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Dec 31, 2009, 10:19pm

www.thecosmicburrito.com :: ~ Tunes ~ :: Joseph Hill Passes Through Zion's Gate :: Jah Bless Rastaman

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Topic: Jah Bless Rastaman (Read 384 times)

David Shiffman
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Jah Bless Rastaman
« Thread Started on Sept 3, 2006, 12:39pm »

The reggae community has recently lost a legendary musician and Rastaman, Joseph Hill, lead singer of the roots band Culture.

I was introduced to Culture during the summer prior to my first year of college, on a Caribbean cruise with the family. I had just recently discovered Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, and I was talking to a woman who was a big reggae fan, and I asked her to recommend some other reggae musicians so that when we got to Jamaica I could go buy some music. She recommended Culture, Israel Vibration, Gregory Isaacs and Dennis Brown. I bought the tape, "Good Things" and loved it from the second I hit PLAY on my little tape deck in my cabin on the ship.

Another good story I recall about the music of Culture ocurred when I visited Capetown, South Africa. I had not set foot in the country more than an hour when I was walking down the street and came upon a Rastaman coming my way. I said something to him, like "Live up Rasta," or "Jah, Rastafari" and he stopped and smiled and shook my hand. Then he changed his direction, and started walking with me and my friend toward the way in which he had just come. (I suppose he was out for a leisurely stroll as opposed to to hurriedly trying to get someplace.) He procured a spliff for us to share as we started talking about reggae. I mentioned Culture, and he immediately launched into song. The next thing I know, we're walking down the the streets of Capetown, brazenly smoking a spliff and singing "Chanting On" together.

It was a thrill to connect with someone from a far away land, from a vastly different culture, instantly, through a common love of music. That was one of the moments that really showed me the vital, far-reaching, transcendent power of reggae music.

Several years later, on vacation in Jamaica, the cab driver we had "adopted" for the week had Culture's "Lion Rock" in his tape deck. It played over and over, a contstant loop,throughout the week, and by the end of the week I knew and loved all those songs. At the end of the week, knowing my appreciation for the music, he kindly gave me the cassette to take home. That record remains one of my favorites to this day.

Over the years I have had the chance to see Cutlure perform several times, and they always put on an amazing, heartfelt, show. For one concert at SOB's in NYC, my sister, friends and I made a huge, colorful banner giving praises to the band and to Jah. We paraded in front of the band's tour bus with it, and when they opened up the door to greet us, a huge cloud of sweet smoke came billowing out. We gave them the sign, and I often wonder if the band retained it as a keepsake.

Finally, one gorgeous summer day, my sister, her German Shephard Cassidy, and some friends of ours went to go see Culture perform at on outdoor reggae festival in Connecticut. Somehow I managed to get backstage, and I had the good fortune to meet Joseph. I thanked him for all of the amazing music he had created to continually lift up my soul. He humbly thanked me and said, "It is for people like you that we make the music. You are the reason why we do this."

I will never forget that moment and I will never stop listening to the beautiful music of Culture. One Love! Rastafari!

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