Greetings,

In 1972 George Carlin did a famous routine on the Seven Dirty Words you can’t say on television (or radio)

1. shit
2. piss
3. fuck
4. cunt
5. cocksucker
6. motherfucker
7. tits

In Jamaica you might want to add a #8: bumbaclaat. When Aunt Flo comes a callin’ each month, Rasta women in Jamaica living in the hills don’t go for Kotex or Tampax but have to do what rural and poor women have done for centuries: rags.

In some Rasta societies the stigma of menstruation makes women “unclean” and they are often kept apart from the Rasta men.

The term used for these menstruation rags in Jamaica: bumbaclaat. Bumba slang word for….pussy. Claat/cloth = Bumbaclaat. It can also mean the rag you use to wipe your backside. A nasty epithet forbidden in polite company but a rude retort akin to dropping F-bombs from the stage.

Peter Tosh is most identified with the term. He put a song entitled “Bumbaclaat” on his album Wanted Dread & Alive. HIs American record label was none too happy and excised the song from domestic release. If you have seen the Tosh biography Red X, he talks about how a duppy (Jamaican malevolent spirit) paralyzed Peter one night and his only way to break free was to scream out BUMBACLAAT! to free himself from demonic possession.

That story is one of many I tell on the June 20, 2015 edition of Smile Jamaica. End of June 2015 tallies up 27 years of Reggae Radio for I ‘n’ I on KRCL 90.9FM Salt Lake City, Utah. Give thanx!

bless, robt

<HIgh-lights of the June 20, 2015: Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: 73 sec.>

• Summer jam skiffle and soul covers
• 4:20 and Seven Leaf set, 4 down, 46 to go!
• Wailers Family Tree: Tosh teaches us a swear word. Wailers mix ‘n’ match on Stop That Train – Catch a Fire. Marcia at Studo One. Bunny Wailer Gumption. Chalice covers Stevie livicated to Bob
• Best of 25 Years: My favorite selections from 1988-1990 on Reggae Radio
• Roots Dawtas – Marcia, Lorna, Ranking Ann, Fabiane, Alpha & Omega trancers, Marvels do Aretha
• Vinyl is Vital: herb, dawta, deejays, youthmen
• Mutant Dub: Jah-pon, Snoop, African Head Charge

Set 1:

• Jimmy Riley – Summertime; 12” (DEB) ’75 from Porgy and Bess

<Summertime and the living is easy; 17 sec.>

• Burning Babylon – Sproing-a-Dub; Beat, Beat, Beat (I Tones) 2008 Boston; Dub Album of the Week
• Ken Boothe – In the Summertime; Keep on Running (Trojan) ’70 Mungo Jerry cover; 15 sec.

• Marvels – Rock Steady; 100% Dynamite (Soul Jazz) ’71 Aretha Franklin cover w/ female vox; 7 sec.

• Max Romeo – My Jamaica Collie; Pray For Me (Trojan) ’73; 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement; over My Jamaican Girl

<Max Romeo – My Jamaica Collie; 13 sec.>

• Chalice – Master Blaster (Jammin’); Best of Reggae (Sonoma); Stevie Wonder tribute to Bob Marley

<Stevie Wonder – Master Blaster Jammin’; 6 sec.>

<Bought this one at the Mall-Wart; 26 sec.>

Set 2:

• Peter Tosh – African; Live at the Jamaican World Music Festival (Peter Tosh Foundation); 11/27/82: Montego Bay, JA

<Jamaican swear word: Bumbaclaat!1  min. 41 sec.>

• Fabiane – Prophecy; 12 the Hardway (Tribes Man)
• Dennis Brown – No More Shall I Roam; 10” (Observer) ‘74

Set 3: Best of 25 Years – Smile Jamaica

• Bim Sherman – Slummy Ghetto; Across the Red Sea (ON U Sound) ’82

<Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives Favorite Singer: Bim Sherman; 20 sec.>

• General Echo – Lovers Corner; 12” of Pleasure (Greensleeves) ‘80

<General Echo – 12″ of Pleasure; 19 sec.>

• Michael Prophet – Fight it to the Top; Serious Reasoning (Mango) ‘80
• Ranking Ann – Black Rock Posse; A Slice of English Toast (Ariwa/RAS) ‘82

Set 4:

<Why Chris Blackwell remixed The Wailers – Catch a Fire LP; 50 sec.>

• The Wailers – Stop That Train; Catch a Fire (Tuff Gong) ’73 (Jamaican Mix)
• The Wailers – Stop That Train; Catch a Fire (Tuff Gong) ’73 (Blackwell’s remix)

<Recap the differences – Stop That Train: JA mix vs. US/UK mix; 51 sec.>

• Bunny Wailer – Sounds Clash; Gumption (Shanachie) ‘90

Set 5: Vinyl Is Vital

• Marcia Griffiths – Melody Life; At Studio One (Studio One) ’68 JA

<Marcia Griffiths – The Aretha Franklin of Reggae; 3 sec.>

• Ringo – Ganja Exchange; Woman a Ginal (Top Ranking) ’81 Miami herb tune
• Nicodemus – Mother in Law; She Love It in the Morning (Hitbound) ’82 Brooklyn, NY
• Michael Palmer – Jah On My Mind; Star Performer (Tonos)  ’84 UK
• Tristan Palmer – Jail House; Joker Lover (Jah Guidance) ’82 Jamaica, NY

Set 6: Seven Leaf Herbtunes

• Al Campbell – Light Up Your Chalice; Weed a Bun vol. 1 (Charm) 2005
• Lloyd Hemmings – Rude Boy; Firehouse Revolution (Pressure Sounds) ’86;  One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer update; King Tubby’s dancehall prod’ns

<One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer = One Draw, One Cigarette, NO BAIL! 9sec.>

• Blessed – Herb Tea; Blessed (Explorer) 2007
• Ernie Ranglin – Easy Skanking; Tribute to a Legend (Kariang) ’97 guitar instrumental

Set 7:

• Jimmy Cliff – Viet Nam; In Concert: Best of Jimmy Cliff (Warner Bros.)  ‘76
• Lorna Asher – True History; Straight to Your Heart (Twinkle) ‘99
• Junior Keating – Conquering Lion; Weekend Lover (Roots) ‘80
• Rupie & Lynford Anderson – Promoters Grease; Rupie’s Scorchers (Trybute) high steppers chatterbox
• Don Carlos – I Don’t Care; 10” (Negus Roots) ‘83

<Negus: King in Amaharic; 13 sec.>

Set 8: Mutant Dub

• Audio Active – Sunset Doesn’t Mean We Lose the Sun; We Are Tokyo Space Cowboys (ON U Sound) ’94 Japan
• Alpha & Omega – Prophecy Fulfilled; Watch & Pray (A & O) ’92 trance dub w/ female vox
• Kanka – Skunky; Don’t Stop Dub! (Hammerbass) 2005 France
• African Head Charge – Hymn; Touch I (ON U Sound) ’94 UK EP
• Snoop Lion & Jahdan Blakkamore – Harder Times (Berhane Sound System) 2013 dubstep
• Dub Gabriel feat. U Roy – Luv n’ Liv; Raggabass Resistance (Destroy A/C) 2013

Words of Wisdom: