A Tight Spot
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An old friend of mine, who I trust in matters of musical taste turned me on to the music of Lucky Dube. A South African singer and songwriter that started out playing traditional South African music, but switched over to reggae early in the 80's and has since put out 10+ albums of compelling, conscious roots reggae music.When I lived down in St.Thomas in the US Virgin Islands folks down there loved him too and he has wowed Sunsplash more than once.Vocally he sounds like Peter Tosh (but with a lot more range), his music incorporates Burning Spear-esque horn charts, I-Three's styled female backing vocals, and a little taste of African keyboard stylings.His lyrics cover the African political situation, world unity, domestic violence, and more. His songs are in English and he doesn't have the best vocab, but you definitley understand where he is coming from.I had always liked him and his uplifting messages and strong reggae rhythms, but in the past 8 or 9 years I haven't listened to him much. He came up on shuffle today and everything above reminded me of why I liked his music so much.Then again, I was also reminded why I hadn't put him the box too much in the last 8 or 9 years. Lucky Dube has 1 or 2 very strident songs that are anti-abortion and for all the things I do agree with him on, that is not one of them.It leads me to some questions: Have you ever had a situation like this with an artist you cared about?What do you do when an artist who you really like records something that you just don't agree with at all?Is there an artist whose music you enjoy, but there is something they do outside of music that troubles you and sours you to their music?Are there artists, who, from what you know, you wouldn't like as a person(s), but you love their music anyway?
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