HOMAGE TO THE ANCIENT RASTA Pt. 6

HOMAGE TO THE ANCIENT RASTA  

By Nzinga Nzinga

To Morgan Heritage, children of Denroy Morgan (Black Eagles). It is their song which provided the theme of this tribute to the Ancient Rastas Also to their father, Denroy, whom I had the honour of meeting in Jamaica. Brother Denroy, I have enjoyed your songs tremendously. Blessed love!

Morgan Heritage & Dad

♪♪Could you live thru what the ancient Rasta lived thru?       

 Would you hold on to your faith if you’d been thru what they’ve been thru? ♪♪--

Could You Live Thru? Morgan Heritage

Denroy Morgan

Part 6

Tribute to the Ancients for surviving the game

      Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey. For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord because they called thee an outcast…Jer. 30:16-17

    Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them. And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governors shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? Saith the Lord. And ye shall be my people and I will be your God. Jer. 30:20-22

Burning Spear

The ancient Rastas chanted their message of our African connection to the accompaniment of African drums but it was kept within the borders of its original home, Jamaica. It took the flair, the flamboyancy of the younger Rastas and the electronic medium to noise and spread it abroad. The ancient Rasta singers and musicians were not paid for their artistry. It was the modern Rasta artists who eventually learnt the ways of the world and the marketplace and how to market their talent to become big earners.

Time has proved even in the Rasta camp that economic reality is a great, if not the greatest, motivator.

“Rastafari has trod through two major cycles in the movement’s history… From 1930-1960 the elders brought forth Glory to Word and the Rasta vision was proclaimed. From 1966 onward the seers of second cycle spread the sound on the air-waves across the globe – Glory to Sound. Bob Marley, Burning Spear and other players and minstrels internationalised InI movement. Now at the twilight of the age, the third cycle is at hand –Glory to Power.” Dr. Ikael Tafari, Rastafari in Transition, Barbados Rastafari Summit, July 1998, in Rastafari Speaks, vol.1, Spring ’02.

Homage to the ELDER RASTAS:

“Nobody knows the troubles you’ve seen

Nobody knows the trauma.

Nobody knows the troubles you’ve had

Nobody but the Ancestors.

Nobody knows the troubles you’ve been through

Nobody but the God of Africa.” Author’s parody

There are those who perished at the hands of the agents of the blood sucking ‘vampire’ Babylon system in which they found themselves. The ancient Rastaman was subjected to many brutal acts because they refused to let the system change or rearrange them. Rastas survived the catastrophic and humiliating overthrow, arrest, imprisonment, dethronement and the low profile non-verifiable report of the alleged death of their divine Lion of Judah, Jah Rastafari.

They did not and still do not accept the death of their ever-living God but they accepted His disappearance from the scene. Listen to this Bob Marley’s special:

♪♪Jah live! children yeah!/Jah-Jah live! children yeah
Jah live! children yeah/Jah-Jah live! children yeah, Jah!
Fools sayin' in their heart/Rasta your God is dead
But I and I know Jah! Jah!/Dreaded it shall be dreaded and dread
Jah live! children yeah!/Jah-Jah live! children yeah
Jah live! children yeah/Jah-Jah live! children yeah
Let Jah a-rise!/Now that the enemies are scattered
Let Jah a-rise!/The enemies, the enemies are scattered
Jah-Jah live! children yeah, Jah! ♪♪ Bob Marley

At this stage, let me invite our inimitable and illustrious ancestor Bob Marley to ‘lively up’ this piece of Rasta writin’: ‘with melodies pure and sweet’ in true tribute to the Ancient Rastas:

Bob Marley

♪♪ We refuse to be what you wanted us to be. We are what we are. That’s the way it’s going to be. Babylon system is the vampire, suckin’ the children day by day. Babylon system is the vampire, suckin’ the blood of the sufferers; building church and university; deceivin’ the people continually. Come on and tell the children the truth.♪♪

Thank you, Bob for telling the truth.

Yes, Elders, you have told and continue to tell the children the truth in spite of the many distracting, deceptive and misleading forces surrounding, attracting, distracting and influencing them. One of the most powerful truths that you have told us is that although we have outgrown physical slavery, our minds are still enslaved to the thinking of the so-called Master Race. In other words, we still worship at the shrine of white supremacy. In other words, we are still mentally enslaved and we are slow in emancipating ourselves from this mental slavery. It is only we ourselves who can free our minds. That more of us do not heed, cannot be blamed on you.

You are our strength when we’re feeling weak.

When you think of the many cruel things done to the ancient Rastas, the Rasta Family should have become extinct, but somehow, ‘something strong inside’ has made them survive and imbued their hearts with a spiritual understanding despite all the oppression heaped on them. Hail to the strength of our Rasta Idren and Sistren Elders! Hail to the indomitable spirit of all Black survivors!

That we were taken and held in captivity in the West against our will is just a natural process of the strong enslaving the weak. Ignoble white racism, which spawned the slavery and the colonial experience unleashed on my people, provided the ‘dread’ crucible in which was forged the formidable and amazing strength of Black Survival. Rasta Idren of today, could you live thru what the ancient Rastas lived thru? Could you survive the troubles they survived? Could I? Could you? Think about it.

What better way to sign off my tribute to the Ancient Rasta Idren and Sistren than with this chopped-up version of that magnificent magnificat  African-Rasta-Reggae psalm of Black Survival by Bob Marley to this special band of survivors, our Ancient Rastas Survivors? Here goes:

Bob Marley

♪♪ How can you be sitting there, telling me that you care? When every time I look around, the people suffering in every way, in everywhere?  We’re the survivors, yes, the black survivors! Some people got facts & claims. Some people got pride & shame. Some people got plots & schemes. Some people got no sin it seems!  We’re the survivors like Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego, thrown in the fire. In this age of technological inhumanity, scientific atrocity, atomic mis-philosophy, nuclear mis-energy. It’s a world that forces lifelong insecurity.  We’re the survivors, yes, the Black survivors!  A good man is never honoured in his own country. Nothing change, nothing strange. We’ve got to survive y’all! ♪♪ -- Black Survival  by Bob Marley.

How I relish the appropriateness of these words of my darling Bob: “In this age of technological inhumanity, scientific atrocity, atomic mis-philosophy, nuclear mis-energy.”

Go deh, timeless Rasta Bob! Go deh! We salute you, young Ancestor!

Wonderful, Beautiful Rasta Idren.

Ancient Rastas, Ancestral Rastas, at home or abroad, alive or no longer on this physical plane, we humbly salute, venerate, eulogize and celebrate you with the greatest respect, the highest  esteem, honour, admiration, appreciation and one blessed love! One God, One Aim, One Destiny! Haile Selassie1! Rest Faithful Ones with Jah Rastafari! Ever Living, Ever Faithful, Ever True!

                                        
 THE END

All the images were taken from the Internet and I claim no copyright