), U-Roy began to speak over the instrumental bases of sound systems like Coxsonne Dodd and King Tubby. But he was not bullshit. The interventions, called toast, had rhythm, had metrics and, above all, had their own style, which did not let the ball stop. Legend has it that one rainy night, during a Tubby party, the power went down and U-Roy kept the audience on the spot with his improvisations until lights came back, almost an hour later.
– The curious thing is that I am not much to talk about, but when I am in front of a microphone it seems that I become another person – he says while dips a toast of bread in the soup.
When he finally entered the studio to record for the first time, in 1970, U-Roy was already a respected name in Kingston and surrounding areas. And he gave no other: “Wake the town” and “Wear you to the ball”, his first singles, went straight to the top of the jamaican charts. And U-Roy’s career has not stopped. There were more than twenty albums and countless singles, which crossed the history of reggae – from rocksteady to ragga, from dub to dancehall – also reaching the USA, where his style of rhythm and poetry served as a route for the discovery of rap and hip- hop. For all he has done in those 50 years and for what he represents for Jamaican music, U-Roy should have a statue at Montego Bay airport and ride a green, red and yellow limo. But for the moment, all he wants after soup is two slices of pizza to go.
– I don’t know if I had all this importance, but I am happy to have lived so many things and still be here – says the man who received in 2007 the Order of Merit in Jamaica for his contribution to music and was honored in New York in 2018 as “King of deejays”. – I was luckier than many of my contemporaries, I have never been robbed of my rights, I managed to have a label, a sound system, I raised my children, I have my home and I can travel the world performing even today, at the age of 77. I’m a survivor. And I am grateful for that.
Interestingly, the reason for U-Roy’s coming to Brasil is the launch of a new version of his first hit. Re-recorded with the support of the stellar duo Sly & Robbie, “Wake the town” is a gimmick for the newly created Trojan Jamaica label, created by Zak Starkey (son of Ringo Starr) and Sharna “Sshh” Liguz, both also present on the trip , which served to launch a local pull, Trojan Brasil.
– Many things crossed my mind when I entered the studio to re-record “Wake the town”. I remembered the people I met, the people who were gone, the impact that music had at the time, when deejays still did not have their recognized value. It was a great dive in the past. And I think this re-recording closes a cycle in my life – says he, fan of new reggae talents, like Chronixx, Protoje and Spice. – They are my heirs, you know? Everyone always comes to talk to me. It is very good to have heirs, to know that they will carry out my work, with their own talent and styles.
The pizzas arrive, smelling and packed. I turn off the recorder and head for the exit. On the way to the checkout, a woman approaches me, accompanied by her son, in school uniform. They want an autograph from the famous artist next to me.
– Can you ask him to sign my son’s notebook? – asks the mother. – It’s Morgan Freeman, isn’t it?
* First published on 02-20-2019 at calbuque.com