ANTOINETTE'S BOOGIE by Kendel HippolyteiI could do wid one o' dem boogie tonight a deepdown spiritual chanting rising upfull-I a Bunny Wailer flailing Apollyon with a single song i could be in a mystic dance tonight when every tramp I tramp I stamp de dragon head down into hell and every high step lifting my leg one more rung upon de Jacob ladder and dark as de place be, it have a light it have a light, sweet Jah, more beautiful than fire! i miss dat kinda boogie tonight where your heartbeat is de bass-line and everything so still within de centre of de music although to an outsider it sound noisy but doh mind, out dere is de wilderness and here alone in dis place is de voice of prophecy wailing in de reggae ridim for our time telling us to flee, to forward, doh look back and wo! right in de middle of de song Bob singing stop--de rams' horns start to wail and dis dance-hall is an ark dis dance become a journey One o' dem kinda dance i want where flesh to flesh is serious business where de rubber and de dubber making one a dance where music is priest and de deejay from de tribe of Levi and all our voices from de valley of de dance floor rise up in jubilation everywhere upspringing children of Jah chanting psalm unto psalm unto psalm unto psalm night into morning, praising and raising every heart higher until de light and den we sight Jah face i miss dat kinda boogie tonight where de dance-hall is a holy place. (Wheel and Come Again, p100) ITALIST CHANT by Rohan PrestonI can see buckra a come Lock-step to start a fray With them chains and munitions But I don't feel no way Nesta Marley, Mosiah Garvey A flow inna me vein Malcom X-mas, Luther Kingdom Mash them down again I can hear the missiles a hum But Jah Jah a the conqueror At Palmares, Addis Ababa Duppyman conqueror Harriet Tubman, King Shaka Show Jah love for true Sister Nanny and Kenyatta Pass their grace on to you The one Hannibal, Nefertiti All a them refuse to fall Queen Mother and Mandibi All of them are part of me I can see the armies rolling But Natty a the conqueror For our fathers, foremothers None of them a bangarang I can hear the mountains calling Jah Lion a the conqueror Love you, Papa, love you, Mama O, Zion a the conqueror Final conka-conka-kang Conka-conka-kang Conka-conka-kang Conka-conka-kang Conqueror (Wheel and Come Again, p161) JAH MUSIC by Lorna Goodison(For Michael Cooper) The sound bubbled up through a cistern one night and piped its way into the atmosphere, and descent people wanted to know "What kind of ole nayga music is that playing on the Government's radio?" But this red and yellow and dark green sound, stained from traveling underground, smelling of poor people's dinners from a yard dense as Belgium, has the healing. More than weed and white rum healing. More than bush tea and fever grass cooling and it pulses without a symphony conductor all it need is a dub organizer (Wheel and Come Again, p87)
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