Rappin' With Jimmy Cliff

RAPPIN' WITH JIMMY CLIFF

By Marc Gregory

"Reggae is the music of the 70's-everybody's gonna try to get in on it, you can't stop them-but the real thing, the cream, must come to the top." - Jimmy Cliff.

Jimmy Cliff , the cream of reggae music, was in Ann Arbor last month to open The SUN's, "After Midnite" concert series, and I spoke with him for an ethereal hour before the show. We talked about the music and message of his Jamaican culture-reggae music. 

Like most Jamaicans, Jimmy Cliff has been singing ever since he can remember-at home, in school, at church. Then as today the people sang calvpso and mento. which are the native Caribbean rhythms with lyrical commentary about the community or the country. "Mento is a little different movement or rhythm than . calypso-it is more natural, more folk, and more country; calypso is more 'city.'" Reggae came into being as mento and calypso came together in the cities. Actually, the beat has been called reggae for only the last 6 years or so (the term was coined by Toots).  Jimmy explained that "reggae developed from 'ska' to 'rock steady' to 'reggae.'"

The sound was in the early stages of 'rock steady' when Jimmy left his small country village and headed for Kingston-the center of musical activity. He was only 14 1/2 years old but he had a couple of songs and the desire to record.

"It was a hassle going from one producer to another, tryin' to get a y record," Cliff

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recalled with a sad smile. Jimmy's personal story is similar to that of the character he played in the movie "The Harder They Come," and is similar to hundreds of other singers and musicians in Jamaica. The result of his efforts was the single "Daisy Got Me Crazy, "recorded at the only studio on the Island, a one-track monaural setup. From this start Jimmy Cliff has gone on to become perhaps THE most internationally recognized reggae singer.

"My first time in the States was '64-that was my first time out of Jamaica. This is where I got the offer to go to England. I met this guy from Island Records, Chris Blackwell. He made me an offer and I weighed the whole situation between his offer and the offer I got here it) the US, and I took his offer because it seemed a bit more natural, Blackwell lived in Jamaica for years and knew Jamaica and I thought I could feel a little more closer relationship- but things didn't work out the way I expected."

By this time Cliff was a big star in Jamaica-the main man with hit after hit single. The beat was called 'ska' and Jimmy was on his way to shake them up in England. "At the time clubs was the thing in England. I had a hit in Jamaica called "King of Kings" and somebody re-recorded it and it went into the British charts. I went there as a writer and singer of it, and started doing that in the clubs and other R&B things like Wilson Pickett and James Brown. As a result of that there was an album called "A Hard Road to Travel" and it carne out of that 60's period- the same period when Hendrix just carne on the scene and he was fresh with his thing. We played at the same club together."

During the time Jimmy spent in England he recorded many more singles, a couple of albums on Island Re cords (Strugglin' Man, for one), and expanded his style, he never received the international attention he desired. In fact, opinions were printed in British magazines that Jimmy Cliff had "lost his roots"-he had strayed too far from his origins. I asked him about it.

"I've always been a person that's expanding and tryin' other things-I've seen that charge, but when I go into Trenchtown [Kingston] or other cities they don't charge me with that 'cause l'm deep in the roots now still. Them say, 'Well, Jimmy's doin' what he wants to do.'"

In 1968 Jimmy decided to return to Jamaica. "I had to go back to Jamaica to fulfill my aims. I spent four years in England and I don't regret it because I learned a lot. but I didn't what I went to fulfill. I had to go back to Jamaica to get an international hit- that was when I recorded 'Wonderful World, Beautiful People' and that whole batch of songs." From this point the whole thing was different Jimmy was a star, and he was soon signed by Warner Brothers for a series of LPs for its Reprise label: Unlimited, Music Maker, and Follow My Mind.

Again Jimmy Cliff's story is really quite similar to that of the character he played in the movie, a young country boy who leaves his home and travels to Kingston to become a recording star.

But The Harder They Come is much more than the simple story of a singer's rise to fame; it offers an in-depth look at Jamaican culture with its depiction of a young man tryin' to fight the system and living on the periphery of legality-sellin' and smoking ganja and carrying a ratchet (pistol). Jimmy provided some history.

"The Harder They Come" was based on a character who lived in the '30's or 40's called Rygen-a bad man tryin' to fight the system- a revolutionary. The producer, Perry Hunzel, wanted to make the story of a modern-day Rygen." The movie about Jamaicans-filmed in Jamaica with Jamaican actors-premiered in Jamaica, and was, to say the least, most a smashing success."

"In three weeks it outgrossed what other movies do in months. For the opening, the theatre held about 2000 and 7000 people showed up and crashed the gates down."

Not too much has changed in Jamaica since the movie was filmed in 1970-the ganja trade still goes on (although not as abundantly, as we all know). "It's a controlled thing," Jimmy continued, "ya still have heliocopters that come in and pick up a supply and go. Just the other day a heliocopter crashed on the street takin' off. They catch the people, probably lock them up a couple days and then they work something out."

The music business is still very much the same as the movie showed, too. "Still today new talent must go around to the different producers -it's a bit different because producers are more accessible and there are more recording studios-at least 6 16-tracks in Kingston now. The only other outlets in Jamaica is the tourist scene - but when you're in that scene nobody goin' to hear 'bout you on the island. You might have a reasonable amount of money, but you're not playing for the people of the Island."

Jimmy expressed the desire to continue in films because "film and recording are all intermingled -they're coming to oneness. I couldn't see myself doing a slick Hollywood production, but I could, I could play some rugged role. But the film must have substance, it's got to live with you for a while. I won't try to equal The Harder They Come, I'll just go and do another movie, completely different. Like my records- I try to make each album a different album."

Jimmy seems to be much at ease with the role of entertainer and poet. "In the Bible you have Kings and Prophets and Priests. I see myself like David-he was a musician and he wrote the Psalms-that is, to say something that will bring some joy and some light and some happiness to someone and make them feel good. Basically I sing about what is going on in the world, or I sing love songs. I don't  politicians-they're getting richer in times of starvation. I'm far removed from that-I'm not interested in politics. There are a few people who I admire for what they've done for humanity, like Mao Tse-Tung. I think he's done a good job for his people. I admire Castro and Che for what they've done for their people and the cause they stood for- for justice."

After the tour Jimmy returns to Jamaica where he lives and records now. "I spend most of my time in Jamaica-in Kingston and very little in London. I lay down all my basic track, the rhythm tracks in Jamaica, and I mainly mix outside Jamaica- sometimes I mix in England or in the US. And a little overdubbing-synthesizer, or piano or acoustic guitar, you know, we don't have all these instruments in Jamaica- we're really kind of limited where instruments are concerned, but we're gonna get that together and get everything we need down there."

Just before Jimmy left to get rested up for the show he talked about reggae and what 's to come In the future. "Like the blues, it's something that grew out of a community, it's part of a people and so it's natural that those people that know it do it better than anybody else. Other people gonna come in after a while and learn it and add another dimension to it . Hendrix came and took the blues to another dimension. So I think other people will be able to play reggae music, outside of Jamaicans, but I don't see them doin' it that well. Maybe in another two or three years somebody will come on the scene and take it to another dimension, but right now there's nobody there-and the roots are still there."

Jimmy Cliff may be the person to find that new dimension. As for now, he continues-along with Bob Marley & the Wailers and Toots & the Maytalls - to spearhead the reggae invasion of North America, and his show is definitely not to be missed.

Mark Gregory, currently a resident of Hell, Michigan, works in an Ann Arbor record emporium, hosts various programs of reggae and other modern music on WCBN-FM from time to time, has travelled to Jamaica on several occasions, and contributed an interview with Bob Marley to the SUN this past summer.