Burning SpearText by Jeremy Collingwood

Winston Rodney – aka The Burning Spear – stands as one of Reggae's few Elder statesman's. He not only still Tours and releases music, but also runs his own label and web site. Famed for his chanting prophet vocals, which resonate to arcane melodies from the Old Testament. In the late 1970's he was rightly spoken of in the same breath as Bob Marley: indeed there are many that rate some of Rodney's UK appearances ahead of the more famous Bob Marley Live at the Lyceum gig.

Rodney(Winston Rodney) was born in St Ann's Bay just after the end of WWII in 1948 and entered the music business in 1969. His group – Burning Spear – took its name from the 'none de garre' of the Kenyan President, once leader of the Mau Mau Independence rebels, Jomo Kenyatta.

Thanks to an introduction from Bob Marley, Rodney was signed up by Clement Dodd(CS Dodd)'s Studio One set up. Burning Spears first single for Dodd – 'Door Peep' (Supreme) set the tone for Rodney's highly individualistic career, with the spiritual like track delivered in a somber tone. It stood in stark contrast to the majority of reggae and indeed as more singles in a similar vein appeared, such as 'Free Again' and 'Zion Higher' (both Supreme), they stand as a credit to the normally very commercially focused Dodd that he kept on recording Spear. Winston Rodney was infusing all his songs with his Garveyite belief and Rastafarian faith.

Over the next few years tunes such as 'This Population' (Bongo Man), 'Foggy Road' (Coxsone – a track which featured as an early dubplate a few years after it's release) and 'Creation Rebel' (Coxsone) all severed to cement a small but loyal following. These singles were released in the UK and the two albums that Spear recorded for Dodd – 'Presents' and 'Rocking Time' all helped his unique music find an audience.

Like many of his label mates Spear struck out on his own and by 1975 was recording with Ochio Rios based (on the North Coast) Producer and Sound System Operator Jack Ruby (born Lawrence Lindo). A new musical mix was created that featured the harmonies of Rupert Wellington and Delroy Hines together with a powerful horn section featuring Vin Gordon, Richard 'Dirty Harry' Hall Bobby Ellis and Herman Marquis. This gave Spears music a far fuller and 'Dreader' sound. Whilst the majority of artists were Kingston based, Spear quietly began a revolution that would take his music to the mainstream markets of the western world.

The first two singles from this new partnership – 'Marcus Garvey' and 'Slavery days' were not only hits in their own right but it was the album, named Marcus Garvey, which catapulted Spear onto the international stage. Rodney and Ruby had crafted a coherent album which, even in a slightly remixed form, grasped the attention of fashion conscious music fans in the UK, when released by Island. It also served as a calling card that put Black History, Garveyite Prophesies, Jamaican ghetto beliefs and crucially Rastafarians beliefs at the centre of his music: a place it holds to this day. Unlike Bob Marley there were no love songs, no pop songs – Burning Spear was about music as a Religious and social force. Like Marley he was able to adapt his output to an album driven focus, supported by first rate gigs. The sets Dub counterpart – 'Garveys Ghost' – is a fine companion piece to the vocal album.

The next album from the Spear / Ruby partnership was 'Man in The Hills' that reflected Rodney's chosen rural life and further enhanced his UK standing thanks to Islands on going support of Spear. 1977 'Dry and Heavy' saw Spear dispense with the services of Wellington and Hines but also producer Jack Ruby. The set, recorded at Harry J studio found Spear covering several of his Studio One recordings with excellent results. It was during these years that Rodney was spoken of in the same breath as Bob Marley and following a legendary gig at the Rainbow, Spears star was in the ascendancy. Unlike Marley's Live album, Spears 1977 Live album failed to capture the power of his performance. His relationship with Island came to an end.

Released in 1978 'Social Living' (One Stop) hit with tunes like 'Marcus Say Jah No Dead', 'Institution' and 'Marcus Children Suffer' that all were delivered with one hundred percent integrity and belief. 'Social Living' featured not only Kingston's finest but the UK's new reggae stars Aswad. There's a full mix of all the album tracks mixed, in the UK, for Sound System use that's still to see an official releases but which stands as a testament to the important of Sound System culture in the UK, in the late 1970's.

1980 saw the release of another bona fide classic, the 'Hail H.I.M.' set, which was released on EMI and was recorded at Bob Marley's Tuff Gong studio, with the help of Aston ‘Familyman’ Barrett. Tracks like 'Cry Blood Africa' and 'Columbus' served to underline Spears reputation as the leader of the deep roots music. More dub was served up with Living Dubs Vol I (from Social Living) and Vol II (from Hail H.I.M.) mixed by the under rated Sylvan Morris.

The 1980's saw Spear develop a pattern of touring and releasing quality roots albums every few years, such as 1984's 'Resistance', and 'People Of The World' (1986). He was one of the few reggae artists to exploit the growing music Festival scene and at such events as the UK's WOMAD Spear delighted both new and old fans with top draw performances.

This pattern continued in the 1990's that saw a live album from his 1997 WOMAD appearance released, as well as a mix of new sets and assorted retrospective collections and reissues. Albums to look out for are Spears Studio One material on CD from Heartbeat ('Creation Rebel') & Soul Jazz ('Sounds from'), a fine collection of non-album material from Pressure Sounds ('Spear Burning').

'Live in South Africa 2000' (Burning Music) captures Spear's at the concert to celebrate the release of Nelson Mandela and South Africa's democratic elections. Spear has gone on to win two Grammys in 2000 ('Calling Rastafari') and 2009 ('Jah is Real').

He has adapted to the changing market like no other Reggae musician and runs his business from burningspear.net. Spear has cut a truly unique path for any Jamaican artist and has stuck firmly to his own path and did not get sucked into the Kingston music scene and its associated runnings. He stands tall and strong.

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