LIGHT TRAFFIC

This is an article I wrote for Montreal’s Community Contact before I left. The Montreal Reggae Festival which closes tomorrow with a performance by Mr. Marley, seems far, far away as I post this from my hotel room in Iqaluit, Nunavut. One love.

WITH A DIFFERENT SWAG
by Carolyne Weldon

It’s a fact: no reggae festival is complete without a touch of Marley. For its sixth edition, the Montreal Reggae Fest is proud to present Bob Marley’s second youngest child, Ki-Many Marley, who will provide the event’s crowning act on Sunday June 28th.

The singer’s awaited appearance, showcased as part of a tribute to Trench Town’s Alston “Godfather of Rocksteady” Ellis, who passed away last October, will follow performances by veteran vocalist Sugar Minott and ladies’ favorite Sanchez.

In many ways, Ky-Mani’s music sounds like you think it should. It is soulful and gritty, the legitimate product of a life split between Falmouth Jamaica, where he was born, and the inner city of Miami where he was transplanted at age 9.

His sound, though deeply rooted in reggae, borrows freely from hip-hop and other urban genres. His latest album Radio – which offers some of his widest departures from pure reggae sonorities – perfectly encapsulates Ky-Mani’s adventurous nature.

On hits such as “One time (for my warriors)” and “Ghetto Soldier” the artist seamlessly seesaws between rapping and singing, and the riddims are all but predictable. “In East Africa my name means ‘adventurous traveller’. In West Africa it means ‘warrior’. I like to think I’m a bit of both”, he offers by way of an explanation.

Musically, he enjoys not being able to be pinned down. “It’s not that I don’t like being labeled a ‘reggae artist’, it’s that I don’t like no labels”, he says on the phone from Miami.

“I wouldn’t want to be labeled a ‘hip-hop artist’ either,” he adds. “I do all kinds of things and produce a variety of sounds”, says the singer. Considering he’s both recorded tracks with American rapper Young Buck and toured with hard rock outfit Van Halen, that may be a bit of an understatement.

“It’s always about music,” he says, “just with a different swag.”

Music, however, was a bit of an unlikely development for Ky-Mani who was always more into sports growing up. “I never focused on music as a child,” he says.

“My musical career was almost a fluke. People heard my singing and said it has a nice tone to it, similar to my Dad’s.” It is indeed often said that of all Marley heirs – Damian, Ziggy, Stephen and Julian – Ky-Mani is the one who sounds like Bob the most.

“There’s never really been a destination to my music career,” says the singer who was offered a record contract soon after appearing on Praswell’s cover of Eddy Grant’s “Electric Avenue” in 1997.

“I just write music. I knew this was my calling when people started coming up to me and telling me my music had touched them or moved them in some way. That’s what’s encouraged me to pursue it.”

Over the last decade, Ky-mani Marley has also made a name for himself as an actor. Further proving his great versatility, he’s incarnated characters as diverse as Biggs, the bad man leading character of popular Jamaican underground movie Shottas (with Paul Campbell and dancehall deejay Spragga Benz), and Kassa, a rasta musician who falls in love with a gospel singer (Cherine Anderson) in the the romantic comedy One Love (2005)

While he calls music his true calling, he says he was always grateful for the opportunity to act. “I’ve always been fascinated with action heroes and movie stars growing up”, he says. “I like to be part of that too.”