JOHNNY CLARKE-ONE OF THE PIONEERS OF "Roots dance-hall reggae"

HOVE-LIVE FESTIVAL: HOVE(ANTWERP)BELGIUM-SEPT 4, 2004

By Joel Savage

Joel: Good performance Johnny, happy to meet you.

Johnny: Nice to hear that.

Joel: I know you through the media, as one of the early pioneers of reggae, with hits like "Rockers time now" "Dreader dread" and "Don't trouble" after all these years, it's like you are no more Johnny Clarke, that you used to be. What went wrong?

Johnny: Yeah well, actually I have never been out of music. I'm always been into music. Music is I and I is music. Music is spiritual and spiritually I'm alive. I do perform worldwide and also in my native country Jamaica.

Joel: In your time, there were great groups like "Mighty Diamonds" and "Toots and the Maytals" Where are all of them now?

Jonny: Time changes and it changes so fast. They are all doing well today, but they have taken different dimensions. Because at this time, there are competition all over, and so you need to be strong and tough spiritually to stay in the music industry.

Joel: So many reggae artists sing about Africa, showing their love and devotion to the children of that continent. But only a fraction of a percentage has set foot there. Why is it so?

Johnny: There many kinds of musicians. Some remember Africa, as their ancestral home and do visit the continent, at least once in their life time. Some also sing about Africa, because of money and they never go down there.

Article Author: Joel Savage

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