Last night at our "Fun Fundraiser" my belief in the healing power of Reggae music was reaffirmed.
Patrick Hughes, our man for the music, introduced a band from Jamaica to a group of Lucky Mushrooms who came to our latest fun fundraiser! For those who are not yet familiar with the term "Lucky Mushroom"; in German it means a loved and protected person. That person is loved and protected by the universe itself. In English, we would say that a Lucky Mushroom is a person that God is perpetually blessing and it's obvious to the observer.
We were all Lucky Mushrooms last night just like the Lucky, the Luckiest Mushroom of them all.
I have always loved one thing about Reggae music; its consistency. The underlying message in reggae is and has always been the message of peace, love, and unity as guiding principles. In reggae, as Lucky would say, God starts with a J and lives in the heart of the music. Jah lives in the beat, the word, and the bass. You can hear Jah in the voice of some reggae singers. I heard the voice of Jah in two singers last night a soul singer; and a rapper rapping in English.
Every positive thought I have ever had could be felt in the lyrics and the voices of Rik Jam and Dalwayne. I am consciously not including a "link". When you are done reading the article; google them, and search for them on YouTube and every streaming platform that you can think of! I would like for every reader to embark on their own journey of discovery of their music. We, the Lucky Mushrooms from last night, were blessed enough to have heard them live in front of a small crowd at our intimate little fun fundraiser.
As a self-proclaimed lyricist, I love lyrics with depth for lack of a better term. At one point during the concert, Rik Jam shared a story about loss with the crowd. The rhythm and lyrics of that song moved several members of the audience. I have confirmed that I was not the only one. Mid-song I thought about my mother whom I lost decades ago. I thought about my own inner child and how it longs from time to time to be comforted by her. I was suddenly overcome with a sense of love and loss that I can not put into words as well as that song could. I recognized, almost with a sense of shock, that I was crying as I was standing there listening to those words and that rhythm. As Rik Jams says in another song "Life is so amazing". An amazing thing about that song is that is has not been released yet. We were really Lucky Mushrooms to have heard it live.
As he sang his song of loss and love I realized how amazing my own life is. I have friends like the wonderful soul singer Kaye-Ree who was also there singing with her brother Effe "the drummer". I know that it's unorthodox but I am not including a link. I encourage the reader to Google and search all media and social network platforms for them. You will thank me. In retrospect, it's no wonder that I was moved to tears after having been blessed with never-heard acoustic songs by Kaye-Ree with her brother the drummer on guitar!
Of course, I can not fail to mention that Jamil DaReal mesmerized us all with his insightful lyrics restoring faith in Hip Hop music;( in German!) before Irie Yute hit the stage. For English speakers who are interested in listening to real lyrics and real beats in German, I encourage you to do with him what I recommended above. Google him and search all the media and social networks. If you speak German and are interested in really exploring the creative aspects of the language; Jamil DaReal is for you. He also produces all the music for The Lucky Mushroom including but not limited to The Emancipation of the ABCs (the first thirteen). Back to the title of this post though.
When Rik Jam and the Irie Yute band played ....and the tears suddenly began to swell in my eyes, I turned my back to the stage and went to the art area that we had set up at the back of the outdoor area. Thoughts of how truly amazing my life is began to flood my mind.
I am a middle-aged black man from America. I founded a non-profit. I work with a fellow veteran. I have created a company and concept that kids love. Jamil DaReal the rapper mentioned above is my son. My daughter who majored in Economics in school was selling drinks (she knows how passionate I am about my cause) and their mother was there. All the while a young man from Jamaica was singing music that I had never heard and I was being moved by music again. I had never heard the song yet there was a familiarity to part in me that the music was touching. It was touching my heart. I was being moved. Suddenly, I thought to myself "I miss yo mama". That happened to be the title of a song that I had written a year after my mother had passed. I thought I was blessed to be standing here witnessing with my ears that we still mourn during these amazing lives of ours. We still love and you can still hear it in music.
So yes, Irie Yute made me cry. I cried for pain, for joy, for love, and for life. I am so happy to be here with you. I feel blessed to be able to sit here and share my experience with you. I am a Lucky Mushroom. I will share every single blessing with the children of the world so they can share them with each other. They will be able to share them using their own voices using lungs that Jah filled with air. They are all Lucky Mushrooms because Hashemo's Haus is here to let them know that it is not 2 minutes to midnight like the adults have been saying for decades. Even if it were, we are on Jah time! So it doesn't matter what time it is, Jah loves the children all the time.
See you in Little Rock and Tulsa soon!
Lucky Mushroom
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