Paula Lindo – Our histories, stories, present, future.

Affection, nostalgia and admiration are all present when listening to Levi “Myaz” Mayers talking about his late father, legendary musician Richard “Nappy” Mayers. Myaz will perform a collection of Nappy’s hits at a tribute concert on November 16 at Kaiso Blues Cafe, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain.

Mayers was a composer, arranger, producer, writer and singer who has been described as being ahead of his time and one of the greatest musicians to come out of T&T. He died suddenly in 1993 at the age of 41. Some of his most well-known hits include Cash in Calypso/Breakaway, Wanna Make Love to You with Nadie La Fond, and Bring Back the Old Time Days.

The concert will feature performances by Ataklan, Terri Lyons, Len “Boogsie” Sharpe and Dayobejide, the sons of deceased drummer Ja Ja Onilu. Special guests will be Nadie La Fond and Colin Waldron, who worked with Mayers in his band. Myaz said he would be performing his father’s music in the way it was originally recorded. “Dayobejide do organic nature instruments, so they will play a couple of Nappy’s songs in instrumental form during the opening. When I perform I’ll be doing original renditions of Nappy’s music, I’m not changing anything. The intention is to do over one of the songs called Music Man, featuring Ataklan, so that will premiere there. I also want to invite some of Nappy’s musicians that were in his band to take a little jam.”

Myaz said the show is overdue in terms of recognising his father’s work in Trinidad. “I don’t think he’s ever really gotten absolute justice from the government. Corporations and companies had honoured him when he passed away, but from the government or the Ministry of Culture, there was very little. I had an idea years ago to do a tribute show but it was a huge undertaking and I was trying to do it by myself. It never happened and I learned a lot from that. I had done a remake of Old Time Days in 2004. It was well done, produced by Martin “Mice” Raymond, and featured Len “Boogsie” Sharpe, Mungal Patasar, and two of the Blackman kids.  It’s not really played much on the radio here at all. I think that’s the combination of age, the climate in T&T, they’re not listening to much reggae music now here, and I’m looking for ways to bring back a presence on the local scene for myself.”

Mayers died when Myaz was 18, and he has mixed memories of him. “I moved around with him a lot and he showed me a lot about life, people and society, what I’d have to face growing up. He wasn’t perfect, but he was a person of good character. It’s no secret that he had a battle with drugs over a period of his life. It did cause a problem but it also made him who he was. He did manage to overcome it by the time I was 12 or 13 and from there he was good. He died on December 12, 1993. He was only 41 and I am 44 now. The way he was has stayed with me, because of how people deal with me, so I see how important it is to have a good livity, so that blessings go down to your grandchildren, your children, and just keep on going.”

Growing up around music, Myaz was drawn to it, but decided not to pursue it after an embarrassing experience in a talent show at age 10. As a teenager, he played football and was looking at turning professional. It was in 1993 while going through a tabanca that he began to write music again. He was on the verge of showing Mayers his music when he passed away. “That’s what he wanted, for me to come back to music. After he passed away they sent me away to live in Florida, with enough money to start community college. I got injured so I couldn’t take up scholarships for football. After one semester I was done. I was doing well but I wanted to find a band and start to sing, so I went from there, that was 1995 and I’ve been at it since then.”

In addition to his father, Myaz’s influences include Dennis Brown, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Garnet Silk, Beres Hammond, Burning Spear, Stevie Wonder, David Rudder, Tambo, Shadow, Stalin, Kitchener and Sparrow. “I chose to do reggae mostly, but he also did some reggae songs back in the 70s and 80s.”

Myaz is passionate about keeping his father’s music alive. “I’m looking at the content, the quality, the potential of it, where it could end up publishing-wise, with people singing them over, charting again, licensing in movies and all these things. I think there’s a lot of value in it because it’s excellent music, I honour him by doing that as well as by doing my own thing, so in Trinidad that will be one of my main focuses, his music, performance-wise, reproduction, remakes, re-releases, and performing his music a lot, hopefully at Arts Festivals, Music Festivals, corporate and government work, etc., so that people who know it from then can hear it nowadays, and people who never knew it could hear what music sounded like back then. It’s to see where it goes and it’s always a joy, and I’d like to see his music just touch the world, even though it’s so many years gone, good music is timeless.”

Showtime is 7:30 pm. Tickets cost $150 and are available at Kaiso Blues Cafe, at the door and by calling 498-8803.