UNCONVENTION22: Amlak Tafari: Musician

“Yes, well this album is called 'Countryman' and it's by a band called The Twinkle Brothers. The reason why this album is of particular interest and why it's so special to me is .. I'm a 

Rasta man, my liberty is one of Rastafari. And as a young Rasta man we faced a lot of trialsand tribulations growing up in Britain. It was in a time - a lot of misunderstanding, there 

was a lot of racial prejudice, a lot of discrimination and also a lot of misunderstandings. And so my generation when we talked about .. we like the Rastafari way of life and the 

Rastafari philosophy our parents nearly lost their minds, simply because back in the thirties in Jamaica a Rasta man was deemed as a scum of the earth, as they would say. 

And in Jamaican society the only place for a Rasta man would have been in and amongst the thieves and the criminals and such like, such was the ..... I don't know how to put it but 

they weren't liked and I can see why a lot of times people wouldn't have liked the Rasta Jamaica being a place where it has more churches per capita then anywhere else in the 

world. Christianity and religion has a very strong influence on society as a whole and has for many many years so when the Rasta man came along talking about Africa and repatriation to Africa as the motherland that went against the grain, very much so. Especially as Jamaica was a British colony , even though Jamaica changed hands and had many many influences .. Spanish etc ..in terms of as a colony .. colonialism, slavery, the influence was of the British culture. So that said with Christianity, right, the white Jesus, in terms of sovereignty the Queen of England .. when the Rasta man came along and said - 'Well actually we're Africans and we are already kings, queens, princes, princesses, emperors, it's about time we look at who we are ..acknowledge who we are, where we're coming from and rekindle that relationship and reignite that strength and that power' right and you know .. as Royal deities. Let's look at who we are. iif we look into history, the most recent history, there's slavery, there's that .. but if we look back ... further back and bring that forward we are people, we are men and women, we are human beings and we are a lot more mighty than the most recent histories would have suggested. So, it definitely went against the grain and those in the upper echelons of society who look towards the European model of hierarchy it just didn't go well. 

So, Rastas back in those days... so you can imagine some years l later being in the United Kingdom .. my parents have come here, right, to further themselves economically, to 

further assist all the family back home, you know, when we came along with Rasta they were like 'oh my gosh what's going on here'. Things were tough enough for them being in 

England as immigrants, like I said with the racism and the social inequalities etc. and then when we came along with the Rasta talk that just blew their mind. So you know the term 

nowadays 'disenfranchised youth' well back in that time, you know, it was a real struggle, you know, being black in Britain was a struggle. And being a black youth in Britain was, you know, almost like that .. you know the term when they say middle child misunderstood and left out and stuff. So we were like the middle child in terms of our parents did not grow up in Britain so with regards to the education system and the psychology involved in grooming people, in grooming a nation of people to think and behave a certain way that was totally over our parents heads, they were coming from islands like Grenada, Trinidad, St. Kitts, Barbados, Jamaica ,etc where the British had an involvement in and the education system there was a lot more strict. The level of attainment was a lot higher, all be that it was British education system that was there the students in Jamaica were scoring so much higher, in relation to what's going on in the UK, and that's because of the discipline of where we're coming from and the cultural aspects of how we saw things from a family structure going right the way through to .... yeah ..so It was hard, really really hard. Going to school, being chastised, going home to tell your parents .. going 'look guess what happened at school'. They'd be like 'What'. Well in Jamaica that don't happen .. you must have done something wrong because the teachers always right, authorities always right. Well we were then struggling with authority here that was looking at us in a different way. They didn't know about us .. we didn't know about them. Our parents couldn't tell us about them because our parents only had one mind set ... we're here to work we'll put up and shut up . We're just here to work. Our parents didn't know police stations and all that kind of stuff, they never got into trouble. We we're getting into trouble our parents thought 'Well it must be you.. it's got to be you. How come there's problems at school and the police have arrested you'. 

Some of the parents rcognised what was going on and did not turn a blind eye. So it was a struggle all the way along to be understood in a situation that was evolving and you had 

no way of knowing which way the pieces are going to fall after these minor explosions and eruptions. Though, that said I felt like I had no place. My mum was disappointed, my father was disappointed ..tremendously disappointed. I was in top class when I was at school; when I was seven years old they said I had the brain of a nine year old I should have been two years ahead and all that stuff. I went to school I was in top class in school, I was the only Carribean boy in my class at school. My parents said 'Oh my gosh he's going to be great he's going to be a doctor, a lawyer, whatever. But how I felt about what 

was happening to me didn't point me in that direction and I saw, and still does that Rastafari liberty, the peace and love, the respect, the acknowledgement of my self that I found in Rastafari .. I recognised that was my way. You know, it didn't mean that not going to school or not whatever.. people had a problem with the fact that I'm saying Rastafari because the connotations of that, coming from Jamaica, is the worst thing that I could have ever decided to do. My parents thought 'Oh my gosh we're finished'. And what happened immediately I wasn't allowed to go to my friends houses anymore. You know you go call for your friends call ... no .. are you coming out.. going up the road ..kick some football whatever then roller skating... all of a sudden my friends parents told their children don't bring him back round here anymore. I experienced that. So you know .. the term 'marginalised'. I had my family, my mum was kicking me out the house, she said 'I'm going to America .. when I get back you comb that hair or you're out'. She came back and she said 'give me the front door key - get out'. You know so ..these are the things. There's a song on this album called 'Countrymen' by the band called Twinkle brothers that actually encompasses a lot of the experience of .. not just myself ..a lot of what other young Rastas were going through. You know there's one of the verses talking about when he got fired from his job, right, and you know, fired without pay.. and it's just because he became a Rasta man he went to work and the boss man looked at him and said 'What..that hair 'and you know.. And then family disowned him, you know, and all these different stories about the persecution basically, because of a personal belief. The final verse on this song says, you know, something like; 'When your boss man discriminates against you, right, and your mother and father rejects you that is the time that Jah, God, Jah the Almighty he will guide and protect you. So I told 

them all to go away with their brutalisation, go away with your discrimination, go away with your victimisation'. 

So that song told me I will be all right. I'm gonna be just fine as hard as things are.... And being a teenager as well ( laughs). Things are always hard ... puberty ..adolescence ..all 

these things thrown in top of , you know, what was happening on the street, if I left Handsworth it was a problem. We moved from Handsworth to Perry Barr - major problem,Police on my case, mad mob chasing me, all kinds of things going on. Get arrested for stupid stuff. Police driving on the street you know. Five a clock in the morning I'd come from Putney .. on the pavement .. driving me down on the pavement. You know, all kinds of crazy things. This song 'Since I threw the comb away' is the name of the song and my goodness I'm still here because of this music and you know .. so that's about it man ..yeah Twinkle Brothers .. “Since I Throw The Comb Away”. 

Oh yeah big up Will. Yeah bless him. Will is the man. Will came to my house he had ackee and pear and super malt .. yeah . My cousin Will. Rastafari ! yes man. (Laughs) 

Twinkle Brothers "Contrymen" released 1980