Carolyn Cooper | Mutabaruka on the cutting edge at 70

The invitation to Mutabaruka’s 70th birthday party was typically clever. The ‘u’ in Muta was a pair of bare feet. This was most appropriate, not just because it was a beach party. Muta’s unrestricted feet have long made an eloquent statement about his grounding in traditional African culture. These days, many Africans still don’t wear shoes. But times are changing. Shoe designers across the continent are creating brilliant products for the local and export market.

Ethiopian entrepreneur Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu founded soleRebels in 2005. This is her vision for the company: “... we have been reimagining how the lives of the people in our community could be elevated by deploying their artisan talents into making incredible footwear that would delight people around the world.” HTW (Heel the World) from Ghana also designs top-end shoes that can, most certainly, compete with other upscale global brands.

I recently asked Muta what made him decide to stop wearing shoes. He said it really wasn’t a conscious decision. It just happened. He was living in a rural community of Rastafari who had abandoned Kingston for a much more natural livity in the hills. Connecting with the earth, quite literally, was a logical step. When Muta returned to Kingston, he continued to trod through creation in his bare feet. He was on the cutting edge of science.

The Healthline website confirms the benefits of not wearing shoes all the time. These include strong ankle joints, leg muscles and ligaments; and an overall awareness of the position and movement of the body. There are also dangers such as the risk of exposure to infection from harmful bacteria. After five decades of walking barefoot across the globe, Muta has definitely lived up to his adopted name. In the Ikinyarwanda language of Rwanda, ‘Mutabaruka’ means ‘one who is always victorious.’ Even over germs!

‘BAREFOOT LANGUAGE’

Muta’s signature style is still not acceptable in ‘civilised’ Jamaican society. Bare feet in public are usually seen as a sign of madness, poverty and backwardness. Except, of course, at the pool or the beach. The negative attitude to bare feet is also evident in circumstances that have absolutely nothing to do with shoes. The distinguished Jamaican novelist John Hearne wrote an article, “Patois – a Barefoot Language,” that was published in the Sunday Gleaner on November 25, 1990.” Since languages don’t wear shoes, Hearne was obviously dissing speakers of the Jamaican language.

Mutabaruka proudly asserts the value of our “barefoot language.” In his many roles as poet, performing artist, philosopher, lecturer, motivational speaker, film star, fashion icon, television and radio talk show host and selecta for his BlakkMuzik sound system, Muta demonstrates the power of our heart language. His poem, “Miss Lou,” celebrates iconic Louise Bennett-Coverley who inspired us to big up fi wi language:

“Miss Lou, Miss Lou

Wi love yuh fi true

Wi love how yuh chat

Some nuh love dat, Miss Lou

...

A years now wi si

Wey yuh do fi poetry

Here in a Jamaica

Usin our patwa

Mi know Nanny a hero fi true

But me tink yuh a hero too

...

Dem use fi seh wi mus speak an’ twang

But yuh mek wi proud seh wi a Afrikan

Now wi si dem a teach in school

Dat Jamaica patwa is not fi fool.”

On his radio programmes, ‘The Cutting Edge’ and ‘Stepping Razor’, Mutabaruka is our griot, the oral historian who sets the record straight. He affirms the urgent need to talk about our history, which can be so systematically erased from collective memory by the perpetrators of horrific crimes. Muta engages his global audience in a reasoning that dispels lies and reveals truths. It is this redemptive talk that makes Mutabaruka’s radio programmes so compelling. For thirty years, Muta’s words of wisdom on ‘The Cutting Edge’ have been an incisive inspiration.

BOXING DAY AND KWANZAA

Muta’s birthday, December 26, falls on both Boxing Day and the first day of Kwanzaa. Wikipedia gives this history of Boxing Day: “The European tradition of giving money and other gifts to those in need, or in service positions, has been dated to the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is unknown; it may reference the alms box placed in the narthex [lobby] of Christian churches to collect donations for the poor.”

The envelope that garbage collectors leave with us each year is the modern equivalent of the traditional box in which gifts were placed for those who give excellent service. I encourage generosity. Garbage collection is an essential enterprise. But it is not a pretty occupation. Nuff-nuff respect is due to the men and women who work to keep our communities clean all year long!

Unlike Boxing Day, Kwanzaa is a relatively new tradition, the origins of which are well known. Dr Maulana Karenga, a long-standing political activist and a professor of Africana Studies at California State University, Long Beach, created the African-centred festival in 1966 as an alternative to Eurocentric traditions. “Kwanzaa” comes from the Swahili language. “Matunda ya kwanza,” means “first fruits.”

Dr Karenga’s message for Kwanzaa 2022 is posted on his website: “This is our duty: to know our past, and honor it; to engage our present and improve it; and to imagine a whole new future and forge it in the most ethical, effective and expansive ways.” In the communal spirit of both Boxing Day and Kwanzaa, Mutabaruka’s family and friends will gather to celebrate his 70th birthday in fine style. Barefoot!

Carolyn Cooper, PhD, is a teacher of English language and literature and a specialist on culture and development. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and karokupa@gmail.com.