'Reparation fundamental to our progress as a group of people' - Eddy Grant
by Linda Rutherford
Guyana Chronicle
February 1, 2004
`Reparation is a very serious issue and should not be taken lightly by anyone. It's fundamental to our progress as a group of people; to see it in any other terms, in a way, would be belittling the people who have come before us and gone, who have suffered such a serious indignity, so much so, the world has devalued the colour Black.' Eddy Grant
OVER the 30-odd years he's been in the entertainment business, he's given us such gems as the racy 'Hello Africa'; 'Black-skinned Blue-eyed Boy (ain't gonna fight no doggone war)'; and my all-time favourite, 'Political Bassa-Bassa', all of which reflect his innermost thoughts on one social issue or the other.
And he certainly will be remembered for his sterling contribution to international pressure to end apartheid in strife-torn South Africa back in the late 80s with 'Gimme Hope Jo'anna'.
But none, by his own admission, has the depth of 'Reparation', the latest album to come out of Ice Records, a company he initially set up here in Guyana way back in 1974 but because of all sorts of economically unsound reasons had to shunt it, first to Trinidad and Tobago, then Africa and England in that order among the myriad places he tried to find it a home, until he finally settled for sunny Barbados, where he has been living and working since leaving London back in the early 80s.
"This album is probably...the most serious that I've made in terms of the kinds of songs, but maybe, that's not necessarily true," the internationally-acclaimed recording artiste, song-writer and producer told the Sunday Chronicle two Mondays ago from the comfort of the modest living-room of his Carmichael Street home, one of several prime properties he owns here.
"All my songs are serious; I'm a serious person...and I don't think that God put me here just to write 'Baby I Love You'. And I've done that too; there is a required place for it. But inasmuch as He has also given me the gift to write words that can move people and mobilise action, I think then, that is what I have become; I've become the message man; I've become the person who writes the songs that tickle the consciousness," the ever articulate Grant said.
"So on this album, I've written a few, what I would consider, outstanding songs, not necessarily because of their commerciality, but because of their importance in terms of how we think, because how we think as a group is all-encompassing; it is what makes us the way we are, and what will make us what we need to be to survive in a hostile world."
Sharing with us his position on the growing calls worldwide for compensation for the millions of descendants of African slaves, both at home on continental Africa and in the diaspora, for the ignominy, not to mention the deprivation, suffered by their fore-parents during the notorious African Slave Trade, Grant said:
"Reparation is a very serious issue and should not be taken lightly by anyone. It's fundamental to our progress as a group of people; to see it in any other terms, in a way, would be belittling the people who have come before us and gone, who have suffered such a serious indignity, so much so, the world has devalued the colour Black."
And, touching on the resistance the struggle has been coming up against, Grant, who turns 56 on March 5, said: "For much less than this, the world shrieks and cries foul [but] every time you mention the word reparation, people scream. Black people scream; White people scream; all kinds of people scream, because they know the enormity of what's been perpetrated on us."
Noting that it is not an issue that can be resolved quickly, and that neither would he recommend that it should, Grant said there not only needs to be a general accounting, which may very well take several years, but first, "a recognition that there needs to be reparation [and] a worldwide apology from those who enacted slavery and the enslavement of Black people."
As to how soon he anticipates the album will be ready for release, since there is still some measure of work yet to be done on it, such as mastering and the like, Grant said that that is not important. "It will arrive when it arrives," he said.
Which brings us to the whole question of marketing, knowing how he feels about piracy and Intellectual Property. And the short answer to that, is that he and his marketing team "are looking at establishing a total e-commerce situation for Ice Records.... so that if anyone wants to purchase any of my records, or, in fact, any of the records on Ice Records, they can."
He noted, however, that while this arrangement may pose some difficulty for some, particularly those of his fans here in Guyana and other Third World countries, since the service can only be accessed by credit card, it is one certain way of avoiding a major piracy issue. A company as small as Ice Records, he said, has got to be very careful about how it does business.
Asked about the number of tracks on the album, Grant said that while he has made several recordings, by the time they get done, it may well boil down to 10 to 12. As he said: "It's early days yet, and a lot of things can happen in between. I've been known for going to the Mastering Room with a record and.....deciding to go straight back to the studio and cancel...because I didn't find what I wanted at that time."
One of the tracks, however, is a number called: 'We Got to Love We' self'. "It's the one song that I've always wanted to write ...but always kept eluding me," he said. "I write all kinds of things; all kinds of clever ideas here and there would come; but to articulate that particular thought, which is so important in our development throughout the region; throughout the world for that matter; has always managed to elude me."
An album that was long in the making, Grant, who it was that penned the raunchy 'Rough Rider', made popular in the late 60s by the Jamaican, 'Prince Buster', said he normally takes an average of two to three years to bring one out, because of his penchant for working alone. His last was 'Hearts & Diamonds' which came out around 2000.
Always a trendsetter, who can forget the stir he caused back in the 60s when he landed at the then Atkinson Airport , a reminder of our colonial past, sporting an ash-blonde afro, or the stew he got into with the Law for the low-slung, bullet-studded belt he wore to keep his hip-hugging denim jeans in place.
Born Edmond Montague Grant in Plaisance on the lower East Coast, where it is said "he was exposed to the distinctive fusion of African and Indian music," Eddy was 12 when he and his family emigrated to England, where he would team up five years later with four other like-minded youths to form the pop group, 'The Equals'.
Six years later, due to ill health, he quit the group, sold Torpedo, his first ever label, and with the proceeds opened 'The Coach House' which was to become the forerunner to 'Blue Wave Studios' which he now runs out of Barbados.