JAMAICAN WARRIORS pt. 3

Okay, time to get to the point here!

First off...this book is not trying to detail the history of Reggae. What this book does try to explain is what ingredients make Reggae a tasty concoction. This book stirs in the Rastafarian beliefs, the ghetto realities and the individual David’s that stood ground against the British Goliath. This book surveys the birth lands and home places of the faith and the music’s founders. Writer Stephen Foehr even walks the same path to Settlement that Thomas Howell did back when he took Marcus Garvey’s preaching to heart and mind. Garvey’s was preaching about the stolen Black Man and the newly crowned king of Ethiopia (Abyssinia). These preachings shaped the beginnings of Rastafarian beliefs. I get the feeling Foehr is an old time roots fan but a disbeliever of the faith. At one point he cautions the reader by comparing strict Rasta ideals to Taliban doctrine. He mentions that dictator Joseph Stalin is responsible for hundreds of deaths due to his nations famine. Then follows that tid-bit of info with Emperor Haile Selassies and his country’s deadly drought. He leaves you to connect the dots.

This book offers bus schedule hints. How to find Jamaica's best-secluded beaches. Where else are you going to get slow drunk on overproof rum and eyeball the bikinied Nubian nubiles? This book covers JA's jerk pork. Not an ital Rasta's favorite. Where to get the best cup of Blue Mountain grown coffee.

This book, which is published in the year 2000, calls modern Dancehall a walking corpse! Foehr even calls a festival spearheaded by Capleton a concert of hate!!! What??? Get over it old man.

I feel Stephen Foehr is an outsider looking in. He definitely equates Reggae with Bob Marley. The book's author also gives me the impression that deep down he feels that real Reggae died on 11 May 1981. I get the feeling he is a tourist when he visits Reggae music. I do recommend this book for those who are new to the music. Stephen Foehr is no dummy; he overstands yard culture and Nyabinghi drumming. He knows his history but seems to have written this book for frat boys planning to go on vacation.