8 The Beat The Beat 9

Music

Mystic Bowie’s Unique and Spirited

Sound and Soul Hearken Back

to the Roots of Reggae Culture

By Wendy Logan

photos by mike thut

S

S

10 The Beat The Beat 11

In 2004, Mystic Bowie, reggae impresario, leader of The Mystic Bowie Project, longtime front man for The Tom Tom Club, and undisputed purveyor of joy both on and off the stage was slated to do a private show in New York City. Three hours before the show

was to start, Mystic received a call from his family in Jamaica. His mother, who had been suffering from a long illness, appeared to be fading. He had just returned from a visit to her home high in the mountains outside of Negril. He asked to be put on the phone with her.

“Should I come home?” he asked in earnest.

“No,” she replied firmly. “Go out on the stage and perform. Entertain the people. Make them happy.”

Just moments before the show was about to begin, Bowie got a second call. His mama had passed away. Band mate Renard Boissiere watched him take the call and immediately insisted they cancel. “No,” Bowie said. “We’re doing the show.”

Microphone in hand, Bowie says he finds a zone where nothing but the music can touch him. That night, he says, “We smashed that show. My Mom told me to do what I do best and I did it for her.”

The very next day, the band was booked for a local fundraiser to benefit the hurricane relief effort for Jamaica following the disaster wreaked on the island by Hurricane Ivan. Unlike the private event the previous night, this

event was to be attended by many of Bowie’s most loyal Connecticut-based fans. He swore his band to secrecy regarding his personal tragedy and forged ahead with the show. It wasn’t until the set list came to a song he had written many months prior in honor of, and as a message of forgiveness to his mother for his rocky childhood (“Mama,” from the album Rebirth), that he unraveled. He didn’t get very far into the piece when, he says, “It was like all of a sudden a weight had fallen on me. I fell on my knees and cried. I couldn’t sing another note of that song. When I finally looked up, I saw one audience member after another, tears streaming down their faces, not knowing what had happened. I told them and we cried together for a while and then I got up and finished the show.

“On the way home, I was feeling awful. My goal is to make people happy with my music and instead I had made them cry. And then it hit me. I realized the connection I have with my fans, that the connection between the people and my music is powerful. They could have walked away from the discomfort, the awkward moment, but they stayed with me. That night, I realized my fans had become my family.”

ROOTS, ROCK, REGGAEThe story is emblematic of the magic of the music of

Mystic Bowie, and of the man himself. Born Fitzroy Alexander Campbell in St. Elizabeth in Maroon Town, Jamaica, he is a descendant of the Maroon Tribe — the

only remaining unified tribe in Jamaica. He was given his tribal name, Mystic Bowie, by elders based on powers they sensed in him. He became a singer for the Jamaica Tourist Board as a child, and between the ages of 9 and 14 he made three recordings for Jack Ruby Records (“Back to Jamaica, “Happy Hut,” and “Whiny Whiny”). He was 13 when he first left the island to perform abroad, and 14 when he left his tribal home and family for good with a tutor/guardian whose attempts to corral him and provide some measure of discipline were thwarted by the spirited young artist. Many years later, at a show featuring Mystic and Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, the elder musician regaled the crowd with stories of the young musician’s mischief while at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas in the late 70s. One such tale involved Mystic climbing out his bedroom window late one night to sneak into the studios and hang with Emerson and a few other artists.

“As a kid, and even to this day, if there’s music being played, I’m there. You’ll never get rid of me!” he says with a big grin, his Jamaican accent rolling into the air like a ray of island sun. “These guys were all sitting around, playing music and doing a lot of other things I wasn’t supposed to see. They kept trying to get rid of me and telling me to go to bed. Eventually, Keith and another guy went outside and hopped onto a motorcycle and I ran after them, trying to pull the other guy off the back of the bike. It wasn’t until later that I found out who the guy was. It was Ringo Starr.”

Since then, Bowie has recorded at Tuff Gong Studios, made famous by Bob Marley, and shared the stage with stars and legends from throughout the musical world. To watch him perform is to be swept up in the Rastaman call…the message of unity and peace, social conscience, the appreciation of those we love, and life itself. For every show, he gives 150 percent, dancing with abandon across the stage, dreadlocks flying, lighting up the crowd with his resonant reggae voice and shining smile, and reacting with proud amusement and props to the talented musicians he surrounds himself with.

The mix of artists, each arguably exceptional as individual performers, and the varying passions of Bowie himself translate to a sound that blends classic reggae with ska, funk, jazz, and the occasional hint of Latin flair. The Mystic Bowie band includes the aforementioned Renard Boissiere of New Orleans, to whom he was introduced by his Tom Tom Club band mates and close friends Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth (formerly of Talking Heads). “I never leave home without Renard!” Bowie declares. “I wanted to add a little funk flavor to Rebirth,” he says of his last album. Boissiere brought the funk, and Bowie was so taken with the guitarist’s sound that he added him as a band staple.

Also of note is 27-year old Karen Johnstone, the band’s wildly talented keyboard player who Mystic proudly

cites as a multi-instrument pro. “She plays the sax and the guitar as well…she can do almost anything,” he says. Local drummer Kurt Berglund has been with the band since 2002 and Bowie rotates between two bass players: George Bates, and Rich Zurkowski who played on Martin Sexton’s 2008 disc, Solo. For bigger stage shows, Bowie often adds Matthew Malloy on guitar and saxophonist Nancy Loedy, both of whom played on Bowie’s latest cd, Nevah Kiss and Tell.

Then there’s the Tom Tom Club, with whom Bowie has recorded for many years and been an official band member since 2000. Aside from recording, his road work with them is normally confined to short summer tours. For summer of 2009, the Tom Tom Club played two gigs in Japan, in Osaka and Tokyo, as part of the Summer Sonic Music Festival that also featured such mega-stars as Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Nine Inch Nails, as well as The Specials, the Ting Tings and many more.

Bowie describes Weymouth and Frantz as family. “They are such good people and so easy to work with,” he says. “There’s no ego involved. We all have so much respect for each other…we work around each other’s other projects and schedules. I never wanted to give up my own thing

and they never asked me to. We’re just very close,” he muses warmly. The feeling is mutual.

“My impression of Mystic is that he is a natural entertainer,” says Frantz. “He knows very well how to please a crowd. He never fails to deliver. Tina and I rarely miss one of his shows. He continues to grow as a singer and a songwriter and he has always been a champion of those less fortunate by performing at benefits and fundraisers. He is a man whose heart is in the right place.”

PURE OF HEART While Bowie calls Connecticut his home away from

home, he is not solely dedicated to performing for charitable causes within his Fairfield County community. He is the founder of The Mystic Bowie Cultural Center Foundation (mysticbowieculturalcenter.blogspot.com), a non-profit organization he created nearly two decades ago. The organization seeks to supply school children in Jamaica with the tools and resources necessary for music, dance, and sports education – the first areas cut in times of economic strife – and he provides basic school supplies as well.

Sue Baelen, a New Jersey-based friend and Bowie devotee took over the day-to-day management of the foundation with her husband Tom in 2008. “Mystic is charismatic,” she says. “Being around him is intoxicating. When he

explains his vision for the project in Jamaica everyone wants to be involved, and after a visit there it just seemed right. We bought into his dream.” While for many years the foundation has been offering after-school programs on the grounds of a local church, more recently enough funds have been raised to acquire land for a true cultural center. The designs are in place and Bowie and the Baelens are looking forward to the next phase of development. In the meantime, whenever he gets a chance, Bowie flies home to Jamaica with whatever school supplies he can get his hands on. When he’s on the island he visits and works with the children himself, teaching soccer, percussion, and improvisation, instilling in the children a basic love and appreciation of music and sports.

Also of grave concern to Bowie is the direction of the genre of the music he was raised on and its effects on the youth who follow it. “As a Rasta, a reggae musician and a Maroon, I have the moral responsibility to lead our children and followers to a positive path. ‘Ras’ means king. A king is a leader and a role model. So if you claim to be a Rasta, you should be prepared to teach positively and take responsibility for your actions which influence the people we lead. Rastafarians, with their ties to the Maroons, have similar values; love and be loved, promote peace, live peacefully, and hate should never be an option,” he says. In addition, contrary to the clichéd belief about the reggae culture in general, Bowie disavows the use of any drugs or alcohol and he doesn’t smoke. To the Maroon Tribe, he notes, the body is a “temple” that should not be polluted with impurities.

Taking his concerns for the future of reggae and its followers even further, he has joined forces with The Coalition to Preserve Reggae Music (CPR). The charitable organization and alliance of roots reggae stakeholders seeks to preserve the genre and its traditional message of healing and unifying. “There’s been a trend of reggae mixing with gangsta rap,” says Bowie gravely. “The message is wrong. People are going to shows with guns. Kids are getting killed. This is not what reggae is about and the association with this kind of violence and negative message is very bad for the future of reggae music.”

Arguably, what’s good for the future of reggae music might be found on the tracks of Rebirth (Mystic Bowie and the Pallbearers, 2000) and Nevah Kiss and Tell (Mystic Bowie, 2009). The lyrics contain the kind of social commentary that the genre is known for, attempting to raise the political consciousness of the audience, addressing the concerns of established and burgeoning generations, and offering, through the melodies alone, a sparkling, lively, unadulterated slice of fun.

For more information on Mystic Bowie or to purchase cds, go to MysticBowie.com or find him at MySpace.com/MysticBowie or Facebook.com/MysticBowie.

Friday, May 7: O’Neills Pub, 93 North Main Street, South Norwalk, 838-0222, oneillsono.com

Friday Apr. 9: Reggae Meets Funk with Jen Durkin, Route 22 Restaurant and Bar, 1980 W. Main Street, Stamford, 323-2229

Friday Apr. 16: Bud Light / Sugarloaf Reggae Festival, Sugarloaf Ski Resort, Carrabassett Valley, MN, 207-237-2000

Saturday May 22: Western Consciousness Rasta Conscious Lyrics, Jamaica, WI, see Mystic Bowie website for more information

Monday July 5: Bath Heritage Days Festival, Bath, ME, see Mystic Bowie website for more information

Friday Aug. 6: SONO Arts Fest, South Norwalk

Saturday and Sunday, August 7 and 8: Moon Dance Winery Music Festival, Wrightsville, PA, 717-989-8160

MYSTIC BOWIE LIVE(as of March 18. Check MysticBowie.com for updated information; contact venues for prices and show times).

12 The Beat The Beat 13

Co

nt

rib

ut

ed

Ph

ot

o