With such a wonderfully established foundation in the area, I cannot even tell you how many times I sit down to write these things and find that my literary ‘travels’ take me to the west coast of the US, particularly California. It has become a rather nice and anticipated stop and even homebase for many of the artists (and perhaps more importantly, the labels) about which I write and definitely find myself enjoying more times than not. The area has shown quite the interest in this wonderful music called Reggae and I taking that interest, it definitely has managed to put in and create just as much on its own also. And when you take that into consideration in looking at perhaps other Reggae hotbeds and communities in the States, CONSISTENTLY you probably put California at the top. However, it by no means is alone. Of course there’s New York, which traditionally has far more of an interest in Dancehall to my knowledge and there’re places like Boston, Miami, Florida, Virginia and even Atlanta. Still, as usual, a seemingly increasingly VERY interesting and crucial area for Reggae music in the US, remains quite forgotten - Hawaii. I don’t know very much about the historical relevance of Reggae in Hawaii and I may not even be too well up on the situation at this very moment (even after having done research for the sake of this review), but do know is the remarkable number of times I’ve received emails from promoters (I literally just got one right now) who’re holding shows in Hawaii with big named artists. Also, on my own, I’ve noticed quite a few big named artists on tour who seem to make sure to make a random stop in Hawaii and are sure to do so (even though it may be completely out of the way), which to me means that definitely the vibes are high in that area. I had it in my mind already before writing this review that names like Rob Symeonn and Rankin’ Scroo had nice followings in the ‘Aloha State’ (and apparently Symeonn has even recorded an album and upon further viewing I see more and more (very fittingly) artists from out of the Virgin Islands also holding court in Hawaii also. And just today I received a notice that Junior Reid soon had a show approaching in Maui and he follows artists like Kymani Marley that I’ve noticed being promoted for performances there also. Now, with all of that being said, of course what remains is to take a look at an actual artist from Hawaii who has big vibes and I think that I may have found just the appropriate individual.
Of course Sahra Indio’s name wouldn’t be the first, but definitely to my fault, her music is the first from a Hawaiian based artist that I’ve scrutinized to the point of writing a review for (after. . . I don’t know maybe nearly 800 reviews at this point altogether). I’ve certainly been aware of artists like the very strong Ooklah The Moc, The Lambsbread (who have some of the most passionate fans on the internet out of ANYONE), and definitely most recently, potential superstar (and CUTIE) Irie Love from out of the Morgan Heritage camp, but I’ve never managed to review any of their work, but I’m quite glad that I’ve started with Sahra Indio for various reasons. First of all, there’s Indio herself. She has a VERY interesting and SOOTHING style and I hate to fall into allegiance with almost hilarious stereotypes and clichés, but when I first heard her, I said to myself that she sounded like a Reggae version of international superstar musician Sade (and of course the subsequent research that I found on her had that name IMMEDIATELY present in it). It is certainly fitting because she has this wonderful ‘soulfully airy’ tone to her voice which just reaches the listener in places that most artists don’t. Indio also has this very nice way of presenting her music which I think is due to her excellent writing and as I tend to say, it’s always so nice when every song is actually ABOUT SOMETHING, which is what seems to occur in the vast majority (I.e. all) of Sahra Indio’s music to my experience. Now I wasn’t able (yet) to catch Good’s Gonna Happen, her debut album back from 2002, but in 2007, she released her sophomore born set, Change and did so through the most wonderfully familiar of channels. The album comes via a producer who I (fortunately) seem to be ‘running into’ quite a bit these days, the famed VI Reggae musical wizard, Tuff Lion. Perhaps it is even more a testament to the strength of the Hawaiian scene that this link even managed to take place (and I’m going to assume that it was through the Lion’s traveling to the area to play that the connection between he and Sahra Indio was made) and fortunately, although most certainly well in demand at that point, Tuff Lion saw something so worth it in vibing with Indio that Change became the result of said link. Now, if all you know about Sahra Indio’s music is what I’ve told you thus far, you should be well equipped to determine that, at least on paper, Tuff Lion working with such an artist is a potentially WONDERFUL thing (you just think about that - Sade produced by Tuff Lion and imagine the potential and possibilities) and significant as well, given the specificity of the actual album. Unsurprisingly, despite my dearth of knowledge about and experience with Sahra Indio and her music, the union proves quite successful from a musical standpoint although apparently it wasn’t very successful in the commercial sense and while I do remember seeing the cover for this album being quite prevalent a year or two back, I don’t think that many people had very much of a reaction to it, but I’m going to assume (strictly based on the quality of the project) that it MUST’VE been a pretty big deal on the Hawaiian scene when it dropped. And hopefully that’s the case, because as it unfolds, Change DEFINITELY proves to be one of the most interesting releases I’ve come across in a long time.
Sahra Indio was actually born in Philadelphia (another pretty nice place for Reggae I believe) and born into a very musical family at that. So, you can well imagine that she sounds even more ‘comfortable’ than the levels provided by her voice and delivery. The first example of her comfort levels evident on Sahra Indio’s vibrant sophomore effort Change is also one of the album’s finest efforts to my opinion, ‘Remedy’. This tune is about as vast and ‘tempting’ as it gets for me in terms of discussing - Indio finds herself examining many different aspects of society and just how terrible they’ve grown to be and in looking for an alternative to the madness, she offers Reggae and culture themselves! It’s a very powerful tune to say the least (and I definitely agree with her findings) and on top of that, it’s also an excellent way to open an album. Big tune! The next selection here, ‘Precious’, is also quite vast, but it’s not one of my favourites here. The tune is somewhat mechanical and ‘rigid’ (and I think it’s actually by design), but it’s also one of the most lyrically powerful tunes on the album also (“our constitution isn’t on a piece of paper, it’s in our blood, it’s in our DNA”). So, if you don’t find yourself completely captivated by what you’re hearing, definitely don’t just skip through the tune, because the point Indio goes on to make is surely the main attraction to this one. The next tune may not have the lyrical substance of ‘Precious’ (then again, it just may), but it definitely doesn’t come through as mechanical or rigid. Instead, ‘Reggae On The Farm’ is sonically downright delightful and charming at times having the kind of ‘hula Reggae’ one might associate with Hawaii and although I did find better tunes on Change (including the opener and the tune which immediately follows ‘Reggae On The Farm’), I couldn’t find one which was more pleasing to the ears. The tune also apparently pleased more than my ears as it won Indio some sort of American Hemp award in 2007 (and the physical album comes complete with a sticker on the cover representing just that) and I do so love hearing Tuff Lion in the backing adding wonderful various things (you literally have to hear them to understand) as well as adding to the well vibrant chorus for the tune. All in all, a very nice opening for an album which subsequently does not let down on it.
I had such an interesting (fitting) time trying to figure out what my absolute favourite tune on Change was before ultimately deciding on the MASSIVE ‘Jah Fire’. The first time I heard this song, I don’t know if I was going through an emotional moment or what, but I literally teared up a bit and I’m not quite sure why. Having listened to it several (dozen) times since, I’ve been unable to reacquire that particular feeling (which is so nice because perhaps that meant that Sahra Indio’s wish that “Jah fire burn out our tears” has actually occurred for me), but I LOVE this song, I really do. It has that characteristically crisp Tuff Lion sound to it and of course the vibes and the message are well powerful as well.
Speaking of powerful messages, there were a few in particular throughout this album which kind of caught me nicely for one reason or another, be it Indio’s approach to them or the fact that those topics in general are very un(der)explored in Reggae music to my knowledge. Para ejemplo, check the tune ‘Good Bredren’. This one (obviously) is a tune for the guys who get things right and to those who aren’t getting things too right, but may not be very far from doing so. So many times we hear tunes (by both male and female artists) which analyze the absence of these upstanding gentlemen, but Sahra Indio gives them (US) credit and don’t you just LOVE this line:
“To the upright men in their community -
I see them meditating doing good deeds daily
Fathering their babies, being leaders in their house and family
What the youths dem is what they strive to achieve
THE TUFFEST LIONS PRODUCE THE STRONGEST SEEDS”
Staying on that sentiment (of very interesting messages), there’s also the tune ‘Get To It’, which goes on a vibes of physical health, particularly in women. This is another rarely (shockingly) identified message in Reggae, as we’re primarily used to dealing with spiritual and mental health, but Sahra Indio essentially offers the tune as a bit of workout music to the ladies, telling them many thing essential for keeping one’s body in shape (“in order to stay young, you‘ve got to swim, bike and run“) (even dropping a mention of ‘plus sized fashion’ early in the tune). I absolutely love TANGIBLE messages like that and the tune is easily one of the finest on Change altogether. And there’s also ‘Hey Sista’, later on in the album on which Indio does actually deal with more of spiritual health of women (and does it in a very clever metaphorical way, “hey sista what you cooking? Are you baking any love today?”). She also goes on to deal with the entire family structure as well, on the tune ‘Man & Woman’ and that song is OUTSTANDING! ‘Mature’, ‘Smart’, ‘Intelligent’, ‘Powerful’, call it all of those things because what happens there is Sahra Indio, rather ‘matter of factly’ just describes the way things should be happening in a household in her opinion (doing a pretty good job of doing it in my opinion also). And she doesn’t go after anyone stronger or more harshly than anyone else, giving everyone equal treatment (“what kind of legacy are we leaving if Mama and Daddy are always cheating?”) (Oh, and the song kind of reminds me somewhat of ‘I Understand‘ by Anthony B from the Black Star album). And speaking of intelligent, I should probably also mention ‘Look To The East’ which is a bit vaguer, ostensibly, than the others mentioned here, but if you can decipher it, it rolls through just as strong. The tune speaks on the effect of the sun on daily life and Indio’s stressing of its importance. What I found most interesting here (as someone who has battled mental illness in his life) (not to tell you too much of my business), is when she mentions, a few times, the sun’s effect on Serotonin in the body and that alone definitely shows that she’s well up on the matter of this tune and it is very powerful, as you might imagine.
The balance of Change also features some more interesting material, perhaps ostensibly, the most interesting on the album (as far as being interesting for the sake (again, ostensibly) of being interesting). The least dynamic of these four is probably ‘Give It Up’. I use that word ‘dynamic’ hesitatingly because when you drop in on this tune, you kind of run into a riddim which is food for the soul and is an excellent backdrop for Indio when she does come through on what is essentially a social commentary and an excellent one at that. You also have the kind of ’thumping’ and mentally vast album title track which finds Sahra Indio (somewhat reminiscent of Danny I on the title track for his album Unchangeable a few years back) espousing on the nature of CHANGE. What I take away from this tune which could be taken in a hundred different directions I believe, is that Indio is basically using the tune as an inspiration type of vibes. She never goes into the expected route of talking about really drastic situations and horrors of life and she kind of keeps it ’open’ for the most part, but earlier in the tune she says, “Change is a verb, that’s an action word. Be the change that you want to see in this world”, which to me implies that what she’s saying is if you have something in your life that you aren’t liking, then YOU are to change it. I could spend hours examining this one surely, but just trust me that it’s one of the best tunes on the album named after it. Then there’s ’Jah’s Jewel’, which is a title track of a different type because the song’s title is actually a nickname of sorts for Sahra Indio. I’m not too fond of the substance of this tune, but it sounds so nice with a very ‘jazzy’ type of vibes and of course the riddim is nearly divine. And lastly there’s ‘Nosotros’ [Spanish for ‘We’], which closes out the Change album. I love the kind of laid back (even more than usual) type of vibes and I think whoever was my last Spanish instructor may be happy that I’ve retained enough of what I was taught to make out the chorus which I THINK says, “We are children of God”, or something like such. To my ears, this tune is on a unifying vibes and although it probably isn’t one of my favourites here, it’s still a powerful piece definitely. There’s also a very nice ‘hitch’ to the tune which occurs about halfway through it, but I’ll leave that to you to discover.
Overall, while I most certainly am recommending that you pick up a copy of Sahra Indio’s album Change, I’m doing so with a caveat and a bigger one than usual I think. Almost ANYTIME you’re dealing with something which is manned by the Tuff Lion, I’m going to say something along the lines of ‘if you’re an older and more established fan of Reggae music, then you’re likely to enjoy it more than if this if your first time out’ and while I am going to say that about this album, I have to stress it even greater in this case I feel. Sahra Indio definitely has Jazz inclinations in her brand of Reggae music and I think that it’s even more likely that an ‘older’ fan of Reggae will be able to appreciate them and actually see how they ADD to her style. And I’ll also say that (even though I think it’s unlikely that such a person is reading this) if you just happen to be a big fan of Jazz music and you’re looking for an ‘entry point’ into Reggae music, that you won’t find more stellar opportunities than Change. Again, while I’m by no means an expert on the Hawaiian Reggae scene, if they’re able to produce an artist like Sahra Indio (and they are), then perhaps I need to become one. With the kind of perception that exists of the area, I can’t think of another place in the world which would seemingly be more inclined to have top notch vibes like this. A closer examination, my first, reveals that is EXACTLY the case. Very well done.
Rated 4.25/5
Olumeye Records/Outpost Music Workshop
2007
Forward Ever - Backward Never [Project Groundation/Zojak Worldwide]
Young Chang MC - En Forme [Very Music]
Belt Riddim [GT Muzik/Zojak Worldwide]
Ghost Singles [Digital Link International/Zojak Worldwide]
420 Mix [Zojak Worldwide]
Genesis Riddim [Daseca]
Jimmy Cliff - You Can Get It If You Really Want It [Island Def Jam]
Teacha Dee & Determine - What I Pray [TenFloor Records]
