THE ST. LUCIA MIRROR

Interview by: Reginald Andrew

St. Lucia Reggae Star is International

Taj Weekes’ early sibling rivalry for top local status with his brothers’ singing group and his persistent desire and love for music propelled him to excel at his musical craft. Weekes, a product of the Marchand community, sparked off his talent singing with the brothers’ makeshift group, as they entertained family members in their spare time. Before long, he was jamming along with his school band formed at the St. Mary’s College (SMC), and his early trek to stardom began with “Rise”, a Radio St. Lucia on-air show at the time.

Weekes moved to New York by the mid-eighties and there continued his voyage into the musical realm, mingling with top regional and international artistes, with music at the thrust of his artistic development. His first album recorded was called Hope and Doubt and then he paid tribute to his late brother Desmond a.k.a. MPLA, an astute craftsmen who passed away in the early 80’s, with another album dubbed MPLA. His band, Adowa, consists of a cross-section of musicians, including drummer Cornell Marshall, originally from Third World; percussionist Delroy Golding played with Burning Spear and Adoni Xavier originally played guitar with Dennis Brown.

The loss of his parents within two years transformed his music and lyrical content to such an extent that he devoted his art to reaching out to others – in need of solace and comfort. His children’s charity foundation, They Often Cry Outreach (TOCO) was born and thus helped Weekes chart a new course with his music.

The conscious vibes and lyrics that flow from his rich musical selection is spell binding; it awakens the social consciousness and is sure to touch the heart and soul of fans and music lovers. Weekes, also a versatile musician, plays guitar and piano while he maintains an eloquent message in songs of protest and hope.

Here in St. Lucia for a brief visit to negotiate business contracts and take in some tropical relaxation, he spoke with the Mirror concerning the road traveled, and his optimism on becoming the first St. Lucian artist considered for a Grammy nomination this year.

Mirror: How did you get involved in music and what motivated you to pursue the art?

Weekes: As far as I can remember, it goes back to my growing up as a child and providing nighttime entertainment for my family. We used to line up in the living room and sing to our parents. That was nighttime entertainment for us and we blossomed from there by doing shows at local venues like the Methodist school and practicing with some of the local bands. A humorous episode to this development was that we favoured singing Jackson Five tunes. My brother Veroy was the chosen lead singer and I had a problem with that, because I felt that being the youngest member of the group, I should be allowed to do the lead vocals like Michael Jackson. We sported the big Afro hairdos at the time and did all the choreography stuff, singing songs like Ben and others. We also liked singing Sly and the Family Stone songs and performed at schools, town hall and other venues. I got more into it when I began attending SMC, and we got an opportunity to host our own radio show on RSL. I was about 13 years old at the time, and we had a programme called Rise. I got my early brush of fame and my brother, Desmond, printed T-shirts, so he did some Rise T-shirts for us. We got the name from an old Herb Alpert song and we used to play all kinds of music at that time. Later on at SMC, we started a school band and we would go over to the L’arc-un-ciel band room, where they allowed us to practice. They never charged us for rehearsals and were very encouraging. In retrospect, it seems to me that I was always a songwriter. I was always writing down stuff and I sang for the SMC school band.

I later traveled to Toronto, Canada, for a while but things did not really work out for me, so I moved to New York.

Mirror: Where did you begin your first sessions and what about your first recordings?

Weekes: New York was like a heaven to me since all the bands that I had listened to in St. Lucia, were coming through to me. I got the opportunity to listen to all these bands and then I truly realized that this is what I wanted to do. So I went to a studio and had a recording done, and then sang at live shows in the nightclubs. At one of these gigs, someone approached me and requested that I perform at a show dubbedThe Future of Reggae. To perform at that show required that you have a full backup band. That night, I found myself in a place where we had to hire a backup band to perform. After the show, the funniest thing happened. The guys who were backing me up left the original band and told me that they would join me whenever I was prepared to form a band. My band was formed right there, and we got together and started rehearsing till we got a residency in New York, at a place called the Lion’s Den. We played there every Sunday till we were able to better the craft, and then the fans started coming and the e-mail list started growing. We began to move about a little further playing gigs, till we felt that we had it down well enough and we got into a studio, where we recorded our first album called Hope and Doubt, between 2005 and 2006. I was overwhelmed with the reviews that followed the release of the album. Joe Blaine was the man who mixed the album and he had worked with big-time artists like Lauryn Hill and Prince. Following the release of that album we toured 25 cities and played at some festivals.

Mirror: Tell us about the transformation of your music and the transition period following your parents’ death.

Weekes: I had written 12 songs after my mother died, which reflected my feelings during that time. The songs were reflective of the sorrow at the time, and I wrote a song called Clay Dust to Dust. But just as I was about recovering, my father died, and I remember going through all the emotions during that period. I remember coming home and surfing the net. I got to see all that was happening in Darfur at the time. I realized that it was true; that I had my tragedy, but there were people dying because of nothing at all and I realized it really was not about me. I pictured those children dying through no fault of theirs and I started writing a song called Orphans Cry.

The song basically says: Devils who ride on horseback null our sleepy eyes. Hypnotized in the cradle of a comfortable recliner. Your hands on controls you simply shift by. Less suffering is not your reality. But you turn a blind eye, is pure brutality.

After writing that song, all the other songs for that album started flowing.

Mirror: What inspires you to write and sing?

Weekes: The funny thing is that when I sit down to write, I do not decide that I am going to write about a social issue. I think that conscious artists produce conscious art, so I think it already has to be in you as a conscious person to produce something that’s conscious. I may write the occasional love songs, but for the most part what I produce tends to be stuff that is socially conscious.

Mirror: Ok then? Now we know the biggest issue at present with your artistic development, let’s focus on your considered nomination for a Grammy Award. How do you feel concerning this latest recognition?

Weekes: Well, we are short-listed and up for consideration. It is a great achievement, for one, being recognized by the greatest organization that deals with the art form in which I work. But I think it is of a greater thrill for the people who work with me, than it is for me, because I don’t do it for that purpose. It is just one of those things along the way. If I am climbing a ladder, there are certain steps that I have to take, and I expect to get there. I am not surprised. I have hung my hat so high that anything along the way is of minimal consequence to me. I expect these things; it is not about bragging or anything. I expect to win a Grammy Award, and anything short of that would be failing myself. I think the only reason that we do art is because we have a unique voice that no one else has. I think I have a unique way of articulating the way in which I see the world, and that’s why I do the things I do.

Mirror: Tell us a bit about the involvement with your children’s charity group TOCO.

Weekes: A lot of us talk the talk, but we do not walk the walk. I think that reggae is probably the most socially conscious music that I am aware of. We had been doing this in obscurity for a long time, giving away soccer gear and other stuff in Africa. But after releasing Orphans Cry, someone from the United Nations (UN) gave the song a listening ear and later requested an audience with us. We met with Dr. Hope, an incredible Jamaican woman who manages the World Association of Former UN Interns and Fellows (WAFUNIF), and the head member of the International Consortium of Caribbean Professionals (ICCP). They have an organization that attempts to bring Caribbean issues to the fore and they asked whether with my “celebrity” status, I would be inclined to shine the spotlight away from Africa to the Caribbean. This was in an effort to make people aware that these issues also affect us in the region and I took it on. So I was made Goodwill Ambassador to the Caribbean. TOCO was formed in New York, but we have an offshoot in St. Lucia, which was opened up two years ago. The idea of TOCO is to try to help children of the Caribbean in whatever way we can, whether through education, equipping them with sports gear and providing medical services in the communities and at the schools.