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Spear Burns Bright
Vancouver
September 20, 2000
Winston Rodney (aka: Burning Spear) has been putting out great reggae music for over thirty years. One of, if not the best reggae album ever recorded, is his 1975 album Marcus Garvey*. He arrived at the sold-out Commodore on Saturday night in support of his Grammy award winning album "Calling Rastafari".
I must admit I am a huge fan of Roots Reggae music and Burning Spear tops the list of my favorite living reggae artists. His vocal style is powerful and hypnotic and every time I see him perform (eight times or so now) he seems to bring more energy to the stage.
 Burning Spear was obviously feeling rejuvenated in front of his Burning Band. There were many young new faces in his eight piece band and playing with a legend such as "Spear" must be quite an honor for them. The bass was heavy, the guitar licks were bluesy, the keys were tasty, and the brass section was sharp. When Spear wasn't singing he was providing all the percussion including some hot conga solos. The 1 hour and 45 minute show never lost momentum and the crowd was with him all the way. Song highlights included "Old Marcus Garvey" and "Slavery Days" from the stellar 1975 album Marcus Garvey*, "Marcus Say Jah No Dead" from the 1978 album Social Living, and "Identity" from 1993’s The World Should Know. Spear also graced the spellbound audience with a striking arrangement of bird calls in the opening few bars of "Man In The Hills" which transported the entire room back to his homeland of Saint Ann's, Jamaica.
I never get tired of seeing Burning Spear live, and age does not seem to be slowing him down. He always delivers a great performance for his fans who appreciate the man, his music and what he stands for: Original Roots Music.
*Garvey, Marcus (1887-1940), black nationalist leader born in St. Ann's Bay on Jamaica's north coast, who created a "Back to Africa" movement in the United States.
Once scorned by the Jamaican power structure, Garvey is regarded today as the father of Jamaican independence. The capital city of Kingston named a road after him. The government brought his remains home and laid them to rest in a Marcus Garvey National Shrine. Marcus Mosiah Garvey is now officially regarded a Jamaica's first national hero. And his likness now adorns Jamaican currency.
-References: Race First by Tony Martin, Black Moses: The Story of Marcus Garvey by E. David Cronon, The Rastafarians: Sounds of Cultural Dissonance by Leonard Barrett, and World's Great Men Of Color Volume II, by J. A. Rogers
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