Article by Professor Skank
Photographs by Diane 'Livonn' Adam © 2004

On August 6, 2004, Nasio Fontaine will once again perform at Reggae On The River six years since last playing the festival in 1998. This outstanding roots artist from Dominica is on a roll, re-releasing (on the Higher Love label) his first two classic records Reggae Power and Revolution as well as recording and releasing his latest masterpiece, Living In The Positive. He has also recently played for the first time in Jamaica as well as performing on the East Coast.

As Nasio gets set to head west, I had an interview with this righteous Rastaman and we started things off by talking about his concerts in Jamaica and beyond.

"Bro," Nasio began, "it was just an honor to play for the people in Trenchtown, in the ghetto, you know. That was beautiful. Then two days after that we did the Tony Rebel Salute. Yeah, we played before 20,000 people. We were in just perfect harmony with them. I was really humbled by the way the Jamaican media received me…. It was a perfect journey and we hope to get back there soon.

"We came back and then did the Bob Marley Festival in Miami. We had a nice show down there with Culture and the Marley Family and Steel Pulse, too. Then we came back to New York and then we did D.C. and that was a powerful show, with a great amount of African people there. It was just beautiful."

I then asked Nasio what we could expect from his upcoming show and the names of his current band members. "Well bredren, we have a combination. We do some tunes from "Living In The Positive," we do some from "Revolution," we do some from "Reggae Power" – we try to bring a piece of everything. So the people who have loved and supported the music, they have favorite songs they wanna hear. We just do our best and bring a little of each to the people. The vibe is definitely pouring in. About the band, well, Jim, he's on guitar, continued Nasio. Natty French is on rhythm guitar, we have Mo on drums, we have Amy on keyboards and Earl on keyboards as well. And there’s Hocie on bass and Sandra and Amanda on background vocals."

"I remember doing Reggae On The River before," he continued. "You see all the Rastaman from all different pigmentation and you can see the people and you can feel the roots. You can feel the people that are really willing to take the music within the subconscious. They just truly love Reggae music."

"I also just signed a record deal (with Sanctuary) with worldwide distribution (through BMG). They’re gonna do a massive launch of the music. "Positive" first, then the entire Nasio library. We'll be heading to Europe in late August, early September, and this will be a great movement getting the music to the European masses. Spreading my music to the Four Corners of the earth has always been my goal."

Nasio then mentioned an interesting Reggae CD, which is in the works saying, "Yeah, there’s a Jamaican compilation being done of Bob Dylan songs," said Nasio "and I had the opportunity to sing the song called, "Gotta Serve Somebody." It's a great honor to sing the songs of legends. Yeah, I man give thanks still."

Nasio then closed things down with a response to the question of what he’d like to say to the people who will see him at Reggae On The River and to anyone else who might see him in one of his west coast concerts: "We did the UCLA Jazz & Reggae Festival at the end of May 2004. We’ll do as many gigs as possible on the coast, spreading the vibe. Yeah mon, we’re coming out to California, and it's always an honor to see the people gather to the sound of Reggae music. We’ve been there before and we’re excited about stepping forward. To all the people who have loved us and supported our music through all this time, we wanna say we love you and say thank you. Keep the love in spite of all this war. We got to find a way where we can let love shine – Rastafari livith, His Imperial Majesty is the greatest."