Ras Dizzy
Michael Robinson, Gleaner Writer
'The world is large, but the streets are small'.
- Ras Dizzy
MEET RAS Dizzy. The one and only, irrepressible, inimitable, unconquerable, unstoppable Ras Dizzy.
I had the opportunity to spend some time with the man himself recently, through a chance meeting (although there are no coincidences!) at Amaicraft. I was picking out a frame for a drawing of mine when Herman, framer extraordinaire, introduced me to an elderly Rasta man who had just come in out of the cold with a bundle of his paintings wrapped in plastic.
For those who may not know, Ras Dizzy is one of Jamaica's foremost intuitive painters, and has been for more than half a century.
SURPRISE
Imagine my surprise when someone bumped into me and I turned around in the tight space in front of the desk only to be shaking hands with this figure I had heard and read about over the years. Dizzy has been painting since the 1950s and has been living Rasta for just as long. Along the way, he has been a journalist, a poet and a jockey just to name a few. Horse racing is one of the perennial themes that have dominated the man's work for decades.
Dizzy, a tag that derived from his sharing a last name with one of jazz's greats, was here for the arrival of HIM Haile Selassie in Jamaica. As a writer and a stalwart Rasta, he was in the unique position of being able to answer some of Rasta's detractors in a public forum. He has published several essays and two books.
In person, he is self effacing, gracious and unapologetic. He is also a staunch Garveyite, like many elders, since Rasta is the indigenous child of Garveyism. Many of these men were not only here, but 'full-ticipated' in the birth of Rasta as a concept and as a way of life.
Needless to say, I spent the day not knowing what to say, but doing a lot of listening. For the most part, he was quiet, but there were instances where that old fire resurfaced. That fire, he says, was responsible for two shiploads of emigrants to the continent (haven't verified).
At the end of our time together, I left the international artist and decorated Rasta man at the front of Coke Methodist church. He raised a hand and wished us a safe drive and then he was off to catch a bus to St. Ann, his current parish of abode.
Hail Ras Dizzy, original thinker and indefatigable soldier!
