Bombings & turbans go on record

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, aeroplane attacks on the United States of America, the business of international air travel got much more difficult and involved. Most affected, naturally, were the frequent travellers - among them the entertainers who make the bulk of their money from touring outside Jamaica.

Two entertainers, deejay Elephant Man and singer Richie Spice, put the post-9/11 flight experiences on record from two perspectives. The 'Energy God' spoke to the general climate of trepidation about flying in The Bombing, and Richie Spice addressed the suspicions that now surrounded the turbanned Rastafarians in The Plane Land.

He starts out with his commiseration for those affected directly by the attacks:

"Yeah, I got to say I send my condolences to all the family who lose someone in the tragic attack on America

For two thousand and one the eleventh of September the ninth

I gotta say we give thanks to all of you comin' out

Showin' love, everybody uniting together, united we stand divided we fall

You know, to all the fireman who lose dem life

I wrote something in my song, so log on to the next track comin'"

In the chorus, Elephant Man addresses the climate of fear - and the tightening of Customs procedures:

"Everybody fraid fi fly true di bombing

Bush nah trust nuh guy true di bombing

So many innocent die true di bombing

Look like a world war three out fi happen

Nuh weed caan smuggle again true di bombing

Caan past custom wid a pen true di bombing

Everybody cry for an end to di bombing, dead body start adding."

In all of that, however, Elephant Man still finds time to put in a part about his 'blingitude' ("glad seh mi neva deh a New York a shoppin'") and, in Jamaica, the contrast to the gloom over the US:

"Plane pop dung di city, but we still jammin'

Dung a Jamaica a fun we still havin'

All a we dancehall dem keep on rammin'

Gal a do hair, fingernail, and shoppin'

Some a log it on, zip it up, collar poppin'"

As the USA zeroed in on the Taliban after the 9/11 events, the Rastafarian entertainers who wore turbans, notably from the Bobo Ashanti movement, were strikingly similar in appearance to the main terror suspects. The Bobo movement became prominent in dancehall notably through Anthony B, and then Capleton in the early 1990s. And Richie Spice, who hit with Earth a Run Red in the early 2000s, spoke to the moment of trepidation as the plane touches down:

"Di plane lan', yes di plane lan'

Ah hundred pound of collie weed

Ah whe dem get it from

Di plane lan', yes di plane lan'

Saddle up miself fi take interrogation

Di plane lan', yes di plane lan'

Make up mi mind to face di immigration ..."

Part of that tremor of anticipation comes from the persons who the US authorities were looking for:

"Search dem ah search

Dem ah search fi Taliban

Search fi mass destruction ..."

And the restrictions on items which could be carried on-board aeroplanes post-9/11 made it into the song, as Richie Spice sings "dash whe mi toothpaste ..."

Still, it is a job that has to be done, as there is a mission to be accomplished. Richie Spice sings:

"Travel over lan', travel over sea

Doing the works of his majesty ..."