In 1972 George Carlin did a famous routine on the Seven Dirty Words you can’t say on television (or radio)
shit
piss
fuck
cunt
cocksucker
motherfucker
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.
Seven Dirty Words
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
Bumbaclaat to chase the Devil away
<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.>
Only go in one of these when I have to chauffeur my Mom around town
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
Bumbaclaat – Jamaican F-bomb
Set 3: Best of 25 Years – Smile Jamaica
Bim Sherman – Slummy Ghetto; Across the Red Sea (ON U Sound) ’82
Is Reggae music gospel music? Yes and no. What attracted me to Reggae back in the mid 80s was certainly the Rastafari themed music from stalwarts (pronounced stal-a-watt in Jamaica) like Marley, Tosh and Spear.
Of course there is plenty of non-religious Reggae: love songs, pop and soul covers.
I doubt Reggae would have had such cultural saturation in the West on the backs of novelty hits like “Fattie Boom Boom” and “Israelites” or AM covers with a shuffle beat. Something about Reggae’s heavenly message attracted interested Westerners looking for something exotic and non-mainstream.
In the 70s lots of people in the West opted out of Christianity, (especially Catholicism and Judaism), and went for something new. Some went to cults. Others went for Reggae: Movement of Jah People while also protesting against the “system.” Or the corrupt and greedy “shit-stem” as Peter Tosh called it. Socialism with a small “s”.
Tired of doing the Judeo-Christian bit? Choose: Jim Jones or Haile Selassie
You don’t have to be a Rasta to sing or enjoy Reggae. But the conventional wisdom is that Reggae is identified as a counter cultural exploration of worship of His Imperial Majesty as a Black Jesus. West Africans ripped from the continent, put down in Jamaica in bondage and expected to worship their master’s white god.
Rebelling against that physical and mental slavery, while still preserving Christian traditions, led to Rastafari in Jamaica: Look to a black king crowned in East Africa. The return of Jesus who will lead blacks out of “Babylon” (The West, Jamaica, UK, America, etc.) to “Zion” (Africa or better still Ethiopia.)
I’m not a Rasta. My roots are in Northern Europe and Iran. I consider myself a Rastafari empathizer. Someone who understands and appreciates the religion as a devoted observer. Not a devotee.
The Smile Jamaica formula: 50% Rasta music; 20% Mutant Dub; 20% Seven Leaf; 9% UFOs; 1% Lovers Rock
I grew up a twice a year Methodist: Christmas Eve and Easter. The only time the Nelson family really went to weekly Sunday service was the two years my Dad was on the City Council in Fort Benton Montana.
Not that I haven’t been trying to be a “missionary” for the secular consumption of Reggae music. I celebrate Jah for the inspiration in thousands of Reggae tunes that fill my soul with joy. But I am careful not to endorse HIM out of respect for true believers. I don’t want to be a part of what Jacob Miller complained about: Too much commercialization of Rastafari!
Yours truly, Bobbylon, is a Rasta empthazier. I ‘n’ I look to the heavens for Ancient Aliens. Not Skygods
The reason I bring this up: I had an interview with Jamaican Reggae singer Etana. So I do what I normally do before a phone interview: go on Wikipedia and read up on the artist’s entry.
Her album I Rise starts off with a gospel cover of a brilliant Bob Marley cover tune: Selassie is the Chapel. Itself an update of an old American gospel tune. Covered by Elvis.
Etana’s entry mentioned her recording genres thusly: Reggae, Gospel.
Reggae Singer Etana. Gave me the Hairy Eyeball for calling her a Reggae AND Gospel singer. Mea culpa!
While introducing her to the radio listeners, I casually mentioned Etana was a Reggae and Gospel artist coming to town. She interrupted me and corrected me. She was most certainly NOT a Gospel singer. Her music was not geared to religiosity.
No worries. I did political interviews for 9 years. You don’t have to agree with me to have a conversation.
But when you lead off your album with a Rasta cover of a full on gospel song you can see where I might have been mistaken!; 21 sec.
By the way, I am not religious either. What earthlings worshipped as Skygods were Ancient Aliens colonizing Earth to mine gold to take back to their homeworld, Nibiru, beyond our galaxy.
Set your I watch alarm to 2900AD. That’s when the Anunnaki return to Earth.
Skygods came from here. The 12th Planet. Do not scoff!
In fact Etana the Reggae Singer, meet Etana the Sumerian King
Etana was an ancient Sumerian king of the city of Kish. According to the Sumerian King List, he reigned after the deluge. The list also calls Etana “the shepherd, who ascended to heaven and consolidated all the foreign countries”, and states that he ruled 1560 years.
Ascended to Heaven in a Chariot of the Gods (Erich Von Daniken)
Read this book. It makes sensi to me!
Here is what I have for you during the next 3 hours of Roots Reggae, Dubwize and Gospel; 18 sec.
Annotated Playlist (photos, captions, Reggae History Lessons, soundbytes)
Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: May 30, 3015:
Set 1:
Wayne Jarrett – Saturday Night Jamboree; 12” (Dub Irator) ‘80
Bullwackies All Stars – Recording Connection; Black World (Wackies) ’79 Dub Album of the Week
Afrikan Simba + Echo & Prince Livijah – Free Up the Herb + Here Comes the Herbsman; 10″ EP (Reality Shock) 2007 UK; 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcment
“Mother don’t cry. I’ll be alright. I’m going to a better place”
Set 2: Best of 25 Years of Smile Jamaica
Naturalites – Picture on the Wall; Rub-a-Dubble vol. 1 (CSA) ’85 UK
<How Smile Jamaica made this song International: 1; 64 sec.>
<Smile Jamaica and the Oral Tradition; 29 sec.>
Althea & Donna – Sorry; Uptown Top Ranking (Virgin Front Line) ’78 female dj duo
Dennis Brown – So Jah Say; Words of Wisdom (Shanachie) ’79
African Head Charge – Gospel Train; Songs of Praise (ON U Sound) ’90 Mutant Dub/African music hybrid
Not to be confused with the cheap beer. Storytelling: Listen to the bytes above to hear how Smile Jamaica made Picture on the Wall a big Reissue Hit in the SoCal Island community
Set 3: Tribute to Bob Marley
Sister Carol – Dedicated to Bob Marley; Black Cinderella (Heartbeat/Jah Life) ’84
<Rastas would prefer livicate to dead-icate; 16 sec.>
Lone Ranger – Tribute to Bob Marley; On the Other Side of Dub (Heartbeat/Studio One) ’81 bonus track
<No Reggae without Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One Label; 22 sec.>
Culture – Psalm of Bob Marley + Dub of Bob Marley; Good Things (RAS) ’89
Coxsone Dodd – founder of Reggae Music with his Studio One record label; 1932-2004. Thank you!
Set 4: Jamaican Jukebox – 7″ 45 RPM
Jah Blue – Charles Manson; 7″ (Roots International) ’79 JA, not a tribute!
<Charles Manson – Helter Skelter “black people beware”; 56 sec.>
The Mutants have taken over on Smile Jamaica: New Year’s Bass-gasm of Modern Dub: A-Zed
Greetings,
<10th Annual: Mutant Dub New Year: 3 hours of A-Zed; 30 sec.>
Happy New Year! Let’s start it off with all dub and bass. Neo-Dub, Modern Dub, Mutant Dub.
Gonna give the Orthodox Roots stalwarts the week off to explore my fascination with the crossover dub sound: drum & bass, electronica, downtro, lounge, dubstep, militant steppers, techno, ambient, etc. etc.
I listen to Roots Reggae at home and Mutant Dub in my car. Knives to the treble!
“Knives to the treble”…Joe Strummer, The Clash
Let’s see how it sounds stretched out to 3 hours instead of the usual last set on the weekly Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives.
Mutant Dub Kingpins
Mutant Dub:Where Jamaican echo meets Modern Dance music’s wobble
bless, robt
<What is Mutant Dub? 14 sec.>
Set 1: A-F
Alpha & Omega – City of Dub; Dub Magic (Zion Gate) ‘99
UK trance dubbers w/ female vox
Burning Babylon – Dub Tragic; Garden of Dub (I-Tones) 2006 Jah-suchusetts; Dub Album of the Week
Dubblestandart feat. Devon D – We All Have to Get High; Immigration Dub (Groove Attack) 2007 Jah-stria; 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement; quotes The Doors “Out here on the perimeter,there are no stars we is stoned immaculate”
<Jim Morrison Lyric; 30 sec.>
Easy Star All Stars feat. Sluggy Ranks – Speak to me + Breathe (In the Air); Dub Side of the Moon (Easy Star) 2003; Pink Floyd cover with bong rip effects
Future Pigeon – Mummy Rock; Echodelic Sounds of Future Pigeon (Record Collection) 2006 Los Jah-ngeles, Collie-fornya; herbtune
Abassi All Stars – Edutainment; Dub Showcase (Universal Egg) 2007 UK
Future Pigeon – Yuppy Conqueror; Echodelic Sounds of Future Pigeon (Fanatic) 2006 Los Jah-ngeles, Collie-fornya
trance dub with female vox. Heavenly
Smile Jamaica is hosted by Robert Nelson on 90.9 FM KRCL in Salt Lake City, Utah (Saturdays, 4-7 p.m. MT). Ark-ives available weekly here at the Smile Jamaica blog.
Smile Jamaica 