It could be Bob Marley’s legacy, perhaps a history of enduring hardships or maybe just that paused, relaxed way in which Jamaicans speak, but when they do speak we listen carefully. Everything they say just seems to have a deep
It could be Bob Marley’s legacy, perhaps a history of enduring hardships or maybe just that paused, relaxed way in which Jamaicans speak, but when they do speak we listen carefully. Everything they say just seems to have a deep meaning, and it often does.
Jamaican artist Messenjah Selah just had a brief stay on our island, but left an indelible mark here. His shows were punctuated by a strong stage presence, his wise lyrics and a solid interaction with the public. In return, Kaua‘i has also left a mark on the Jamaican.
“These people are awesome, they just gave me energy all the way, from start to finish,” Selah said of the public on his first show. “When I came off stage, they weren’t ready for me to leave.”
It was his first time on Kaua‘i and he made such an impression that in the following weeks during his stay, people were still greeting him on the street, even those who missed the concert at Lava Lounge in late February.
Selah ended up staying for almost three weeks, and performed two more times; at The Children of the Land (Na Keiki O Ka ‘Aina) cultural center in Waipouli, and with The Lambsbread at Tradewinds.
The concert in Waipouli was a fundraiser for the Jamaican-Rastafarian School in Ethiopia. “It’s all about helping your brother,” Selah said. The very next day the funds were already on their way to help the African students to purchase books.
Selah’s music has a powerful reggae beat, and he has a natural talent for building an instant rapport with the crowd. The striking factor about his message of peaceful, positive living is that it comes across so effortlessly that he sounds like a modern-day prophet.
Despite growing up in poverty-stricken Jamaica, Selah said his childhood was full of fun, culture, excitement, and spiritual and moral lessons.
The daily struggle with poverty was real, but “as a youth it doesn’t really hit you that serious, because you’re carefree in the mind; you just want to be happy. We made our own toys.”
Selah said his parents’ reality was the effort to keep food on the table and to provide shoes for their seven children, and “even those things were real challenging at times.”
“But we always kept a positive vibe, regardless,” he said.
When Selah was 15, his family moved to the Virgin Islands. It was then that he learned how to play the guitar. At that time he was involved in church life, and formed a gospel reggae group with some of his friends.
After high school, Selah moved to Atlanta, Ga. Experiencing the sharp contrast between hardships in the Caribbean Islands and the comfortable life of American society has helped him become understanding and tolerant of both sides of the scale.
“That’s all about creating balance,” Selah said. “And when there’s balance, there’s peace. Everybody is content, everybody is happy.”
“I can teach that in a way to where people don’t just hear me talking because I have a voice. I can feel that, yeah, this person is really saying something real; you feel that, you know it. ‘Who feels it knows it,’ said Bob Marley.”
After moving to the U.S., the Christian-raised Selah came in touch with different religions, and he learned about Islam and other beliefs.
“Exploring all these different beliefs was good for me,” he said. “Just to see different views and different angles on which I and I struggle.”
“It’s a constant battlefield, especially when it comes to religion, the greatest battle, and that’s what keeps us separated, that’s what keeps us hungry, fighting over food, fighting over land, fighting over oil. Religion is the core of all that.”
Selah said from all that, he was able to extract the purest things and apply them on his journey. His whole life, he said, Jah has prepared him to become who he is today, spreading a message of love, harmony and oneness.
Seeing Selah perform is a powerful experience. He’ll stop between songs and share his thoughts, bringing the audience closer to him. It gets personal, inhibitions drop, the reggae beat takes over and the energy is just way too strong to stay still.
“I’m just trying to create positive vibes through music,” he said.
It’s a simple statement, but one that can bring the awareness that anything is possible. “If you can get up in the morning and think, ‘yeah I can do this,’ what else can you ask for?”
The Jamaican encourages people to become an example. “Just be true light and if you are a light, a light cannot be hidden. No matter how far out in these mountains you go, if you light a candle it’s going to be seen.”
The struggle between beliefs is to a certain extent necessary to recognize God because God, he says, is different and is the same. “If I can recognize this, at least you don’t hate me; you’re not trying to hurt me.”
“Jah gave us the power to choose, so why should an individual take that away from you?” asked Selah, defending diversity.
Kaya and Nadia, from The Lambsbread, met Selah two years ago in a reggae festival in California. Selah came to Kaua‘i after Kaya’s invitation. Before Selah had even left the island, he was already making plans to return in July for another string of shows.
Many years from now, when Selah inevitably becomes a big name in the industry, a few here will have bragging rights of having seen him sing his words of wisdom in small venues on Kaua‘i. Hopefully you’ll be one of them.
Selah has released two CDs and is currently working on his next one, which will be titled “Awareness.” For more information, visit www.m-selah.com.
