Pablo, you recorded part of your first album, 'Revolutionary Dream' at Lee Perry's Black Ark studio...
Pablo Moses: "Yes, I recorded the first song there, 'I Man A Grasshopper'. That was the very first song I recorded. It was produced by Geoffrey Chung for a label called Soundtrack Records. Mikey Chung played guitar, Clive Hunt was on bass, Geoffrey Chung and Robbie Lynn on keyboards and of course Lee Perry did the engineering."
What's the story behind that tune? What is 'I Man A Grasshopper' all about?
Pablo Moses: "I was living in Vineyard Town (part of Kingston, red.), still at my mom's house at that time and we had a captain of the army boarding with us. He rented part of the house. Of course I was often playing my guitar and smoking my spliff on our side of the house. One day though, he called the police on me. Now at that time I was still practicing the guitar a lot and writing songs from life, so I decided to turn that occurrence into a song. I had just read a book written by Eldridge Cleaver ("I had gotten caught with a shopping bag full of marijuana, a shopping bag full of love - I was in love with the weed and I did not for one minute think that anything was wrong with getting high. I had been getting high for four or five years and was convinced with the zeal of a crusader, that marijuana was superior to lush - yet the rulers of the land seemed all to be lushes. I could not see how they were more justified in drinking than I was in blowing the gage. I was a grasshopper, and it was natural that I felt myself to be unjustly imprisoned.", Eldridge Cleaver, "Soul On Ice", 1968, red.), a well-known Afro-American revolutionary (he was one of the leaders of the Black Panther Party, red.), at that time, in which he was talking about the grasshopper. To me there was a great analogy between us smoking herbs and the grasshopper that jumps from weed to weed, so I wrote this lyric: "That man saw I man smoking I man collie weed. That man should never call Babylon to spoil I man irie feel. I man don't want to cause any wrong. I man only smoking in love and thinking of love strong. That man a fish, loving him fishbowl. I man love collie weed and love to get high in I soul!"
Another tune from that album is 'Give I Fe I Name', wherein you talk about the descendants of the African slaves who were given European names. You go by the name of Pablo Moses, how did you come by that name?
Pablo Moses: "The Babylon name that I have is Pablito Henry. Henry is a colonial name and so is Pablito, but my mother named me that way because one of the friends of my great-grandfather in Cuba was named that way. I was never really satisfied with my name though, but I noticed almost all black people in Jamaica were carrying a European name, so that's what I wrote the song about: "Chinese named Chin and Chung, Macintosh came from Scotland, Indian named Raja and Gabaska, I man sure Smith don't come from Africa." The song caused a lot of controversy back then and it helped to open up a lot of eyes. At that time Ian Smith was still Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, then still called Rhodesia (Ian Douglas Smith, 8 April 1919 - 20 November 2007, served as the Prime Minister of the British self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia from 13 April 1964 to 11 November 1965 and as the first Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 11 November 1965 to 1 June 1979 during white minority rule. Smith unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965. The country failed to gain international recognition and United Nations economic sanctions were instituted, red.). Most of my songs are written from own experiences. For 'We Must Be In Angola' I saw brothers killing brothers in Jamaica, whilst at the same time you had this conflict going on back in Angola."
In 'Revolutionary Dream' you talk about physically taking part in a revolution, but then you wake up and it turns out it was all just a dream. A criticism that's often made about Rastafarians is that over the years they've talked a lot, but done very little. What's your perception on that?
Pablo Moses: "Well, you have to understand that we as Rastafarians are not here to deal with physical war as such. The main objective of Rastafarianism is fighting against oppression and for equal rights and justice for all. It's a verbal war or like Peter Tosh used to say: "Word, sound and power!". In roots reggae, the drum and the bass are used as the gun, and the lyrics, the words, are the bullets fired. So if these words reach your heart and you're not ready, we say: "Weak heart a go feel it!" When we say: "Fire burn!" for example, we don't mean literal fire; it's our words that will burn themselves into your heart and conscience. Words can reach the four corners of the earth, so in fact they are far more powerful than actual bullets. The 'Revolutionary Dream' song itself came in part from a vision I had. I had this dream, woke up and started to write these lyrics about it. That's why I say in the song: "When I awoke out of this wonderful vision, was just when I was about to kill the headman. I woke up out of this wonderful vision, back into the world of reality, to endure the strains of poverty." I was born in south Manchester (The parish of Manchester is located in west-central Jamaica, in the county of Middlesex. Its capital, Mandeville, is a major business centre, red.) in a poor family. We didn't have running water or electricity, not even a gas stove. If we wanted to cook we had to go out looking for firewood. That's why when I see people struggling, I understand what they're going through as I've been there myself."
After the release of the 'Revolutionary Dream' album, you decided to put your musical career on hold and return to school. What prompted that decision?
Pablo Moses: "The prime reason I decided to attend the Jamaica School of Music was because I wanted to learn more about the fundamentals of music. Where I grew up, music wasn't considered a career option, it was something you did as a hobby, so I never got any formal musical education. Now at the time I decided to go back to school, the PNP, Jamaica's People's National Party, introduced something they called democratic socialism. A lot of public services like education and health care were suddenly made available at little or no cost. They also established the Cultural Training Centre (Established in 1975, the CTC amalgamated three already existing national colleges - the long established School of Music and School of Art, the then fairly new School of Drama, and the Dance School, red.), a school where you could learn all different kinds of arts. I went to audition and to my surprise I passed. At that time Geoffrey Chung was negotiating a deal for me with Island Records and he needed some time to see that through; so I decided to use that time wisely and enrolled myself in the Jamaica School of Music in the department of Afro-American music, where they focused on genres like jazz, blues and reggae. I think one of the key problems in Jamaican music today is that few youths take the time anymore to learn how to play an instrument. I would advise anyone who wants to compose and write songs to learn how to play the piano or the guitar."
For your first three albums ('Revolutionary Dream', 'A Song' and 'Pave The Way') you more or less worked with the same team consisting of Geoffrey Chung and Clive Hunt. In retrospect, how important would you say have their contributions to these albums been?
Pablo Moses: "In my opinion, Geoffrey Chung was one of the best producers on the island. That's why I stuck it out with him, because back then I was still learning the ropes, so to speak, and he just knew music through and through. Geoffrey was half black, half Chinese and he came from a musical family. He was very versatile also; he could play the guitar, keyboards, bass and even a little drums. Apart from that Geoffrey had surrounded himself with excellent musicians. There was his brother Mikey Chung, an accomplished guitarist and you had Robbie Lyn, who is a great keyboard player, to give you but two examples. Clive Hunt now, was one of the best horns arrangers around. He learned to play the trumpet in the army. One of the reasons I decided to stick it out with one producer was that, in case something happened, I'd have to deal with only one person."
You're also known to be a devout reader. Do you still read a lot?
Pablo Moses: "I love to read! I try to read my newspaper every day and when I'm on the plane I read the in-flight magazines front to back. I read virtually anything I can get my hands on and it's from reading I get a lot of my inspiration. That being said, I love to watch television as well; movies especially are a good source of inspiration. I love a good movie. I love writing music, so that's why I'm always alert and in search of new sources of inspiration."
Your album 'Pave The Way' was re-released not too long ago on the Young Tree label of Groundation and you've also recorded a track ('Blues Away', red.) for their new album 'Here I Am'. What's your relationship with these guys?
Pablo Moses: "I was looking for someone to re-release some of my old stuff for some while, but funnily enough Harrison (Stafford, red.) came to find me. He told me I was one of his all-time favourite artists and I saw humility and honesty in this guy. Sometimes you have to be careful with people, but with Harrison I felt at ease and today I guess I regard him as a son almost. I already contributed to his 'Upon The Bridge' album and now he asked me to voice something for the new one as well. I like the vibes Groundation bring; there's a lot of positivity in their music."