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Checkered past >> Looking back and forward with Jamaican pop pioneer Laurel Aitken
by RUPERT BOTTENBERG
Mirror: Tell me about the music scene in '40s Jamaica. Laurel Aitken: Before ska and reggae, we used to listen to New Orleans music--artists like Fats Domino, Joe Turner, Nat King Cole and those guys. If you wanted to be noticed, you had to sing like them. I was performing for Jamaican locals, and that's what they used to dance to--New Orleans boogie music. Those were good days for me. I was very, very, very famous, but not making as much money as I thought I should. M: You recorded hits with Chris Blackwell in the late '50s... LA: I won a big contest in Kingston and he came and asked me if I could do some recording, which I did. He never had a successful record, until "Little Sheila" and "Boogie in My Bones," which was my double A-side single. I did that the same day I got my hair cut, to leave for England the next day. M: Tell me about Brixton in the '60s. LA: I was like a father figure to the people in that area, because I was the only famous Jamaican living among my own people. Everyone looked at me and said, "We've got a good man here"--not a leader, but a good man. Brixton was like Kingston after a while. It was the reggae city, especially on a Saturday morning, when people came from all over to get their reggae records. And I had a lot of records out in those days. M: At what point did you notice white faces in your crowds? LA: I never noticed that, really. But then, I found I had a lot of skinheads following, and other white people too. We got along quite well, right up to now. My audience now is white people, anyhow. In a way, they're more genuine to me. You see, a white audience will follow your career and want to know what you're doing. Most black people say, "Oh, Laurel Aitken, big pop star from Jamaica," and that's it. M: What do you think of modern dancehall? LA: I'm doing some dancehall stuff right now, recording it myself. I've got my own small studio, and a lot of guys who hang about--young guys. (Thickening up his patois) "Laurel Aitken in the dancehall!" What I'm gonna do is not so heavy, but it'll be entertaining, especially for more grown-up people. I'm not into the guns and all these things. M: You know, Ricky Martin's got a ska song on his album... LA: Really?! You know, I've got a new album in Spanish. I speak Spanish--I'm from Cuba originally--and it's something I wanted to fulfil. I sing the Spanish songs, but I use West Indian basslines. It's quite easy, they complement each other. M: What's next? More touring? LA: I'll tour one more week, then I'm coming home to work on my new dance music album. You know my song "Mad About You?" I'm doing it with a modern beat. I'm doing "Sally Brown" again, too. If you come to the concert, you'll see. "Sally Brown" is a song that makes everybody jump!
At le Swimming on Saturday, August 7, 10pm, $9 |
In the '40s Laurel Aitken bred the boogie bug in Kingston. In the '50s he gave Island's Chris Blackwell his first hit. In the '60s he brought the bump to Brixton, in the '70s he kept the 2-Tone types on their toes, in the '80s he surfed the third wave around the globe. Now it's the '90s, and at 72 Aitken is giving the youth a hot-to-trot history lesson--and keeping an ear out for young ideas, too.