It’s a brisk and windy Friday afternoon in Queens, New York, but Winston Rodney, a.k.a Burning Spear, is sheltered from the flesh-piercing chill that waits at his doorstep. He’s in his kitchen whipping up some ital stew as his wife, Sonia, welcomes some guests to their warm and cozy home.

“Greetings,” says the friendly hostess after peering through the door peep. “Come in and make yourselves comfortable. Winston’s fixing some lunch, but he’ll be with you momentarily.” A  few  minutes minutes later, Mr. Rodney humbly strolls into his living room where his guests are waiting. Although his presence is immediately felt through his bright smile, penetrating eyes, and firm handshake, Rodney comes across as being a bit reserved, shy even.

It’s not exactly what one might expect of a living legend. For 35 rewarding years this man of modest stature (he’s only 5”8) has traveled the globe spreading truth and righteousness through his special brand of burning reggae. With 25 studio albums to his credit, Winston Rodney, the Burning Spear, has become the official torchbearer for his genre of music.

Marley held that torch for almost a decade. And when he fell victim to cancer with help from his Nazi affiliated doctor Josef Issels, the crowned Prince of Reggae, Dennis Brown, carried that torch for several years. Now it rests comfortably in the hands of one, Burning Spear.

“I am the one who is carrying the torch for reggae music at this time. Especially on an international level,” says the man with the voice to wake the dead. “It’s the people who gave I the torch, yunno. And the singer who was carrying the torch before me, it was the people who gave it to him...It’s not like I said that ‘I want to carry this torch,’ either. If I did I probably would not be carrying it. A lot of artists may misunderstand me when I say that I am The One in this time, especially on an international level. However, there is a lot of work that must be put in before anyone carries this torch.”

Now within retirement there are variations, also. I may decide to retire from the road by not touring so often. That way I could still go into the studio and create music although I’ve retired from the road. But it’s not like I’m going to retire within the next two or three years. I can’t say that. I will announce my retirement when I feel that the time is right. And when the time is right I will go public and make that announcement. In the meantime, it’s something that I am just thinking about, but it’s something that will be taking place.” Sometimes you get the impression that Caribbean radio programmers would like that day to come sooner than later. Despite being the most international star in the reggae music industry for quite some time, Spear has to fight to get his latest LP, Freeman, played on black Caribbean radio.

Mrs. Rodney also has a bone to pick with some Caribbean radio DJs. She says that too many of them fail to understand that there were other artists besides Bob Marley who left an indelible mark on reggae during the 70s and 80s. As a result, she says, these artists have been dropped from the airwaves.

“I’m saying to the radio people, play what you have to play, but also play what you must play,” exclaims Rodney. “Everybody knows about Bob Marley. You can’t just keep remixing and redoing everything that Bob Marley did. We have a strong generation of people who are still here, and I am not just talking about Spear. There are a lot of other people who have put together an impressive body of work, but a lot of the Caribbean radio stations just cast it to the side.”

In addition to being one of reggae’s most distinguished gentlemen, Spear also possesses one of the genre’s most distinguished names. In spite of this, there are still many unaware of its meaning and origin. Mr. Rodney got it from an old man in Kingston, Jamaica who likened him to the original Burning Spear, Jomo Kenyatta.

When most of the African continent was carved up by European colonialists, Kenyatta was one of many courageous freedom fighters who led the African struggle for liberation.

“This elderly man by the name of Pantan, who lived on Spanish Town Road loved to read up on African history,” says Spear. “He thought that the kind of songs that I was singing required a name like Jomo Kenyatta. So I asked him ‘who is Jomo Kenyatta?’And he explained to me that Kenyatta was the very first president of the republic of Kenya, and he was called Burning Spear…When I did my first recording with Studio One through Bob [Marley], that is when I began using the name actively.”

Music has often been described as a universal language that binds people to their most complex, or, most superficial, thoughts and emotions. At its best, it coordinates the mind of man towards an intelligent reach for a better world, a better future. Spear’s music has long been the epitome of this standard.

Whether it involves placing Christopher Columbus in his proper historical perspective or extolling the legacy of His Imperial Majesty—Spear has defined what it means to be a roots-reggae ambassador. However, when his career is over he will probably be most remembered for teaching the world about one special man.

More than any other reggae superstar, Spear has preserved the legacy of Jamaica’s greatest son—Marcus Mosiah Garvey. “I listened to a lot of singers but I never heard any of them sing a line about Marcus Garvey,” says Spear, who hails from St. Ann, the same parish as Garvey.

“…In my town there was a movie house by the name of Seville Theater, and I heard that there were people looking for singers to play there,” recalls Spear. “I decided to go there so that I could sing “Marcus Garvey” and “Slavery Days.””

Spear quickly discovered that prophets like Garvey are rarely honored in their own countries. “When I took the stage to sing my songs I was turned down. People were saying ‘why do you want to sing about slavery days and Marcus Garvey? We weren’t no slaves. Who is this Marcus Garvey? What is so important about his work’ People were thinking that I was crazy for wanting to sing about Marcus Garvey and slavery…”

Spear was undeterred. Deep in his gut, he felt that if people were told what Garvey meant to black people throughout the Diaspora, they would eventually learn to embrace him. Given the increased recognition that Garvey has received since those Seville Theater days, it would appear the Spear was right on the money.

“Marcus Garvey did things here in the United States that no black man before him had ever done,” explains Spear. “He set an example for black Americans that no one had ever set before. He gave African American people a speaker, a voice, a color and a flag—the red, black and green. When Marcus Garvey spoke about the conditions of black people he wasn’t just talking about African Americans, he wasn’t just talking about Jamaicans, or even Africans on the continent. He was talking about black people in general.”

Among those admittedly inspired by Garvey’s example, were Nation of Islam founder, Elijah Muhammad, Dr.Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and the Trinidadian born, Min. Louis Farrakhan. Even the great W.E.B. DuBois who criticized Garvey’s brand of black nationalism during the 1920s later said that the man was ideologically ahead of his time.

“I would like to see the United States government clear the name of Marcus Garvey,” says Spear acknowledging that the feds locked him up on investment fraud charges in 1925. This came after a member of Garvey’s Black Star Line Corporation was caught selling shares in the company after the venture had collapsed. Garvey wanted to show blacks throughout the world that self-reliance was an attainable goal. Unfortunately, his dreams of independence were shattered to pieces. Some of his most trusted employees were sabotaging his ships and stealing money from his company. This was the main cause of the financial disaster. “Marcus Garvey’s name needs to be cleared now,” exclaims Spear.

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What was Burning Spear like as a child? What does he do for fun besides performing? Was Burning Spear originally a group or a solo act? What lies in the future for Burning Music Productions? Who is the woman behind the legend? Find out the answers to these questions and many others in the March issue of WhereItzAt Magazine.

...By Adika Butler