Rootz puts down tree roots - 'Releaf' tree-planting programme tied into concert series

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

On their March 2008 debut album Movement, Rootz Underground's Farming announced the six-member band's commitment to tilling the soil. A staple in their high-energy live set, Farming links music and tilling the soil, lead singer Stephen Newland proclaiming:

"Music well it's farming

Be careful what you're planting

Make sure you plant soul food or else your soul will be starving ...

I'm not a man who afraid to get my hands dirty

Deep in the soil, Rastaman is so earthly

Plant more seeds is just trees of beauty"

Now, Rootz Underground is encouraging others to plant and nurture "trees of beauty" through their Rootz Releaf project, which is tied into a concert series -- Rootz Garden - which starts at Hope Gardens, St Andrew, on Saturday, February 4.

Toots and the Maytals, Ra Deal, Dubtonic Kru and Prophecy, with Iba Mahr and Droop Lion, are on the line-up.

It is a noticeably short roster, but Newland points to early Reggae Sunsplash festivals with similarly truncated lists of performers saying, "Every artiste will get to come and do a proper delivery of songs, unbroken."

'It's Growing'

The School Tree Planting Programme aspect of the Releaf project is one of the beneficiaries of the concert, dubbed 'It's Growing', the others being The Nature Preservation Foundation, McCam Child Development Centre, Toots Foundation and Jamaica School for the Deaf.

The project is being done in conjunction with La Reserva Forest Foundation, based in Costa Rica, but Rootz Underground started putting down tree-planting roots. Newland told The Sunday Gleaner that a few years ago they started encouraging people to plant trees, giving away CDs and T-shirts as incentives.

Connecting the far-flung planters, they encouraged the participating planters to take pictures of the trees and tag them for Global Positioning System (GPS) visibility. They did a video to promote the programme and were subsequently contacted by La Reserva.

Rootz Underground's lead guitarist, Charles Lazarus, explains that the majority of the over 70,000 trees planted since 2010 through the collaboration have been in Jamaica and Costa Rica, with others done by the band's "scattered fan base worldwide", the thickest concentration in California and Colorado in the United States.

He points out that, in general, reggae fans are "very forward-thinking", concerned about personal and environmental health, so the project ties in with an already established mindset.

Releaf World Tour

As far-flung as that fan base is, Rootz Underground plans to reach them and expand the following with the Roots Releaf World Tour, an ambitious 30-month programme that will take them through South, Central and North America, the Caribbean, Hawaii, Europe, Asia and Australasia. Lazarus said that dates in Africa are to be organised and confirmed.

It starts with four dates in the US at the end of March.

Rootz Underground has performed outside Jamaica extensively, doing this without the intense media presence in Jamaica that is intuitively connected with popularity outside the country. Newland points out that while there are those who have a strong media presence, there is a lot of clutter, comparing the situation to numerous billboards along a popular road.

He said that while there is no competition with other musicians, "it is also the way you distinguish yourself".

In addition to their Releaf cause, Newland said, "there are other things to be said out there for all Jamaicans and the world. And we are being heard, that reggae voice".

They intend for the tree-planting message to be heard in schools, from the primary to tertiary level, engaging institutions in all 14 parishes.

The project has a competitive element, as after the trees are planted at the schools there are small prizes as they are monitored on a regular basis, then a grand prize.

After Saturday's concert, the Rootz Garden series continues on Saturday, April 21 with 'Flowers in the Garden', June 30 (Lions in the Garden) and September 22 (Roots Natty Roots), closing on Saturday, December 15 with an all-star show dubbed 'Let it Grow'.

Newland points out that Rootz Underground will not necessarily perform on all the events and there will also be free concerts interspersed with the series in St James, Kingston and St Ann on the schedule.

Both Newland and Lazarus point to their farming backgrounds, even as Lazarus said "planting trees is not new or revolutionary. People have been doing it forever".

However, Newland puts the Releaf project in the context of advocacy.

"When we ask you to plant a tree, all we are saying is vote for what we are doing, so when we have enough votes we can go garner support for this thing. It allows Rootz Underground to go to corporate Jamaica and say we have been able to plant these trees, now we need your support," he said.