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by Leroy Moore
As a Black poet, researcher, activist, and writer
with a disability, I have studied many disabled people
of color in history and today and I noticed a common
factor in many cases i.e. the treatment they face in
our society in the past and now. Many had turned or
continued with their arts for expression, to adapted
and survival in their harsh situation. Many have
found or were force to create their own community,
language and techniques of surviving all through the
arts. In the last three years I have written on many
disabled artists of color in the past and now from
painter Hoarse Pippin during WW1 to Hip-hop artist
Keith Jones. It is sad to read about the struggles
Hoarse Pippin, the first Disabled African American
self-taught painter, to know that the same struggles
are happening to disabled African American artists
today.
A couple of incredible true real life
struggles and achievements of disabled artists of
color who shares a common story of facing
discrimination, segregation but used the artistic path
to change their situation, opened up gates for other
artists and to reach incredible fame in their field
must be told. All the artists that Ill be writing
about are in the same medium of the arts and that is
music. The main reason why I picked these stories
that you are about to read is to showcase the
international struggles, commonality and talents we
have as Black disabled people and to give written
documentation of these experiences in one essay.
The four groups of musicians are from USA,
Brazil, Jamaica and Africa.
This essay will also
create a thread of commonality of Black disabled
people around the world. These four groups have
changed the face of music from gospel to reggae to
world jazz but havent in my view gain the mass
recognition that can offer more in writing i.e. books
& articles etc. like Elvis, the Beetles and even
rapper Emminem. The four are the Blind Boys of
Alabama, Israel Vibration of Jamaica, Tribo Da Jah of
Brazil, and Amadou & Mariam of Africa. As youll find
out three of the four are blind. Israel Vibration is
the only group in this essay that has a physical
disability; Polio, but all have a common beginning.
All were sent to institutions in their countries
because of their disability and or poverty. All have
found each other in these institutions. And all have
found or improved their musical talents in these
institutions that formed their early music careers as
we know them today.
Most have experienced raw
discrimination based on their race and or disability
in these institutions, in their early days in the
music industry and from the general public.
Lets start with our elders, The Blind Boys of
Alabama, who grew up around the 1930s. The four
original members of the group are blind--singers
Clarence Fountain, Jimmy Carter, George Scott and
drummer Eric (Ricky) McKinnie.
From their website,
it says that The Blind Boys of Alabama have spread
the spirit and energy of pure soul gospel music for
over 60 years, ever since the first version of the
group formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro
Blind in 1939. They were born into poverty in the
rural south of the 1930s. Six boys, all about 7 years
old and all blind, arrived there in 1937 with little
more than the clothes on their backs. Throughout my
research on the early days of the Blind Boys of
Alabama Ive found very little on their experiences in
the institute. The Alabama Institute for the Negro
Blind opened in 1892 but was not integrated until
1968. Separate but equal was the law of the land in
the South including Black disabled people who received
no services, no or a second class education compared
to their White disabled counterparts. To get to know
how the Blind Boys of Alabama and other Black blind &
deaf people lived and were treated back then I
recommend Mary Herring Wrights book, Sounds Like
Home: Growing Up Black & Deaf in the South.
The Blind Boys were lucky they were helped by
sighted friends to focus on their musical talents and
all of them left the institute that offered only a
career in broom making to make it as gospel singers.
Although there is very little written that I know of
about their early days, I can just imagine what they
went through as African American, blind, young men
down south at that time. I used the book, Brother
Ray, written by late Ray Charles to judge what the
Blind Boys of Alabama went through in the 1930s down
south because Ray Charles went through almost the same
treatment. Plus it has been documented from disabled
and race scholars that the South had its own why of
dealing with Black disabled people. Authors like
Steven Noll has written about the treatment of Black
disabled people in the south from 1900-1940. Although
Noll concentrates on Black people with developmental
disabilities, we can use this as a model of how other
disabled Black people were treated i.e. the Blind Boys
of Alabama at that time. However they did learn how
to read Braille and got to practice their singing
while attending the institute.
Now, today The Blind Boys of Alabama is on top and
are known as the grand dads of gospel music. I still
wonder where is their book & movie about their lives?
It took Ray Charles almost a decade to find a right
market to introduced his ideal about a movie of his
life. Can you imagine being Black blind and poor down
south in the thirties and to come almost full circle
and still be able the kick out albums today? So far
I found a video entitled, The Five Blind Boys of
Alabama. Im not sure but I think this is a concert
video with some interviews and hopeful they talked
about those days.
The fathers of reggae started out poor, homeless and
were taken advantage of during their early years.
They were even shunned by other reggae groups because
of their disability. Although there is a lot written
on the incredible story of Israel Vibration on the
internet, in reggae magazines and in their box CD
collection, there is no book about their lives and
their struggles and accomplishments as of yet. I
recommend reading an article of Dread online entitled
RASTAMAN VIBRATION: Israel Vibration by Jason Levy if
you really want to get known Israel Vibration. Just
like the Blind Boys of Alabama, Israel Vibration,
Lancelle Bulgin, Albert Craig and Cecil Spence, known
as Skelley, Apple and Wise were separated from their
families to be institutionalize for education and to
receive what doctors at that time called medical
treatment for their disability, Polio. Although the
three members that make up Israel Vibration lived in
Jamaica, millions and thousands miles away from
Alabama, more than their stories of segregation,
discrimination and their saving grace, music, has a
shockingly common threads that links the two together.
The members of the Blinds Boys of Alabama and Israel
Vibration both were born in poverty and parents had to
put them in institutions\ boarding school far away
from them as their only choice. Both grew up in a time
and area that didnt have the services and medical
treatment for their disability, down South in the
1930s and in Jamaica in the 1940s where Polio spread
through out the land with no cure in sight. Both
found each other and discovered their musical talents,
both were discriminated in their institutions and both
had no choice but to leave and follow their dreams.
However the similarities end there. As some of
us know the Blind Boys of Alabama had two sighted
friends that helped them when they voluntarily left
the institution to pursue their music career. While
Skelley, Wise and Apple were all kicked out of Monia
Rehabilitation Center in Kingstown because of their
strong faith in Rasta and their new look with
dreadlocks and with no support they became homeless.
Another difference between the Blind Boys of Alabama
and Israel Vibration early years is that Skelley, Wise
and Apple all were badly abused while they attended
Monia Rehabilitation Center. They were not given
opportunities like singing in a choir or working on
other skills like the Blind Boys of Alabama had back
in the US. There are more similaries between the two
bands in how they survive those harsh years. The one
common thread of all the artists in this essay
especially the Blind Boys of Alabama and Israel
Vibration is their faith in a higher power. The Blind
Boys believed that God brought them together and
continues to bring them glory, awards and inner
strength. They are wrapped in spirituality and
teaching of the Black Christian church. This is the
same for Israel Vibration but in another form as
Rastafari and of His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile
Selassie I of Ethiopia along with Jah and the Rastas
culture gave them the spiritual and a foundation of
support even with their disability. Both also sing
about this incredible support that literally saved
their lives.
Israel Vibrations story is well known to their
fans and in the reggae arena but I wonder if people
really understand what they survived and the
foundation they created as not only musicians but as
Black disabled people being the one of the first all
Black physically disabled band. They turned to their
gift, music, in the face of physical abuse, poverty,
homelessness and segregation. For more on Israel
Vibration buy their video and DVD, Israel Vibration
Reggae in the Holyland, that has interviews and
concert footage. They even talk about their early
days in Monia Rehabilitation Center and how they dealt
with their disability.
To stay on this reggae vibe and travel to Brazil
well find a similarly story as the ones above. I was
recently drawn to the story and music of a Brazilian
roots reggae group, Tribo da Jah. From their wesite it
says that The Tribo of Jah is composed by Fauzi
Beydoun, Zi Orlando, Achiles Rabelo, Joco Rodrigues,
Neto and Frazco. But for Fauzi, all the others are
blind Even Fauzi has said in many interviews that he
is partially blind. Reggae in Brazil have deep roots
which many say started to grow in Sco Luis a town in
the state of Maranhao that is why its called the
capital of Brazilian reggae. This was where Maranhco
School for the Blind is located and where the five
members who make up Tribo da Jah met. Like The Israel
Vibration all the members of Tribo da Jah, came from
separate families that were poor and had no choice but
to send their sons to this school far away from home
for education and medical support.
The beginnings and growth of Tribo da Jah have
commonalties of the Blind Boys of Alabama & Israel
Vibration. Like the Blind Boys and Israel Vibration,
the five members met in the school for the
blind\disabled in Maranhco and shared like the above
artists difficulties and discrimination in their early
days. However like the Blind Boys of Alabama, Tribo
da Jah was eagred, supported by a soon to be close
friend and lead singer of Tribo da Jah, Fauzi Beydoun.
It was reported that he really adopted these
youngsters with a vision of forming a band. On Tribo
da Jahs website Fauzi Beydoun wrote that "they were
poor kids, and were awoken to music improvising toy
instruments before they started to play in school
parties. He bought the instruments and hired the boys
to create a band what we now know today as Tribo da
Jah.
So far in my research there is very little
details of their experiences at the board school for
the blind. The members of Tribo da Jah passed their
time making, playing instruments and singing and like
Blind Boys and Israel Vibration, the members of Tribo
da Jah left the school to focus on their music. The
common thread continues to sew all these musicians
together i.e. their music, their strong religious
beliefs and their social political messages in their
songs. Although Tribo da Jahs thread has kept them
together for more than ten years, it was hard in the
beginning because nobody liked their instruments that
the band members made by hand themselves in their
school. Also many didn't like their new style of
reggea that is now known as Brazilian Roots Reggae.
Through all these years the band has remain an
independent group with their birth of roots reggae
that was over shadow in the past by Jamaican style of
reggae.
Once again we see a common story amongst the artists
which is some times but not often though an
environment that can seem to be a form of segregation
among the general public can also be a garden of
creativity, artistic growth & expression. Although
instruments making day in and day out might seemed
boring after a while, it did set the stage of their
success in the Brazilian reggae industry and beyond.
Like all the musicians I mentioned Tribo da Jah left
the school to pursue their career. As of now, there
is very little written information in a form of a book
that is out there on Tribo da Jah. However you can
check their DVD entitled Tribe of Jah - Tribe of Jah -
to the Living creature 15 Years which has interviews
and live concert footage.
I cant see no better way to end this essay with a
story of relationship, love and of course the power of
music. Im talking about the talented blind married
couple from Bamako, Mali, Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam
Doumbia. I found many articles on the internet about
this incredible love affair and their extraordinary
musical talents. Unlike The Blind Boys of Alabama,
Israel Vibration and Tribo da Jah, Amadou & Marian
found and crafted their talents before they attended
the Institute for the Young Blind of Mali in the 50
and 60s. Another difference that Amadou & Mariam have
compared to the above artists is that both have been
apart of other bands before they decided to make their
career together.
Just like Skelly, Apple and Wise of
Israel Vibration Amadou wasnt born with his
disability. He contracted at an early age that
qualified him to attend the Institute for the Young
Blind of Mali where Mariam was a rising star for her
vocal and songwriting talents. Her first song she
wrote translates to What Did I Do God to Deserve
This? The title of this song brings up a lot of
question for me. Is she talking about her disability,
or her schooling or is it bigger to discuss her
country etc? So in this situation the Institute was
the place that nurture this early love affair, respect
and what led into the first blind couple to step in
the international music industry. Like the other
musicians in this essay, Amadou & Mariam bonded
through their music and past the time practicing their
art. Like the musicians that make up Tribo da Jah who
were also gifted in playing instruments, Amadou is not
only a vocalist, he is also a plays an instrument,
guitar.
As you have or will read, all was not rosy for Amadou
& Mariam. Living under a military dictatorship was
hard to find opportunities to grow as artists singing
in their own countrys language. Being blind their
parents and others did not approve of their
relationship at first that led to marriage and three
children. This and the urge to blossom their talents
internationally made them to decide to move and leave
their country to live in the Ivory Coast and Paris but
like James Baldwin, Amadou & Mariam returned to their
home after they reached international fame. It seemed
like Amadou & Mariam had their own way of seeing,
hearing and living their lives and perfecting their
career from the beginning. From early on they were
influenced and experiment with the pop of the
Seventies, electric blues, reggae, Cuba and played a
key role in what is Malian music today. As the common
thread continues Amadou & Mariams music has socially
and spiritual message to their people of Mali.
Like Ive been saying all along there is very small
amount of written material out there on these artists
including Amadou Bagayoko & Mariam Doumbia in a book
form or even articles. I can say that all these true
stories of: disability, struggle, discrimination,
artistic expression, finding each other in an
environment that separated them from their families
and friends to change the face and sounds of the music
industry in their own countries is an attractive story
for an explosive book. Wow, disabled people of color,
we have so much strength, beauty, talents and stories
that need to be displayed and told. There are many
more disabled people of color in all arenas of life
that have similar stories that have grown to share
their talents and have changed their societies. I
realized that institutionalizing and segregation of
anybody is not the way to encourage any kind of growth
but the above stories should remind us today, Black
disabled people and other people of color with
disabilities, that we have a history of struggle that
led to incredible achievements. As a Black disabled
artist these stories are more than encouragement its
my history that needs to be acknowledge and shared in
our communities, institutions and in the publishing
arena!!
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