To keep you in your seat
Reggae singer-activist Queen
Ifrica celebrates ‘Four Women’
Caribbean Life, APR. 30-MAY 6, 2021 27
By Nelson A. King
Reggae singer-activist
Queen Ifrica has commemorated
Nina Simone’s iconic
“Four Women” on the 52nd
anniversary of the “Live at
Berkley” album recording.
Courtesy of the Marley’s
Ghetto Youths International
label, “Ifrica reminds us that
women’s struggle for survival
and equality is nothing new,”
according to Jamaican publicist
Ronnie Tomlinson, of the
Brooklyn-based Destine Media.
Tomlinson told Caribbean
Life on Tuesday that the original
song was released in 1966
on Simone’s ‘Wild Is the Wind’
album, stating that it “spoke to a
similar struggle that the women
of our society still face today.
“Ifrica has always been
known for advocating to end
violence against women in
her own songs like ‘Daddy’,
‘Don’t Touch Me There,’”
Tomlinson said.
“She has also long been a
voice of representation for
Black women in the entertainment
space, as per her
2009 hit ‘Lioness on The
Rise’, or more recently her
2017 hit ‘Black Woman,’” she
added. “This new single is
merely another chapter in
the book of her legacy.”
Tomlinson said Queen
Ifrica has “long been a fan of
Nina Simone and her iconic
Jazz catalogue.
“So, the decision to use
her song to speak on this
issue is a natural progression,”
she said.
Ifrica’s reggae cover of
“Four Women” was released
on Monday, April 26th, the
anniversary of the 1969
recording of Simone’s “Live
from Berkley”’ album.
“This soulful reggae takes
on the beloved hit song, gives
audiences a new way to enjoy
or rock and groove to an old
favorite,” Tomlinson said.
“This cover is also made
more ideal because of the
similarities between both artists,
who have always stood for
something with their musical
talents.”
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
Your seat has been
reserved.
You’re excited about this
trip, but also nervous; you’ve
never been where you’re going
and you hope this is a one-anddone
trip. Still, going there
is necessary for you and for
the future so grab your bags.
Author Charles Person says
“The Buses Are A Comin’” and
you’re on-board.
He didn’t know it then, but
Charles Person grew up in poverty.
His family was rich in love,
wealthy at mealtimes, affluent
when it came to lessons, they
had an abundance of fun, but
he was in tenth grade before
he realized that his extended
family lived in a tenement on
the south side of Atlanta, in
Buttermilk Bottom. His father
worked two full-time jobs to
make ends meet. His mother
was a domestic and, in effect,
had “two families.” He’d never
thought about the facts until
then, and it shamed him.
Two years later, when he was
about to graduate from high
school, he was enraged when
he had to turn down his preferred
college because of lack
of money. It seemed to be the
final insult after a lifetime of
insults and he railed against
it, until his grandfather asked
Person what he was “going to
do about it.” Papa demanded
an answer. Person decided on
an HBCU that was close to
home, one he could afford.
After walking three miles
from his home to Morehouse,
the first day was awkward but
Person stayed. He wanted the
education, wanted to follow
the words of John Kennedy,
who asked what he could do for
his country. As it happened, at
this same time, the indefatigable
Civil Rights leader Lonnie
King was in Atlanta, too.
When told by an Atlanta
department store owner to
go home and take his fellow
protesters with him, Lonnie
vowed to come back in the fall
with “thousands.”
And, says Person, “I was one
of them.”
Sometimes, it seems that
in a haste to tell the story,
history glosses over a lot of
details. “Buses Are A Comin’”
sets many omissions straight –
after it tells a tale so intimate
and so filled with joy-cum-despair
that it nearly takes your
breath away.
Indeed, author Charles Person
tells his own story so well
that you can feel the floorboards
sway in his “tenement”
home. Surprisingly, he writes
about the many elders who
didn’t want their children to
march, seeing the danger; and
those who did, despite it. There
are details here that aren’t discussed
much, and other details
that add to the national story.
And then Person turns
“memoir into memorial” by
turning his sights on Lonnie
King, who was obviously
a giant in Person’s eyes.
King, he suggests, is one of
the Civil Rights Movement’s
most unsung heroes, but Person
doesn’t forget others who
marched for change – including
his contemporary, John
Lewis.
This is a book you hand to
readers too young to remember
the Civil Rights Movement. It
honors and it sings out names.
Read it; “Buses Are A Comin’”
will keep you in your seat.
“Buses Are A Comin’”
by Charles Person with
Richard Rooker
c.2021, St. Martin’s Press
$26.99 / more in Canada
560 pages
‘The Son of Mr. Sulemon” author, Eric Jerome Dickey. Joseph Jones Photography