Post by messenger on Aug 5, 2004 19:29:36 GMT -5
August 05, 2004
Reggae legend to play festival
By Lisa Rauschart
SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Reggae is getting a lot of airplay these days, with Sean Paul and Wayne Wonder bending the groove
to a hip-hop beat. But if you're looking for the real thing, you may have to dig a little deeper than what's filling up the airwaves.
"You should listen to my kind of reggae," says Frederick Hibbert, better known as Toots of Toots and the Maytals, who will be playing the Roots Rock Reggae Festival at Wolf Trap on Sunday. Toots should know. After all, he's the one who first used the term, in "Do the Reggay" way back in 1968.
Back then, reggae was coming into its own, evolving from Jamaican ska and rocksteady into the now-familiar form. Through it all, Toots was able to develop his own distinctive sound and singing style, thanks in part to some very early practice.
"My parents took me to church when I was about three, put me on the table, and I sang," Toots remembers. "I was singing, and everyone turned around."
So you could say that Toots' career as a solo artist started right there. Not that Toots is averse to working with others. His latest album, "True Love," features collaborations on reggae standards with the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton and Bootsy Collins.
"We bring the roots from Jamaica to the roots from America," Toots says.
The Roots Rock Reggae festival itself includes some of the newest names in reggae — albeit with an impeccable pedigree. Bob Marley offspring Julian, Damian, Stephen, Ziggy and Ky-mani Marley will all be playing here as well.
"I appreciate what the youth is doing," Toots says. "And I get to teach them what real reggae is. It carries a message, and culture and is in no way negative. We are coming to make people rejoice."
• • •