Fantan Mojah
Photo by Sista Irie
"Fantan Mojah's mission is to
ensure that the world always remembers to "Hail The King" from
giving thanks for the break of a new dawn to the celebration of
the sunset ..." - Balford Henry
The release of the "Hail The King" album heralds the
international arrival of a major new talent in Jamaican music
but, on the strength of his achievements so far, Fantan Mojah
already deserves his rightful place in that illustrious roll
call of culturally inspired, and inspiring, Jamaican artists
running from Count Ossie through Bob Marley, Burning Spear to
Garnet Silk and Luciano on to Buju Banton, Capleton and Sizzla.
Fantan Mojah was born Owen Moncrieffe in the fruitful country
parish of St. Elizabeth, the "cockpit country" of the Maroons,
runaway slaves long famed for their resilience and resistance.
Their unbroken link with their African ancestry has resulted in
a latent culture that has retained much of that African oriented
past and this is most audible in the music coming from the
region and now exemplified by the music of Fantan Mojah.
The young Owen Moncrieffe was always motivated by music and, at
the age of nine years, began performing at local concerts
winning several talent competitions while still at school. His
parents soon grew to understand that Owen's sole aim in life was
to be a deejay and in order to further his musical ambitions he
moved to Kingston. He found work there as a handyman with top
Sound System Kilamanjaro gaining experience and gradually
building up a reputation as he sang and deejayed over rhythms
during sound checks. Initially he called himself Mad Killer
(after dancehall deejay Bounty Killer) but he was drawn more and
more towards a strictly conscious approach to music. In 1997 he
came under the influence of cultural deejay Capleton who
encouraged the youth to become known by a more spiritual name
and so he became Fantan Mojah in order to clearly define his
Rastafarian beliefs and to underline the serious content of the
music that he felt compelled to make. His experiences as a young
man growing up in St. Elizabeth had now become coupled with the
aggressive urban environment of Kingston enabling him to blend
an honest rural flavour with the hype and brutality of urban
poverty and he began to create a music that was indelibly his
and, spiritually, emotionally and artistically his new name
represented his coming of age.
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Fantan began recording with the Black & White
team of Andrew 'Prento' Prendergast and Joseph Bogdanovich of
Down Sound Records in 2004 and their first seven-inch release
"Hungry" shot to the number one position in the Jamaican charts
where it stayed for eight straight weeks. The anthemic "Hail The
King" followed it to number one and has become one of the most
talked about, and listened to, records of 2005. The accompanying
videos not only emphasised Fantan's visual appeal but also
reinforced his image as the chief celebrant and armour bearer
for Rastafarian music. Down Sound was one of the flag bearers
for the change from the excesses of "bling" dancehall
redirecting the music to its original mission of social and
economic opportunity and equality and other major record
producers involved in the "One Drop" movement are also
represented here. The telling "Nuh Build Great Man", with Fantan
in combination with Jah Cure whose vocals were actually added at
Tower Street Correctional Facility, should leave the listener in
no doubt as to the importance and significance of Fantan Mojah
to Kingston's current resurgence of roots and culture.
Fantan has headlined prestigious Jamaican stage shows such as
East Fest, Spring Break, Sting, Fully Loaded, Summer Jam and the
West Kingston Jamboree and toured extensively: to Canada for the
Montreal Reggae Festival in 2004, and in 2005 to the UK for
Culture Fest and to Italy for the Rototom Sunsplash. He has trod
his righteous path through Cayman, Barbados and Bermuda with his
uplifting music making many new adherents to his ideals. His
lyrics are concerned with truths that should be obvious but
Fantan states them in ways that compel the listener to think
again: for if it costs nothing at all to praise God then why not
do it? The cost, if nothing in terms of money, is everything in
terms of salvation and here he offers a chance for reggae music
to reassert itself as positively influential and divine.
His plans for the future are to continue spreading his message
worldwide and his debut album not only confirms his mission but
also consolidates his position with songs that are inspirational
hymns to goodness and to love, calling the faithful to prayer
and preaching the message to the youth that evil is not
unavoidable. We urge you to savour the talent of this very
genuine and gifted young man and we are sure that you will join
us in celebrating the richness of his vision and purposefulness
of his mission which is, basically, about peace and love among
all peoples of the earth.
Fantan
Mojah Links:
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