Disbelief in downtown
Published:Wednesday | February 23, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Laura Redpath, Senior Gleaner Writer
The sun, which was fighting through louvres and burglar bars, cast slivers of light across the studio floor.
A group of four men sat solemnly inside the somewhat dimly lit Randy's Recording Studio and music shop, which smelled of musty paper wrapping that protected vinyl records.
The men shook their heads repeatedly as the bass of Buju's number, Rasta Can't Go, pounded through the speakers of the attic-like setting of the music shop.
A small section of downtown Kingston, North Parade to be exact, was the heart of the sorrow that existed following the announcement that Buju Banton was found guilty.
However, others seemed blissfully ignorant of the verdict as they sat around playing dominoes and cards.
"Me neva know seh him guilty," one man said, staring at the sidewalk. "Really, really?" he asked.
Touched spirits
Buju, whose real name is Mark Myrie, seemed to touch the spirits of those who knew him and of those who one day hoped to get their feet wet in the music industry.
It was around 4 p.m., more than an hour after the news hit Jamaica that Buju did not get the freedom he hoped for, and those who sat along the sidewalk outside Randy's kept shouting that Buju was innocent.
"Unfair!" exclaimed Marcia Brown, a vendor, who kept smoothing out her wares in-between outbursts at passers-by who would listen.
"Unfair, but a life," she said.
"Buju a fi di poor. Buju help me. Buju help me out nuff times," said Brown, who credited him for helping her establish her stall. "Me love Buju."
For aspiring reggae artiste, Nathan Skyers, Buju was an icon on the music scene.
"I hear somebody say what a thing they do to Buju. I said, what I heard was that Buju was going to be free. Then somebody said, 'Yuh ah joke, man. Him just get him sentence and it pass him guilty!' So I said, 'Oh my, look at that'."
Skyers, hoping the judge will give Buju a light sentence, added: "My heart bleed and I've been turned upside down."
Skyers glanced sideways at a poster stuck on a wall inside the record studio, which showed a side profile of the artiste who now faces the next step of his journey, his sentence.