Ras Jaja delivers 'The Vibes'

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Cleon 'Ras Jaja' Golding was a happy man as he launched his first book, The Vibes, in the lecture hall of the Institute of Jamaica, East Street, Kingston, last Wednesday evening.

The 63-poem publication comes after years of studio recordings and Ras Jaja emphasised how important having the work on paper is, saying he has been recording since 1996 "on vinyl, but you don't feel you reach until you have the book".

He thanked several persons who have spurred him on in his efforts, among them Jacqueline Bushay, Lisa Henlin and Carmen Wade-Barrett, commenting "some man think woman is only for procreation. But when you buck up a good woman!" He also credited poet Yasus Afari with encouraging him to push ahead with the business of poetry, despite Jaja's protestations that he was not good at the ins and outs of doing business.

businessman

Afari's response, Ras Jaja said, was "who say you is not a businessman? You is a businessman, so do your business".

Ras Jaja put poetry into his speech, as he remembered being asked by Jesinta Williams to write a poem around the word "reconstructionism", the resulting piece closing with the exhortation to "join hands together and have a social living". It was read at a function in 2006, Ras Jaja recalling that his name was on the programme after then minister of education, Maxine Henry-Wilson and before former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

"Me say suppen wrong. My name beside all them people? Me have the programme in my car from 1996!" Ras Jaja said, to laughter from the audience, before ending with general gratitude all around.

There were performances by students of the Institute's Junior Centre on East Street, as well as poets Cherry Natural and Yasus Afari and singer Visionary, poet Osakwe hosting the launch of The Vibes. Osakwe related how Cherry Natural had given him his poetry name in poet and broadcaster Mutabaruka's store.

Natural said "we a write some poem from whe day an' it a get some serious attention". The first of these which she did was A Long Time Poets a Write, adjusting a line for the occasion to "use conscious lyrics an done de place/Ras Jaja, run de place".

There were sporadic cheers throughout Cherry Natural's presentation, as she moved on to Poets Fi get Pay, dedicated to "all the poets who died frustrated and broke". "Hennessy a bus an me can't even drink tea," Cherry Natural said in the poem. Another favourite line was "my tongue is JPS lighting up your minds don't bridge it".

She closed with Intellectual Bad Gal, which declared "I am an addict/books are my drug of choice".

Visionary did Please, Consider Me without music before Yasus Afari spoke to Ras Jaja's good qualities before doing I Pen and encouraging all to Work.