Yasus Afari

On his five previous albums, Yasus Afari has blended his poetry with music. On his next set, slated for release in August, he is relying on the music in the poetry, as the only instruments are voices.

Naturally, Afari's voice is the prime instrument on the 22-track set, but it is not the only one as sung harmonies are utilised extensively. Among the harmony vocalists are Pam Hall, Heather Cummings, Terry from the duo La Twain, keyboard player Fabian Smith and Aaron Silk.

Afari tells The Gleaner that "the rhythm and the music is in the poetry. We do that deliberately, decidedly, based on the interest on wi tours."

Most of the tracks were recorded at Tuff Gong Studio in Kingston, with two done at the Mandeville Recording Studio and another at the Shelter studio, also in Mandeville. There was a live audience at Tuff Gong and Afari says he "deliberately bring in a wide age range in the studio." There were children as young as six years old and someone close to 60 years old. There was also a range of social backgrounds, as "we want the people to feel involved."

The poems are a mixture of new material and poems that have been publicised previously, the balance of verse in favour of the former. Among the new poems are Kiss Mi Neck (which plays on neck kissing of the Afromantic kind and surprise, for which the expression is commonly used), that poem being part of a trilogy which includes Blouse and Skirt and Complex.

The Girl I Love deals with male/female relationships, Pickpocket is social commentary and Flowers, My Own Eyes, Brew, Mental Orgasm and Friends and Friendship are also among the new poems on the as-yet-untitled set.

Older poems

As for the older poems, Yasus Afari says, "I could not leave out Patois Talking. People can't get enough of that. Sometimes me have to do it two, three times when I'm performing."

The Earth Is a Friend has also had strong impact, as Afari has been doing some work with environmental organisation Friends of the Earth in England and Wales. The poem has been translated into Japanese and he has done it for Friends of the Earth in Australia.

Travelling Sun, the first poem Yasus Afari wrote when he was a student at St Elizabeth Technical High School, as well as Freedom from the early 1990s Mental Assassin album have also been included, the latter recorded in Negro spiritual style.

The recording process went smoothly - some 80 to 85 per cent of them were recorded just once. He much prefers to recite his poems - rather than read them. "Me love perform," he told The Gleaner.

He points out that persons went the extra mile to facilitate the process, among them engineer Gregory Morris, who was at Tuff Gong from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. the following day, when he had a 7 a.m. flight to Miami and then on to California for a Junior Gong performance.

From the harmony arrangements to the cover art, Yasus Afari has had control over the album and says, "Me happy, because the elements happen and position to happen together to make a wonderful project."

As for the final name, Yasus Afari says "naming an album is always a challenge. This is not different. I have a few working titles at the moment, but I'm giving myself a few more days."

The upcoming spoken-word album does not mark a change in direction for Yasus Afari, as he points out that, although he has been doing quite a few spoken-word performances and conferences recently, he has also been doing large festivals, working with music.

Ideally, he would like to maintain a balance between the two ways of delivering his poems.

For his next full-length project, Yasus Afari is planning to do an acoustic set, or a blend of acoustic and full instrumentation to accompany his poetry.