Posts

Showing posts from March, 2019

Unsung Reggae Heartbeat (Peter Tosh)

Image
Artwork by KavionArt - www.kavionart.com Peter Tosh was born Winston McIntosh Oct. 19, 1944, in Westmoreland Jamaica. Tosh had a rough childhood. Abandoned by his parents, he moved around from relative to relative. He fell in love with music early &  taught himself to play the guitar by watching others play. He moved to Trench town as a teen where he met two other aspiring musicians Bob Marley & Bunny Wailer in the early 1960s. The trio would form a group called the Wailing Wailers. Tosh was the key member in the group's early stages simply because he was the only one that knew how to play any instruments. Under the tutelage of Joe Higgs, the three developed their love for music. In 1964,  the Wailers had their first success as a group with the ska song  "Simmer Down". They would go on to record some of the first know Reggae songs.  The 1970s brought the Wailers a major record contract with Chris Blackwell & Island records releasing their firs

How Marcus Garvey Became the Prophet of Rastafarianism

Image
Painting By KavionArt In 1920s,  Marcus Garvey said "Look to   Africa , when a black king shall be crowned, for the day of deliverance is at hand" .  It is this ideology that eventually led to the growth of Rastafarian. Though Marcus Garvey was not directly involved in Rastafarianism , he is considered to be one of the religion's prophet. Marcus Garvey teachings on black empowerment, black unity and Africa being black people's rightful home served as the foundation for the Rastafarian  movement. By the 1920s, he had almost had a million  followers and one could say Rastarianism developed as an outcome of overall black empowerment. However, the official comme ncem ent of Rastafarianism as we know it became came after Ras Tafari Makonnem was crowned the emperor of Ethiopia & became known as Haile Selassie in 1930. Many took that crowning as a materialization of Marcus Garvey's words in 1920 hence the "prophet".  This connection was made by

Amy Garvey Jacques...Pioneering Black Woman Journalist and Activist.

Image
Amy Jacques Garvey was born in 1895. A time when Jamaica was still under the British rule & many Jamaicans were uneducated. Amy was raised in a middle-class home and was referred to as "mulatto".  Amy was included in the minority that attended high school. She always had a keen interest in books and was known to be a forward thinker. After school, Amy worked at a law firm for four years before migrating to USA. It is said Amy advised her mother & manger that she had to see "the land of opportunities and its limitations" and would return after three months if she found it unfit. Amy was already dedicated to dissemination of philosophy & principles of race, self-reliance &  black pride.  While in America, It is said that she attended a conference held by Marcus Garvey and was drawn to Garveyism. Shortly after, she became his private secretary and worked alongside him and his organization, Universal Negro Improvement association (UNIA). She soo

Get Hand-Made Jamaican Gifts!

Visit our Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/KavionArt

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *