Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
Ras Mandito... My musical career came into more focus when I lost my job at VMBS. It was made redundant a few months after I had indicated a conviction to Rastafari. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
THREE FRIDAYS ago, at the Jamaica Association of Vintage Artistes and Affiliates (JAVAA) tribute to the Studio One and Treasure Isle labels, Ras Mandito ended the first segment with a performance that covered reggae and R&B, getting close to a member or two of the audience in the process.
Physically the Haining Road, New Kingston venue for the tribute concert is not far from the Little Theatre on Tom Redcam Drive, where Ras Mandito played lead in the 1978 Pantomime, Johnny Reggae. But much water and a job at the Victoria Mutual Building Society has passed under the bridge of Ras Mandito's life in the nearly 30 years since.
The flow of his music started well before and, with an album long in the works, shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.
"I started as a youth, three of us, called The Banditos," Ras Mandito said, naming Lloyd Hemmings and Mikey Reuben as his two colleagues. He was then a student at Kingston College and the other two were at All Saints and Burlington College. They started visiting studios, such as Channel One and Joe Gibbs.
Eventually they split up, but Ras Mandito retained the name 'Bandito'. In fact, that had been his nickname that had become the name of the trio. "That came from my love of the Mexicans in the movies. They were humorous and my friends called me that because of this," he said.
GOOD BASE FOR VISITS
His regular job at VMBS on Duke Street in downtown Kingston proved to be a good base for visits to the High Symbol outfit in the Kingston Mall. He also started to record, doing the singles Fall Over, Jah Victory, Macka Pot and Rolling River.
It was not so much the singles, though, but his role in Johnny Reggae that had made Mandito popular. He was to retain his link with the theatre right through to Aston Cooke's Front Room, the last stage production that he has done. "I had broken on the entertainment scene as Johnny Reggae and it kind of locked me to that scene for a number of years," Ras Mandito said, naming Mansong and Dread Mikado among his stage appearances subsequent to Johnny Reggae. "For a number of years I was hitched to a group that was called on by (director) Bobby Ghisays," he said.
His role in Johnny Reggae was the result of a missing football team and The Sunday Gleaner.
"I was at Maxfield Park one Sunday morning, to play for Richmond Park United against Kencot in the Alan Cole competition," Ras Mandito said, adding that the other two Banditos also played for Richmond Park. "The match was to start at 10:00 a.m. and we were waiting on Kencot to arrive. At 9:45 a.m., we suspected that Kencot would not be coming for the game. I saw an advertisement in The Sunday Gleaner saying that there were auditions for Johnny Reggae today."
He read the article, which called for young, preferably black, Jamaicans who could sing, and from the poorer region of the society.
"All they said it described me," he said.
"I go down the road fast and jump on a 15 bus and go to Little Theatre as fast as I could, for they said the auditions start at 10:00 a.m. I leave Maxfield Park, changing, at about 10 minutes to 10. When I reach up Little Theatre, I see 600 plus man looking like me," he said, laughing. "The official estimate was 600, all looking alike."
LENGTHY PROCESS
The process of culling the prospective leading men began, taking over two weeks. The numbers eventually came out of the triple digits, then down to 12 and six. When it reached three "they honestly did not know who to cut", Ras Mandito said. "After a hell of a long time they wound up with two, me and a brethren named Colin Douglas," he said, explaining that there were two casts, one with Oliver Samuels as the leading man and the other with Ranny Williams. He played mainly with Ranny Williams, although "on quite a few occasions I got to play with Oliver Samuels". "Mass Ran is a man I honour. With all the accolades he got for his craft, a humbler man you could not find," Ras Mandito said, adding "Oliver Samuels is a teacher."
"I got roles after that," he said. "In Mansong I played a very revolutionary slave called Quashie. Charles Hyatt was like the father for the slaves, the Daddy, the guru. Charles Hyatt mentioned to me once that I drew the best of him," Mandito said, referring to a particularly emotional scene. There were also roles on television, including Salome and Children of the One Eyed God.
However, noting the manner in which Rastafarian characters are often utilised in Jamaican theatre, he said "I wouldn't make a living from theatre in Jamaica as a Rastaman at present, based on the current formula." However, he added that "I have very good friends in the theatre and I would not want them to take what I am saying in a bad light".
With close to three decades in music and two in theatre under his belt, Ras Mandito was prodded into a more proactive approach to his art when he was parted from his job at VMBS in 1995. "My musical career came into more focus when I lost my job at VMBS. It was made redundant a few months after I had indicated a conviction to Rastafari. This came after I had met with the management to discuss why I was wearing headgear in the office. That meeting ended in deadlock and we were to have a second meeting," he said.
That second meeting never happened, although "I worked as a Rastafarian quite a few months at VMBS". He said he had been a senior supervisor there. There was also a name change, as 'bandito' did not quite fit in with 'Ras'.
"I remained on the job for another three to four months with no problems from staff or customer, until one morning I came and found a letter saying that my job was made redundant with immediate effect. That letter came as a shock. It turned my life upside down from that time to now," he said.
Still, he said, "I don't hold any bitterness to VMBS, per se. I have sorta put the thing in context. Even Jesus the Christ said forgive them, they know not what they do. I an I have to go on with music."
However, "the struggle to survive financially has been the story of my career so far", as while he tries to create music "at the same time I am wrapped up in a struggle to survive. Is a whole heap a patience and long-suffering."
"I started to produce an album about 1990. I am still struggling to complete my debut album. I have very strong confidence in all the works I have done, so I have not tried to prostitute them in any way. I believe they deserve to be presented at a high standard and packaged in a professional manner. The album will be a total revelation of myself, my musical talent as well as my inspiration," Ras Mandito said.
TITLE TRACK
The title track of the planned set is 'History of the World', of which Ras Mandito says "I am really holding out hope for that song".
"As a world we have really disrespected our mother (Earth) and I cannot see how the family is going to achieve any sort of unity or happiness without seeing the mother is alright," he said.
Among the other songs that will be on the album are The Lion King, Family Man, a cover of George Benson's Gimme The Night, Hail HIM, Rolling River and High Gear Love around a song by guitarist Earl 'Chinna' Smith called High Gear.
"One of the things that I can be very proud of is that this album represents the cream of what Jamaica has to offer," Ras Mandito said of the musicians and harmony singers who have worked on History of the World. Among them are Dean Frazer, David Madden, Chris Meredith, Sly Dunbar, Squiddley Cole, Keith Sterling, Tyrone Downie, Bongo Herman, Harry T, JC Lodge, Pam Hall and Jahmel.
"I am just hoping and praying that I am able to present my album in the new year. I am also writing a book. This book I am working on will have all the answers," Ras Mandito said.
