Tag: ISRAEL

On Dub In Palestine

On By Jah BillahIn dUbLeave a comment

Jah Billah says:
All of us are witness to historically unprecedented mass destruction of humanity and culture, along with inexorable propaganda and overall censorship. This excerpt shows struggle of reggae musicians in Palestine:

The Ministry of Dub-Key

In 2011, long-time reggae enthusiasts Walaa Sbeit and Bruno Cruz visited the occupied Golan Heights to collaborate with Toot Ard, a Syrian reggae band. Returning to Haifa, Cruz and Sbeit were inspired to form a band that combined elements from reggae music with Palestinian folklore and dance. This fusion of was achieved through the integration of dub music.

In the 1960s, amateur musicians in Kingston, Jamaica engaged in the practice of dubbing reggae music. This process involves the accentuation of the bass on an instrumental version of a reggae song. The musician then speaks or sings over the instrumental, thereby “dubbing” the song. This process allows musicians to produce multiple versions of songs while avoiding the financial burden of recording a song in a studio. The production of the Ministry of Dub-Key’s music involves dubbing, as referenced in the band’s name.

Cruz explains that the individual parts of the band’s name represent their philosophy.
“Ministry” refers to the band’s collaborative projects with artists who share the same message and purpose. “Dub” refers to the band’s music production. “Key” is a tribute to exiled Palestinians who kept the keys to their houses after Al-Nabka as a means of symbolizing their eventual return. “Dub-Key” is a homonym for “dabkeh”, which is a reference to traditional Palestinian music and dance.

The band originally consisted of Walaa Sbeit, Bruno Cruz and Sami Matar before Matar’s untimely death in September 2011. In 2013, Maysa Daw joined the band. Daw, along with Cruz and Sbeit, are featured in Dumyeh Plastikieh.
Responsibilities are divided between the members for music production. Sbeit is primarily responsible for the lyrical content and, occasionally, the musical composition. As the band’s producer, Cruz oversees the musical composition. Cruz explains that all songs are produced in an independent home-studio. Daw, Sbeit and other collaborators engage in improvisational music sessions loosely based on written material. Daw explains: “[We] maybe practice [the songs] once or twice before the show and then whatever comes on stage, comes. Cruz noted that Dumyeh Plastikieh took two days to write and record.

A primary goal for the Ministry of Dub-Key is the use of Palestinian reggae as a peaceful way to call for liberation while breaking Arab stereotypes. Daw states: “It’s a message of freedom … we want things to change.” Moreover, Cruz claims that the band uses a non- violent form of resistance to challenge stereotypes imposed on Palestinians. Daw echoes this sentiment, saying, “It’s a way to show that Arabs are not as everybody thinks, to break the image of how people see us.”


From:
Dub, Dub-Key and Dabkeh: Palestinian Resistance through Reggae Music in Israel
by Yazan Abughaida, 2015.

Soundcloud: Ministry Of Dub-Key

Youtube: Ministry Of Dub-key

Cannabis and Frankincense in religion

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Irrefutable archaeological evidence now confirms etymological and theological evidence we already know: cannabis is the root of religious ecstasy found in antiquity of Judaism and Abrahamic religions.

 

Two limestone monoliths, interpreted as altars, were found in the Judahite shrine at Tel Arad. Unidentified dark material preserved on their upper surfaces was submitted for organic residue analysis at two unrelated laboratories that used similar established extraction methods. On the smaller altar, residues of cannabinoids such as Δ9-teterahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinol (CBN) were detected, along with an assortment of terpenes and terpenoids, suggesting that cannabis inflorescences had been burnt on it. Organic residues attributed to animal dung were also found, suggesting that the cannabis resin had been mixed with dung to enable mild heating. The larger altar contained an assemblage of indicative triterpenes such as boswellic acid and norursatriene, which derives from frankincense. The additional presence of animal fat―in related compounds such as testosterone, androstene and cholesterol―suggests that resin was mixed with it to facilitate evaporation. These well-preserved residues shed new light on the use of 8th century Arad altars and on incense offerings in Judah during the Iron Age. 

 

On Emperor Haile Sellassie I as the Living God

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The doctrine that Ras Tafari known to the world as the Emperor Haile Sellassie I of Ethiopia, is the Living God, was developed by several persons independently.

Of these Mr. Leonard P. Howell is genuinely regarded as being the first to preach the divinity of Ras Tafari in Kingston. Howell is said to have fought against King Prempeh of Ashanti (1896), and claimed to speak an African language.

‘The Promised Key’, a basic Ras Tafari text, published in Accra, Ghana around 1930, shows clear evidence of Jamaican authorship. (Jamaica Times 28th May 1938).

Howell also spent several years in the north-eastern U.S., where he came into contact with black and white racism.

Another early preacher was Mr. Joseph Nathaniel Hibbert. Mr. Hibbert was born in Jamaica in 1894, but went with his adopted father to Costa Rica in 1911, returning to Jamaica in 1931. In Costa Rica Mr. Hibbert had leased 28 acres, which he put in bananas. In 1924 he had joined the Ancient Mystic Order of Ethiopia, a Masonic society the constitution of which was revised in 1888, and which became incorporated in 1928 in Panama. Mr. Hibbert became a Master Mason of this Order, and, returning to Jamaica, began to preach Haile Sellassie as the King of Kings, the returned Messiah and the Redeemer of Israel.

This was at Benoah District, St. Andrew, from whence he moved to Kingston to find Howell already preaching Ras Tafari as God at the Redemption Market.  Mr. H. Archibald Dunkley is another man who may claim to have brought the doctrine to Jamaica. Mr. Dunkley was a Jamaican seaman on the Atlantic Fruit Company’s boats, and finally quit the sea on the 8th December 1930, when he landed at Port Antonio off the s.S. St. Mary. Coining to Kingston, Dunkley studied the Bible for two-and-a half years on his own, to determine whether Haile Sellassie was the Messiah whom Garvey had prophesied. Ezekiel 30, I Timothy 6, Revelation 17 and 19 and Isaiah 43 finally convinced him.

In 1933 Dunkley opened his Mission, preaching Ras Tafari as the King of Kings, the Root of David, the Son of the Living God, but not the Father Himself. Other early preachers include Robert Hinds, who joined Howell, and Altamont Read who turned his following over to one Mr. Johnson when he became Mr. N. W. Manley’s bodyguard about 1940.

Found in: HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT, from:
The Rastafari Movement In Kingston, Jamaica. PART 1
Authors: M. G. SMITH, ROY AUGIER and REX NETTLEFORD
Source: Caribbean Quarterly, Vol. 13, No. 3 (September 1967)

Image source: Colin Edward Murray Art

TIKUN OLAM

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