>>PREVIEW
SOULJAH FYAH
Calgary Reggae Festival
Saturday, August 20
Shaw Millennium Park
As music at the heart of a people’s freedom movement, reggae traditionally speaks of truth and justice – the power of poor people to change their lives and stand up for their rights, and the importance of spirituality in the midst of hardship. In the midst of the undeniably male-dominated reggae movement, change happens slowly even today. But Edmonton group Souljah Fyah is part of the changing of the reggae guard in a number of ways.
For instance, founder Janaya Ellis isn’t Jamaican. Her father is Trinidadian, which means that in her childhood she was encouraged to be part of his steel drum band and play calypso and soca (soul calypso) music, rather than reggae. And for another instance, she’s the only islander in the band.
"We’re not all from the West Indies," Ellis says. "And that’s a good thing, I think. Everybody in the band brings in what they come from, so we’ve got overtones of rock, classical, jazz. Our percussionist is from Cameroon and he brings those African rhythms to our sound very strongly. We all feel the need to listen to and learn from roots reggae, to understand and do justice to the music, but our music is strong because of who we all are."
Ellis spent her early years involved in one musical venture after another, but always as a joiner. With a basis in classical piano, she flowed from soca to Latin music projects and back again, never staying with anyone long-term, never expressing her own musical passion.
"I think that, as a child, I was always doing music. And then I became a teacher and I lost the music part of myself for awhile."
Then while she was working as a waitress, Ellis met a couple of guys who were looking for teachers to go immediately to Anguilla (a Caribbean island) on a short-term teaching contract. A month later, Ellis was off. Anguilla was to change her life in more ways than one.
"Many people say that once you go to Anguilla, you’re a lifer," says Ellis with a laugh. "There’s something about it that just gets under your skin. It was while I was there that I rediscovered my passion for music, reggae especially. I realized that I’d spent all my life doing other people’s projects, so when I came back to Edmonton, I started looking to start my own band. I was writing music for the first time and everything I was writing was reggae."
For a music that was so specific to the Rastafarian movement, reggae touched an unprecedented chord worldwide in the ’60s, that still resonates today. As iconic as Bob Marley became, an understanding of the underlying worldview of Rastafarianism did not necessarily accompany "No Woman No Cry" into the mainstream. Souljah Fyah’s debut single "No Evidence," speaks eloquently of Jah (God), but when asked to shed some light on what being Rasta means, Ellis hesitates.
"I count myself as Rasta," she says slowly, "but in some ways I’m not Rasta at all. The Rasta belief in Haile Selassie (emperor of Ethiopia), the history incorporated in the belief – it’s the history of my people. It’s powerful and deeply rooted and I relate to it more than any other organized religion out there. Rastafarianism talks about the force of oneness, meditation, communion with nature. It says you don’t have to tear down the walls of a country and indoctrinate others with your faith.
"But I also think that everybody in the world who believes in God, believes in the same being at heart. I don’t want to be a hypocrite. I believe in Jah, I just think that we all have essentially the same idea about who and what Jah is."
Ellis’s Rastafarianism is tempered by her mixed heritage, a thing which colours all her experiences as a Canadian and as a musician. Having parents from different cultures is an experience that she considers a distinctly 21st-century Canadian trait – creating a new generation of people with a unique perspective, able to understand many sides of a cultural question at once. It’s a belief that has only been sharpened by becoming a mother.
"Growing up with multiple cultures, you’re a bit of a chameleon anyway. But once you’ve given birth, you really can see the world through somebody else’s eyes. I have much more perspective on the world now."
Souljah Fyah – and Ellis herself – represent a melding of cultural perspective that is increasingly common in music today. Ellis just wants to continue her spiritual journey, however, guiding herself and her daughter in the path of compassion and love.
"I want to continue growing myself," Ellis says simply. "That’s my biggest thing. The music will come with that. If I die tomorrow, I want to have made music today." |
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