There were, however, some new-age Rastafarian entertainers who openly embraced Christ, with one group of brethren naming themselves the 'Christian Souljahs'. Included were deejay Tony Rebel, poet Yasus Afari and singer Garnett Silk.
And it was the last, who died on December 10, 1994, who laid out his beliefs in Christ and Haile Selassie in the song Christ in His Kingly Character.
Bridget Anderson, Silk's former manager, said Christ in His Kingly Character was recorded at engineer/producer Bobby Digital's studio in Hughenden, St Andrew. It was recorded in the evening, but "we were in the studio from in the afternoon".
By later in the night the song was in the hands of Jah Love sound system's selectors, Anderson saying that she took a copy of the song to them.
In it, Silk clearly states that Christ and Haile Selassie are inseparable, singing:
"Christ in his kingly character
One love from the man say Rasta
Who goes it must be Jah Jah."
It is not the only song in which he makes the acknowledgement, as Silk also honours "Christ in his character" in Babylon Be Still.
Anderson said it was Silk's "acknowledgement of seeing the divinity of His Majesty. Silk was a young Rastafarian. He sought righteousness. He is the only artiste I know, who, every time he went out to work, he said he was going to save some souls. He was diligently on the work, on the message. He was truly a Christian Souljah".
Christ in His Kingly Character was recorded on a rhythm that already existed. "Garnett's early days saw him singing on some old rhythms. He was not happy about it," Anderson said.
Subliminal message
Christ in His Kingly Character made the Jamaican charts and Anderson said it was a hit "based on what he was saying. There are some songs that have a subliminal message that touches the soul. Christ in His Kingly Character is one of them. It exemplified the work of the Rastafarian".
She points out that lyrically "it was catchy and simplistic. Garnett wrote very simply, but in the simplicity there was power".
"It was definitely one of his stronger songs, one of the songs that defined the faith he had in Christ and His Majesty. Even in his dub plates, he spoke about Christ," Anderson said.
"Everybody could identify divinity in Garnett Silk."
Manager on a word
When Bridget Anderson started managing Garnett Silk at the beginning of 1992 neither could have known that he had less than 24 months to live.
In fact, the period of Garnett's real impact on music was itself very short.
At the Jamaica Association of Vintage Artistes and Associates (JAVAA) tribute concert, 'Their Music Lives On', at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston, in mid-July, his brother, Aaron, reminded the large audience that Garnett's presence was really felt for a mere three years.
Anderson met Garnett Silk in St Thomas and became his manager, by verbal agreement, in a car, coming from Negril.
World tour
"I started in the music business in 1991 and went on a world tour with Judy Mowatt and Sly & Robbie," Anderson told The Sunday Gleaner. During that tour, from September to October, a singer named Bunny Brissett introduced her to Garnett's recordings. Although she was impressed, it was Silk's performance at Eastern Consciousness 1992, put on by Worrel King in Portland, that bowled her over. The same night, she was in a car that followed Tony Rebel and Silk to a performance at Lee's Unlimited Headquarters in Springfield, St Thomas.
"In St Thomas, I was crossing the road. I met Tony Rebel in the middle of the road and he introduced me to Anthony Rochester (who wrote for Garnett Silk). Rochester said I want you to do some work with the singer. After Silk performed, I met him," she said.
The group started going to shows together and, after one in Negril which also featured Dennis Brown and on which Silk sparkled, "he said to me Buju (his baby daughter's name for her, as she could not pronounce Bridget), you know me no waan sign to nobody but me want you to manage me".
"I was elated. He had this awesome presence," Anderson said. No papers were signed, as tends to happen in the Jamaican music business, Anderson saying "we had a solid verbal understanding".
Memorable shows
There were some memorable shows, among them one put on by producer Donovan Germaine, along with a popular footballer, in downtown Kingston. Anderson says Silk was adamant that he did not want to do Sting in 1992, as he did not like the concept of the show, but he fulfilled his obligation.
At a show in Miami "he mesmerised them. The next day, they called it Garnett Silk Day", she said, recalling that bodyguards had to be assigned to keep off the people who were mobbing him.
"He did three shows in London and, after being kidnapped, he swore he would never go back. And he did not," Anderson said.
Album deal
It was at a Reggae Bash at White River, Ocho Rios, that Dillon Powe of Atlantic Records saw Silk, which led to an album deal with Big Beat, attorney-at-law Lloyd Stanbury integral to the process.
It was in the processing of recording that set, only the second studio album that Silk did (the other was It's Growing) that he died. Anderson points out that while there are other Garnett Silk albums, they are collections of singles and not a deliberately constructed full-length set.
In addition, there is a deficit of visuals, an all-important part of music for the MTV and RETV generation. "Garnett never had a video, but at one time (the then) JBC was doing an interview with him and chose Christ in His Kingly Character . His brother was walking with a picture of His Majesty and they used it as a sort of video," Bridget Anderson said.
— Mel Cooke
