| |
|
I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night
Alive as you or me,
Said I, but Joe you're ten years dead,
I never died, said he,
I never died, said he.
These lines are taken from the 1936 song "The Ballad of Joe Hill" a song about
bravery, commitment and personal sacrifice that is a fitting tribute to Joseph
"Culture" Hill. In Hill's own life as an entertainer, he was never content with
the life of lights, glitter and glamour; instead, he conducted himself as a
teacher, healer and spiritual leader cajoling his fans the world over to seek
a more balanced society, a society based on righteousness, respect for human
dignity, equal opportunity and social morals...
|
|
|
"My real nickname that I love is the one they call me -- Tacky, which is the
leader of the race from West Africa. I think he was from the Ashanti tribe,
some of them who came from along the Niger River, up there."
The speaker is Joseph Hill, longtime warrior in reggae music's frontlines,
who passed away Aug. 19. He died with his boots on, on a Berlin beach-head
the morning after his final show in Brussels, arriving in that postwar outpost
to plant yet another marker on the map of his globe-circling conquests...
|
|
Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars sing about the best and worst of human nature,
in a lilting West African style that blends reggae with the traditional music
of their homeland. In true reggae spirit, the strongest lyrical medicine is
embedded in sweet harmony.
Through proverbs and vignettes of daily struggle, the band's songs convey a
reality unimaginable to most of us, but familiar to millions of refugees around
the world. Many aspects of their story are typical of displaced people everywhere.
But the Refugee All Stars have conquered horrific circumstances through vision,
talent and some extraordinary twists of fate...
|
|
