Beyond Reckoning - raps it up!

Chamikara Weerasinghe

An eighteen-year-old chap from St Peter's College, Colombo, on Wednesday remembered how he loved rap and hip-hop music as a student of grade five and six.

"Great..." he said.

"What?" I asked the youngster.

"The chemistry in the beat, the sound, the singing and the lyrics," said Warren Balthazaar of Beyond Reckoning thoughtfully.

When the pimps in the crib ma,
drop it like it's hot, drop it like it's hot, drop it like it's hot.
When the pigs try to get at ya
park it like it's hot, park it like it's hot, park it like it's hot.

"You know that's Snoop Dogg dat did it. I was influenced by big time rap artistes like Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Dr. Dre, DMX, TuPac, Lil Jon and Public Enemy. I like rap music because it's about the reality of the poor, broken families, domestic violence, gangs and the ghetto that this style of music talks about," said Warren.

So what?

"So I chose rap music and am doing just that. Left school after my O/L. Formed "Beyond Reckoning" for the purpose with Steffan, my elder brother, and Jason and Dirk"

The Crew made its debut performance recently at "Spectrum", a music and dance show held at the Bishop College's Auditorium, organised by the Joint Committee of Interact Clubs in Colombo in aid of schools affected by the tsunami.

What a start Crazy Z.

"No that's Cray-Z. That's one of my stage names," said Warren. "My crew sometimes calls me Crazy and so the name," he added. His other names are L3giiT and BaL13rR. Warren is the main symbol behind Beyond Reckoning.

Steffan (21), stage name JusticE, is an essentially speechless guy in the crew who does his bit as the co-producer of the band. He can be found wearing a candid smile on his face. Steffan's influence range from Bee Gees to TuPac.

Jason Mathews (18), raps like the rest of the team and also a rapid writer of songs. Cray-Z is the other writer. Jason suffers from an overdose of music by DMX and Ruff Riders.

Dirk James, also called Lil Saint, the producer of the Crew, has his own music studio at home. He is responsible for all the beats and musical arrangements with Steffan. Dirk plays keyboards and guitar. His models in the industry are 50 cent (G unit) Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem , Lil Jon and DMX.

Now what?

We are working on our debut album. We are planning to do 12 tracks of fusion by blending the beats of the orient with modern hip-hop beat traditions. We expect to introduce a few rhythm jerkers. The songs will be both dark and light. We will be using music software like the Reason and Cue Base.

We have already informed all the radio stations about our new album, said Cray-Z.

Wrap it up!

The Rastafarian Activist

"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our minds."

Redemption Song - Bob Marley

Bob Marley or Robert Nesta Marley (his real name) was born on February 6th 1945, unto a white Briton and a young Jamaican woman. The King of Reggae music, Marley will always be remembered by music scholars with respect for his popularising raggae outside Jamaica. Marley is the first artist to emerge as an international superstar from a Third World country.

He sang songs of freedom that dealt with the struggles of the impoverished and the undertreated. His songs gave a voice to the oppressed around the world.

Bob Marley was a member of the Rastafari Movement, which believes Haile Selassie I, former Emperor of Ethiopia to be Jah (God) incarnate.

Rastafarian culture was a key element in the development of reggae, and Marley's adoption of the characteristic Rastafarian dreadlocks and use of marijuana as a sacred sacrament in the early 70s' were an essential part of his persona as a famous musician.

Many of Marley's songs contained Biblical references, sometimes using wordplay to fuse activism and religion, as in 'revolution' and 'revelation': "Revelation, reveals the truth...it takes a revolution to make a solution."

Bob Marley had to face many questions about his own racial identity, throughout his life with a white English father and a black Jamaican mother, especially when Jamaica was experiencing racial tension in the 1960s. Moving to Kingston Trenchtown slum with his mother after his father's death, Marley had to learn self-defence since he was constantly bullied because of his racial make-up.

Leaving school at the age of 14, apprenticing at a local welder's shop, Marley devoted his free time to music, working as a group with four other musicians, calling themselves the 'Wailers'. After topping the Jamaican charts in 1964 with their first single 'Simmer Down', the band broke up in 1974 releasing their more commonly known songs, 'Get up, Stand up' and 'I shot the sheriff' in their release of their second and last album, 'Burnin', worldwide.

In 1975, Marley had his first International breakthrough with his first own hit outside Jamaica, "No woman, no cry" from the Natty Dread album. This was followed by Rastaman Vibration, which was a breakthrough album in the US, spending four weeks in the Top Ten of the Billboard Charts.

Bob Marley left Jamaica at the end of 1976, and went to England where he recorded both Exodus and Kaya. Exodus stayed on the British Charts for 56 straight weeks.

Aware of the political disputes within his country, Bob Marley returned to Jamaica in 1978, to perform another political concert - The One Love Peace concert, in an effort to bring peace to the warring political parties. Close to the end of the performance, Marley asked Michael Manley, Jamaican Prime Minister, and his political rival Edward Seaga to shake hands which they did.

Next, Survival, a defiant and politically charged album was released in 1979. Tracks like "Zimbabwe", "Africa Unite", "Wake up and live", and "Survival" reflected Marley's support for the struggles of Africans.

Uprising (1980) was Bob Marley's final studio album, and is one of Marley's most direct religious albums, including the "Redemption Song", famous for its reflecting lines: "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our minds."

In July 1977, Marley was found to have a wound on his right big toe, which he thought was from a football injury. The wound would not completely heal, and his toenail fell off during another game. It was then the correct diagnosis was made. Marley actually had a form of skin cancer, Malignant Melanoma, which grew under his toenail.

Marley was advised to get his toe amputated, but he refused because of his Rastafarian beliefs, that the body must be whole, that to have an amputation would be a sin, that his faith would ensure him living forever regardless of the cancer and because he saw doctors as 'men who cheat the gullible by pretending to have the power of witchcraft'.

He also was concerned about the impact the operation would have on his dancing. "Rasta no abide amputation. I don't allow no mon (man) ta be dismantled."

The cancer eventually spread to Marley's brain, lungs and stomach. On a flight home to Jamaica after receiving treatment in Germany, the plane was forced to land on Miami when Marley fell too ill. His final words to his son Ziggy, had been, "Money can't buy life" (1981).

Thushara Kaluarachchi

Hi folks,

You Give Love a Bad Name, is a number one hit by Jon Bon Jovi. The way I see it, if you did not give "Love" a bad name, but someone else did that to you for some reason, that she or he has started to justify his or her leaving you with reasons and any reasons for that matter, I'll tell you what to do.

Hey, I'm talking to you, guys and girls with broken hearts. This is the first thing you are going to do: Do not listen to them, leave them alone, don't hurt them, just let it go.

If you still feel the pain of separation and if you still feel lonely, remember that an owner of a lonely heart is much safer than an owner of a broken heart. So what I mean is be lonely. Observe loneliness, do not analyze it. All questions have sprung from emptiness and they are bound to fade into the same source.

Accept that there is nothing you can do about it. In fact there was nothing. Remember you don't let no one calm you down, you calm yourself. Don't let them in.

If you still feel bad about it, or if you have something to say about it, please feel free to write to Intune, Daily News Features, Lake House, Colombo 10 or just pop us an E-mail at [email protected]

Chamikara

Thurstanite Brass 2006 at BMICH today

The Western Band Organising Committee of Thurstan College will stage its fourth Inter-school Indoor Band Display today at the BMICH, Colombo.

About 10 to 12 school bands in Colombo and Kandy will participate in this event. The festival will feature brass band performances by the Thurstan College with other fellow school accompanied by bands, ballet dancing, choirs and oriental drum recitals.

Thurstanite Brass 2006 is organised to bid farewell to its present leader of the band and to welcome a new band leader.

The event is organised every two years. Thurstanite Brass is also a fund raising project for the band. The event will also channel talent from the participating schools across the island.

Principal of the Thurstan College R.D.M.P. Weeratunga said he had a special interest in taking the college's brass band to a very high standard.

The school is thankful to Teacher-in-Charge Kumuduni Dalpatadu, the Western Music Teacher whose efforts have been invaluable in forming a brass band and a junior percussion band.