Alborosie goes for guitars

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Deejay Alborosie tried but did not get a chance to see the famous M-16 shaped guitar that Peter Tosh was given by a fan in the United States in 1983. He went ahead, utilised the Internet to see what he could and made one anyway, the black instrument, the first of four he has made by hand so far, with another in the shaping.

In a November 2006 article in The Gleaner, Copeland Forbes, former manager of Peter Tosh, described in detail how Tosh came by the guitar:

"It was I who bought that guitar from a fan who custom-made it specially for Peter and brought it to the Franklyn Plaza Suite Hotel in Los Angeles, where Peter and his group, Word Sound and Power, were staying on our stop in Los Angeles when Tosh played the famous Greek Theatre during the Mama Africa World Tour of 1983.

During our stay at the hotel, a young reggae fan came to the hotel and asked to see Peter Tosh. The front desk clerk then called me in my room, as I was then Tosh's manager, saying that a fan wanted to see Peter. I then spoke to the fan on the hotel's phone and he told me that he had a special gift for Peter which he personally made for the Bush Doctor.

I then came downstairs to the lobby and met this fan, who was so overwhelmed to be speaking to the manager of Peter Tosh. In his hand he clutched this guitar, which was in the shape of an M-16 rifle. He told me that because Peter was a freedom fighter and that Peter's music was the weapon to free Africans and trample down apartheid, he personally built this guitar for him."

Coincidentally, Alborosie, who counts Kingston Town and Blessing with Etana among his well-known songs, was also on one of his several tours when he decided to start making the electric guitars. He was not given instruments by fans, however, but unwittingly made part of the instrument makers' marketing efforts.

"On tour, people give me a T-shirt and I wear it because I love it. The next day, I see it online, 'endorsed by Alborosie'. Same thing with guitars. So I say I am going to make one," Alborosie said.

Also a musician who plays several instruments, Alborosie, who lives in Jamaica, said, "I do sculpture and everything. I never think I would build a guitar."

Blue Mahoe series

Four completed instruments later, Alborosie has the beginnings of what he calls the Blue Mahoe series, which is one of the types of wood that he uses to make the neck and body of his guitars. Others are Honduras Mahagony and maple, the latter imported from Canada. The former, he said, is an endangered species in Europe and very expensive - Alborosie was born in Italy - "but in Portland we have enough".

"Every board have a different sound," Alborosie said.

He makes the guitars on down time between tours and his MySpace page shows him on tour across Europe from early June to mid-July this year, supporting his latest album 2 Times Revolution, a picture of him with the M-16 guitar across his back utilised as cover art. "It is just a hobby ... I spent weeks touring Europe, so I am tired of music right now," he said.

"It is a meditation for me. It is something I do because I love it," he said.

That does not mean, however, that there is a compromise on quality because it is not a commercial pursuit. "The guitar going to sound good because the material we use is top class," he said. And he makes it clear that there is some collaboration in the guitar-making process, notably with the electronics. "I don't go 360 (degrees) by myself," he said.

Two of the guitars - including the rifle-shaped one which Alborosie plays - are used in performance, the guitar player using another.

Forbes wrote that he had to insist that the person who made the guitar accept payment:

"I offered to pay the guy for the guitar but the fan refused to take any money for it. All he said he wanted was an autograph from the Bush Doctor so he could go back to his hometown and show his friends that he met the great Peter Tosh. I insisted that he take the money but he kept on refusing the financial offer. I literally had to push the money into his pocket and held on to his hands as he tried to push his hand in his pocket to give me back the money.

After a little fun struggle with the fan, with me holding on to both his hands preventing him from retrieving the money from his pocket, the elated fan finally gave up and accepted the money by leaving it in his pocket."

And Alborosie said he made his rifle-shaped instrument as a tribute to Peter Tosh. "When I do something it is because I love it. It is not to exploit," he said.

Still, he said, "a guitar line from Jamaica would be nice. For now it is an idea".