Carolyn Cooper | Ibo, Joy and Arif Cooper reunited in Dreamland

In May this year, the Calabash International Literary Festival celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Third World Band. Ibo Cooper, the original keyboardist, opened the performance of the Calabash Acoustic Ensemble and guests with these words: “Sometimes we don’t remember the origins. And it’s 50 years. So, bear with me this evening if mi go story time, mi seh story time!”

Ibo certainly did not need to appeal to the audience for patience. We thoroughly enjoyed the entertaining stories he told about the evolution of Third World. We danced and sang along with the band. One of the stories Ibo told was about Third World opening for Bob Marley on his first European tour in 1975. They had just been signed by Chris Blackwell’s Island Records and jumped at the opportunity.

Ibo revealed the princely sum Blackwell paid the band: “We got £50 a night. I don’t mean £50 each. We get £50 a show fi di whole band. Trust me! OK! Yu tink we did care? We played the Lyceum, the Hard Rock Café and the Birmingham Academy.” According to an October 12, 2023 post on the Consumer Price Index inflation calculator website, “£50 in 1975 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £517.34 today.” But still!

Ibo paused the story to be a mentor, a role he willingly played for over two decades as a lecturer at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts: “And I tell a lot of the young artistes out here now who think dem want all di money right from the beginning, we were just coming and it help wi fi buss. Because, believe it or not, as big as Bob was, we got the front cover of the biggest music tabloid in England at the time, Melody Maker.”

MY DREAM ISLAND

The Calabash audience could not have known that this was going to be Ibo’s last performance. Less than five months later, Ibo’s life story ended. He has joined his son, Arif, and his wife, Joy, in Dreamland. And former band members William ‘Bunny Ruggs’ Clarke and Irvin ‘Carrot’ Jarrett! One of the stories Ibo told at Calabash was about the new band doing mostly cover versions at first. Dreamland is one of Third World’s brilliant covers.

At the celebration of Ibo’s life last Thursday, the band performed Dreamland. The sense of longing it evoked was heartrending. The land of dreams has so many meanings. The song is attributed to Bunny Wailer. But it was actually written by Al Johnson, guitarist and lead vocalist of the R&B group, El Tempos. Johnson’s song was called My Dream Island. It was released in 1963 by VeeJay Records, thirteen years before Bunny Wailer’s version. I discovered the original on the Breath of Life website, hosted by filmmaker and poet Kalamu ya Salaam.

Al Johnson’s lyrics are about sexual love:

“There’s a land, a land I’ve heard about

And it’s far across the sea

To have you on my dream isle

It would be like heaven to me

. . .

Before this time another year

I hope to make us one

And we will live together on my dream isle

And have so much fun

What a time it will be

Just wait and see

We’ll be so happy

We’ll raise a family

Count the stars up in the sky

And surely, we’ll never die"

In a 2016 post, Bob the Record Guy asks intriguing questions: “Interestingly, the El Tempos track has something of an ‘island’ style, like the earliest of ska. Which raises the question - who influenced who? Had the El Tempos heard ska music first – which barely existed at the time, and was virtually unknown to Americans? Or did Bunny somehow discover this rare record all the way in Jamaica, and decide to appropriate it?”

ANCESTRAL HOMELANDS

For Bunny Wailer, Dreamland is the original home of enslaved Africans in the diaspora. Al Johnson’s romantic song about escape to a “dream isle” becomes an anthem of yearning for ancestral homelands. Rastafari have long identified with the Biblical children of Israel in search of their Promised Land. It is a brutal irony of history that some of the descendants of these ancient Israelites do not appear to understand that Palestinians are also entitled to a homeland. This is the primary root of the never-ending war in Gaza. Palestinians remain stateless and they refuse to submit to the state of apartheid that has been forced upon them.

Third World’s sorrowful rendition of Dreamland reminded me of their hit song Rhythm of Life, written by Ibo:

“Time of illusion has got you confused

I can see in your eyes that you’re battered and bruised

Like your grandfather cutting sugar cane

Wonder why he survives the pain

When dem lick him wid di whip

Grampa kill dem wid di rhythm”

As I contemplated Ibo’s death, I focused on his comforting words, “Nice up yuself inna di rhythm of life.” This rhythm is not only the sounds of therapeutic music that enabled our ancestors to fight against enslavement. It’s also the cycle of life from birth to death. We must accept the inevitability of the rhythms of nature.

My Dream Island and Dreamland affirm two kinds of romance: the promise of enduring sexual love and the dream of being transported to a magical land where we will never die. This doubly optimistic vision was manifested in Akiri Cooper’s tribute to his father. He celebrated the undying love his parents shared: “I see this occasion as a joining of the two on the other side. So I won’t say rest in peace, but, rather, romance in paradise.”

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