Pourquoi le vert est-il ma couleur préférée ?

Pourquoi le vert est-il ma couleur préférée ?
Parce que les arbres sont verts
Et l'herbe est plus verte.

-rasheed ali

Os segredos da selva escondida.

A selva escondida
uma história perdida
quem era desaparecido

quem tinha morrido

um país tinha sido nascido

-rasheed ali

The Color of Life

"It is the Rainy Season that Brings Wealth"

Hausa Proverb

My Caribbean Sunset

I took this photo when I was on a boat, I can still remember the gentle caress of the Caribbean breeze. Are we thankful to come from a place with so much physical beauty? Yes! Now, if only we could live down there as easily as people live here. Our people continue to flee the region for purely economic reasons.

Nyabinghi

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. My love affair with the work of photographer Wyatt Gallery continues. He has captures the essence of the Caribbean.



Listen to: Vigil for the Dead from the CD: "The Empty Vessel Speaks"

"Fica no Brasil" Rasheed Ali & Rain People Underground Video

Buried on Foreign Soil

Photo: Wyatt Gallery

When I first saw this beautiful photo by Wyatt Gallery it sent my mind racing.
This evocative image portrays a burial ground in the Caribbean and it made me wonder what had brought these souls to the island.
Were they retired pirates or privateers?
Former indentured servants from India or China? Kidnapped Africans? European adventurers who reinvented themselves as New World royalty?
Our islands have always been this refuge for lost souls, even today you can find the odd escapee from the cold weather zone.
This seeming paradise on earth has not always supported its residents.
Many of us have fled and continue to flee to those same grey cities that house our gawking, fun loving tourists. Swept north by the currents of economic turmoil, our fate is to toil amidst the steel towers of Babylon.

Yet, countless foreigners have been buried beneath our palm trees, an idyllic final resting place for their remains. How many of us will never make the trip back home? How many of us will die like my grandfather, to be buried on foreign soil.

South Trinidad

South Trinidad is a very special place.
The East Indian culture is so strong, you might feel as though you are really in South Asia.
These Hindu prayer flags represent a steadfast devotion to keep religion and tradition alive.
This photo always reminds me that there's a strip of land that is disappearing into the sea near Icacos Point,Trinidad.
Scientist have noticed that Global Warming is causing the Ocean's levels to rise,as Antarctic ice melts.

Photo:Wyatt Gallery

African Bondage in the Caribbean

I took these photos at the African Heritage Museum in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
There were runaway slave ads as well
as advertisements for slave auctions.
There were also accounts of punishments to be handed out.


Somehow many people forget that most of the kidnapped Africans were taken to the Caribbean and South America.
To see the well-worn and obviously used condition of these instruments of punishment and terror, was a chilling reminder of the brutality that Africans endured.

Sugar cane was the cash crop that sealed our fate

Photo: Enslaved Africans, Puerto Rico

I will Cry for You

You were taken, captured in your homeland
You were stolen, from your mother's hands
No one remembers you now, but I will promise you
I will cry for you
Buried somewhere, you escaped the nightmare
All the horrors, trapped in a world without prayers
Your name is lost forever but I will promise you
I will celebrate your memory
and I will cry for you





I always wanted to write a song about the African holocaust. The hundreds of years of Institutionalized Slavery in the 'New World'. I wish people would listen to this CD just for that lyric. I actually did become so emotional in the studio that I cried when we were recording this, which is why my voice started to shake. This song came about because I once thought about how difficult it was to trace our complete ancestry as Africans. So many of us died anonymous deaths here after leading anonymous lives as chattel. Or what of the disappeared and those who simply did not survive the voyages? Unceremoniously thrown overboard, to lighten the load of the slave ship. To be kidnapped and brutalized in a foreign new world was no minor difficulty. The burden of truth makes people squirm with nervousness whenever the subject of slavery is addressed. I've done interviews in support of the CD: "Thunder in the Jungle" and my more danceable, rhythmic Caribbean music is more what people expect from an 'Island" musician. Only reggae artist can be serious, right?



"I Will Cry For You" Lyrics: Rasheed Ali From: Thunder in the Jungle CD http://cdbaby.com/cd/rainpeople

Will time catch up with us?

Deforestation & Urbanization threaten my dear Caribbean.
Can we resist the lure of strip malls,better roads and bigger cars?
Will satellite tv convince us to pave over more useless beauty, so that we may sit proudly among the developed nations?
Will eco-tourist steady our idle hands?
Will time catch up with us?

Photo:Carriacou / Wyatt Gallery

Wyatt Gallery's Caribbean Treasure Chest

The beauty of the internet is that we might uncover dazzling artistic jewels quite by accident.
The evocative photography of Wyatt Gallery is one such treasure that I stumbled upon.
All of his Photos in this series were taken in the Caribbean, most of them in my beloved Trinidad.
The above photo startled me, because I stood at that very spot three years ago.
This is the ferry boat landing on the island of Vieques.

The last time I went to Vieques, the US Navy resumed war games, bombings, on the day I arrived.
I wrote a protest song called "Tirando Bombas" (Dropping Bombs). The millions of others who protested eventually forced the Navy to leave the island.


Click link to hear the song: http://cdbaby.com/mp3lofi/rainpeople-04.m3u

Fullerton Museum Exhibit

This multimedia display at the Fullerton Museum included musical samples from my CDs, four of my handmade drums, an audio interview and the photo of me that appeared in Jake Jacobson's Book: "Hearts & Hands". The museum provided me with a very rewarding opportunity; they sold Rain People CDs in the gift shop and we performed a sold-out concert as well. I never knew that my love of making calabash (gourd) drums would lead to my inclusion in two museum exhibitions and a Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibition.

cdbaby.com/cd/rasheedali

Focus on musicmakers

By BRANDY STARK
© St. Petersburg Times

A noted photographer traveled the country taking pictures of people who make the instruments they play.

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Florida International Museum creates a unique dynamic by capturing images of music. "Heart & Hands: Musical Instrument Makers of America" features 86 large, framed photographs of Americans who dedicate themselves to the sounds they make. From the Louisiana bayou to Rhode Island, music men and women are shown creating, playing and enjoying music.

The works are part of a traveling show produced by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Noted photographer Jake Jacobson, himself a jazz musician who specialized in the soprano saxophone and the bass clarinet, used the Iris print process to produce high-quality, finely detailed prints.

Jacobson traversed America looking for his subjects, starting at the mouth of the Mississippi River. There he found Adner Ortego, an accomplished fiddlemaker and player. In one photograph, Ortego, wearing a straw hat, plays one of the fiddles he made on the porch of the house where he was born. Now abandoned, the crumbling house stands as a sharp contrast to the polished amber instrument Ortega plays with obvious delight.

Rasheed Ali, of Altadena, Calif., wearing dreadlocks and shell jewelry, plays a skin drum. He specializes in making African and Caribbean drums, a skill passed down to him through many generations. In the quote below the picture, Ali says he hopes to entice young people to learn about the drums, so the instrument can link together the past, present and future.

-reprint from St.Petersburg Times

The Call of Bahia

"A Chamada da Bahía"

Eu ouvi a chamada do berimbau
uma onda quente subindo em meu coração
uma lembrança de uma vida tropical
quem pode ser insensível
É Bahía.Quando você me chama eu voltarei

cdbaby.com/cd/rainpeople2

World Music Caricatures & Generalizations

In today's world, people are trying to micro-manage everything. Classifications of musical genres are not exempt from this phenomena.
In my quest to understand where my music fits in, I have encountered many laughable obstacles.
Some internet radio & download sites have multiple genre subdivisions that attempt to pinpoint a musical sound.
Ironically, at the same time when we musical artists are being scrutinized for our exotic authenticity, DJ stylist are given carte blanche to mix and match any of the world's styles and rhythms.
What does that really mean to me and others like me?
If we are proud to be African or Caribbean but live in New York, Los Angeles, London or Paris are we any less authentic? Do we have to dress in a costume and paint our faces to authenticate our traditions?
I played hundreds of private party gigs in the required "white pants & island shirts" costume so that some former tourist could relive an idyllic island moment. There can't be a double standard. If DJs can use our exotic rhythms to spice up their Anglo-Euro grooves, then no one should call us world fusion because we incorporate a little hip-hop or electronics into traditional roots music!

Ultimately, I am proud to be an Afro-Caribbean person. I speak English, Spanish and Portuguese, I will continue to express myself in those languages. Proud to have been taught the African traditions that saturate my music.I have composed music in the tropical rainforest and on the streets of New York City. I am not alone, there are many artist like me.

"No matter where you come from, as long as your a Black man, your an African" (Peter Tosh)

cdbaby.com/cd/rainpeople

Here or There?

When I awaken on the island
I can smile easy
and see clearly
I can do
or not do
but I never worry
like I worry
when I'm here...

In America,
I forget what I should remember and remember what I should forget

Because when I'm here, I can't see myself in every face and I can't see the ocean beyond every horizon

cdbaby.com/cd/rainpeople3

My Favorite Movie: Black Orpheus

Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro) 1959

My Favorite Movie!

According to mythology, Orpheus was the son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope. He was a poet and musician with whom many legends are associated. It was said that Orpheus could play the lyre so well that he could charm wild beasts and even make trees and rocks move with his music.

He married Eurydice, who was a nymph of the forest. They loved each other very much but one day she was bitten by a snake and died abruptly, leaving Orpheus inconsolable.

Orpheus went down to the Underworld to recover her and by his music induced the goddess Persephone and the ferocious guard dog Cerberus to let her go. They allowed Eurydice to return to earth on the condition that Orpheus not look back until both had reached the upper world. Orpheus agreed but when they approached the world of the living, he forgot his promise and looked back. Eurydice immediately vanished and was lost to him forever.

Later, when Orpheus was thinking of his love, meditating and playing music, a band of Thracian women who were were jealous of his love for Eurydice tore him to pieces and cast his head into the river Hebrus.

The director of this movie was Marcel Camus. It took the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and transported it into the tropical setting of Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro. The idea for it came from the Screenplay by Vinicius de Morais.
It was made in 1959, and received the grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Bruno de Mello and Marpessa Dawn were the main actors.

I now own this movie on DVD and it's even more beautiful than ever. I was in love with Marpessa Dawn,the gorgeous actress who played Eurydice,I thought she was an angel.

Home, the fertile crescent

The Caribbean basin has been a melting pot of peoples and cultures ever since Christopher Columbus first set foot on the island of Hispanola in 1492. With its vibrant mix of Spanish, English, French, Dutch, Portuguese, African, and even Asian cultures strung across more than 1,049,000 square miles of water, the region's music comes in many different flavors. While most people are familiar with the Caribbean's more famous musical exports ( Jamaican reggae,Cuban son & Trinidadian calypso ) fewer have heard of other styles such as Haitian compas, Bahamian junkanoo, or the zouk music of Guadeloupe .
It's a lot to take in, but the one thing that unites our many styles is a common origin.
All across the islands, regardless of language or nationality, the cultural interplay of enslaved West Africans and European colonists produced a hybrid, Creole culture whose music was no longer European or African, but distinctly Caribbean.European melodies (from sailor's sea chanteys to the waltzes of the plantation aristocracy) were grafted onto rhythms from the Congo,Yorubaland,Dahomey,Guinea,Ghana,Gambia and Angola.European instruments were reconfigured to accommodate African sounds and ideas.
Today this music has moved well beyond the Caribbean's shores and into the shared musical vocabulary of the entire world. Anywhere musicians are experimenting with son, reggae, or any of these styles, echoes of Africa's forced migration to the New World can still be heard.

cdbaby.com/all/rainpeople

A cara que o mundo vê

The face that the world sees,
smiles today
The face that the world sees,
laughs at yesterday
The face that the world sees,
knows
that you will not be here
tomorrow,
to see her cry


-rasheed in Brasil 2006



Listen to: "Beleza" from the CD:'Tristeza e Beleza na Cidade Negra'

La guerre n'est pas finie, la prochaine bataille:Amazon

The war is never over when you must fight for every piece of ground.
Today's battle was to upload lots of content for each of the (5) Rasheed Ali & Rain People CDs listed on Amazon.com.

www.amazon.com/

Sangam

"Sangam" by Charles Lloyd

Today I heard parts of this CD and it rocked my world.
I had to share my excitement with anyone who would listen.
Amazingly, this music is created by only three musicians.
The trio features Charles Lloyd on saxes & flutes with Eric Harland on drums & piano but this music is driven into a mystical stratosphere by the other-worldly drumming of tabla master Zakir Hussein. Wow!

I see that they will be performing in NYC at the JVC Festival on June 22. Wish I was there.

Actually, Charles Lloyd was my hero back in the day, I saw him at the Filmore with his Quartet featuring Keith Jarrett & Jack DeJohnette. He went through many different musical phases over the years but his soul is still vital, as evidenced by this new CD.

Come to My Island

A whispering breeze, flowing palm trees
Sweet kisses in the moonlight
Listen to the ocean, gentle is the night

In my dreams, I'm on an Island with you
Sometimes it seems, my dream will never come true
Unless you...
[Chorus:] Come to my Island, Come into my Dream

A magical night filled with passion
Let the moon caress you
Warm tropical waters, feel the waves caress you

In my dreams, I'm on an Island with you
Sometimes it seems, my dream will never come true
Unless you...
[Chorus:] Come to my Island, Come into my Dream

-lyrics: Rasheed Ali (from the CD: Thunder in the Jungle)
http://cdbaby.com/cd/rainpeople

I took this picture on one of my favorite beaches in the Caribbean; Flamenco Beach on the island of Culebra, PR

Rasheed Ali & Rain People are now part of Super D Distribution network.

Thanks to Digital Rain Factory's involvement with Super Internet Record distributor CD Baby,Rasheed Ali & Rain People are now part of the Super D Distribution network.

Super D is one of the worlds' largest 'One Stop' operations,
it supports 2,208 Retail Stores in the USA.
There are 24 countries in its international network, Super D
services multiple stores in Australia,France,Japan,UK,
Canada,Germany,Switzerland,Hong Kong,Italy,Mexico,
New Zealand,Spain,Netherlands and Singapore,to name a few.

Uma Tribu,Muitas Vozes:Una Tribu,Muchas Voces

http://cdbaby.com/cd/rainpeople3

Usted puede escribirme en Espanol.
Soy orgulloso ser un latino.
Soy un descendiente de antepasados Africanos,
Españoles,Indios y Corsos-Franceses. Es la mezcla de la sangre que llamamos criollo en el Caribe.

Es una verdad ineludible que somos una gente mezclada. De Cuba a Trinidad, somos más semejantes que diferentes. No podemos dejar lengua ser una barrera.

Mi música es el sonido de muchas voces que mezclen en armonía.
Somos una tribu unida.
La unidad es amor sin fronteras.
Nuestro futuro unificado será de gran alcance.
Todavía, somos niños criollos.
Seguimos siendo el mundo nuevo
pero no seremos parte de la ' nueva orden del mundo'.













http://cdbaby.com/cd/rainpeople2

Você pode me escrever no Português também.
Os Brasileiros são nossos primos.
Los Brasileros son nuestros primos.
Quem em Ámérica do Sul não ama Brasil?
¿Quién en Suramérica no ama el Brasil?

A unidade é amor sem fronteiras.
Nosso futuro unificado será poderoso.
Nós somos crianças.
Nós somos ainda no mundo novo
mas nós não seremos parte ' da ordem nova do mundo'.

The Rasheed Ali & Rain People Logo

I took a trip to New York City and I discovered this very interesting gift store in Soho that had cool items from all over the world.
A metal pendant with this symbol caught my eye because it reminded me of the Taino petroglyphs in Puerto Rico.
The sales girl didn't know exactly where it came from but she was pretty sure that it was from an indigenous tribe in Central America.

It was like magic, I could see a rain drop and two clouds along with a symbol that reminded me of an exclaimation point. For me, the 'exclaimation point' represented the thunder.
I was compelled to adopt this symbol, especially since it resembled an 'R' for Rasheed & Rain People.
As I began to meditate on the symbol I paid more attention to middle of the 'R' . I thought that it looked like the center of the universe or an ovum or cell.
I fell in love with this logo. It spoke to me.
Still, I wonder if someone will help me identify its origin.

The Eclectic Music of Northeast Brasil

The music of Recife is some of the most forward-thinking music in all of Brasil.

NAÇÃO ZUMBI, Mestre Ambrosio & DJ Dolores are some of my favorites in this movement.
Music that combines the organic roots of the sertão with the urban edge of the teeming Nordeste cities.
Accordions & violins with surdos, triangles and sampled hip-hop beats.
This music is honest,instead of sounding like some derivative mix.
It's about musicians who refuse to discard their roots as being passe.

Bezerra Da Silva, Godfather of Gangsta Samba

The Man; Bezerra da Silva has to be one of the funniest songwriters in Brasil.
If Samba is the poorman's news report then Bezerra Da Silva is the news anchor of the Favelas. His wry humor cuts to the painful underbelly of truth that lives outside of Brasil's
carefully crafted tourist image of Copacabana beach. This is raw Gangsta Samba not unlike the narco-corridos of Mexico's tough border towns but much more humorous.

I bought this in Brasil

Ubuntu

Sawubona from Paarl & Cape Town,South Africa

Ubuntu: A Zulu word for Humanity.
People in South Africa can be very gentle and kind.
Everywhere I went I was treated like a well respected guest.
In Durban, In Cape Town, In Paarl & Stellenbach I was welcomed and cared for.

Rasheed Ali & Rain People Available on iTunes

Rasheed Ali & Rain People are Now Available on iTunes.

Rasheed Ali & Rain People: Thunder in the Jungle

Rasheed Ali & Rain People: Tristeza e Beleza na Cidade Negra

Rasheed Ali & Rain People: Agua Que Va a Caer

Rasheed Ali: The Empty Vessel Speaks

Hands Across The Water

Rasheed Ali & Rain People are reaching out to other members of Our Tribe.

I am very excited by all of the web activity we've experienced recently.

Since Digital Rain Factory is a small indie record label, we really appreciate
every single download or internet hit that we get!
Not having the big dollar resources of a major record label means
we depend totally on word-of-mouth from every listener.

I'm new to having a blog but I have kept a journal for some time on my website:
http://www.rainpeople.com/voices.html

I don't want to be repetitive but I have been encouraged by fans of my music to feel free to express myself without being self-conscious. It's actually fun! I even got a myspace account where I could post some video.

We plan on doing some PODCasting and posting radio interviews as well.
Ultimately, I'm just trying to reach out with hands across the waters of the internet.

Rasheed Ali & Rain People Song Downloads are available on many internet music sites worldwide:

Apple iTunes
Napster
Emusic
Sony Connect
MSN Music
MusicNow
Verizon Wireless
Rhapsody
Destra
WrapFactory
Arvato
Daiki (Music Online Corp)
GroupieTunes
Mouzika
Choice Records
MP3tunes
Chondo
YooPeDoo
PayPlay
BuyMusic
AudioLunchbox
USEN Corporation
MusicNet
Bitmunk
DigitalKiosk
Interia
MOD Systems
GreatIndieMusic
Liquid Digital Media
MP3-Extension
Weed
MusicIsHere
PeerImpact
Inprodicon

Na Cidade Negra

NA CIDADE NEGRA

Aqui nesta Cidade foi nascido Ilê -Aiyê
Nossa Cidade Negra é o Centro do Candomblé
Uma identidade cultural foi criada por aqui,
O quem tem entendimento minha gente, Diga aí!
Ninguém pode revogar a nossa propia dignidade
A gente tem o namoro Dos Tambores da Liberdade,
uma rede da inspiração foi fundado por aqui,
O quem tem entendimento minha gente, Diga aí!

Aqui todo mundo entra na paixão do Carnaval,
uma tradição enraizada, Nossa narrativa cultural
Uma onda Africana passa por aqui,
O quem tem entendimento minha gente, Diga aí!


cdbaby.com/cd/rainpeople2

-as letras da canção: "Na Cidade Negra" por Rasheed Ali

Dangerous Women : Mulheres que brigam

Capoeira crosses gender lines in Bahia.

Beautiful women can careen through the air with a deadly ease.

Delivering a devastating blow with the whirlwind of a human tornado.

All I can do is ...watch!

Filhos de Gandhy on final day of Carnaval 2006

Filhos de Gandhy changed their famous white turbans to blue this year...everyone agreed that the traditional white turban was better.The "Sons of Ghandi" are part of the enduring pageantry of a bygone era that the modern commercial carnaval threatens to eclipse.

By the Sea : Pelo Mar

Brasil can be an ultra-modern country in some respects but it still retains much of the simple life. I am inspired to write a new song or gather an inspiration along the way.














No fundo do mar,
ao lado do mar, aqui pelo mar...

Eu mergulhei
(porque) eu quero saber o que está embaixo...
eu mergulhei!
eu tentei saber
o que eu não sei...eu mergulhei...

Nesta vida louca, o que é que sobra?

This is a song that I was inspired to jot down: 27/2/06 bahia

A Saida do ILÊ AIYÊ

Going to Bahia to perform is surely a wonderful honor but going to the ILÊ AIYÊ send off, in their home neighborhood of Liberdade, was food for my soul. My favorite Bloco Afro in Salvador, I have a great reverence for every aspect of their mission.

Minha Peregrinação....
My Pilgrimage






I love to see the sisters playing along side the brothers, everyone can play the drums in Bahia!

Salvador Carnaval 2006

Salvador Carnaval 2006

"Tribos Urbanas"

Rasheed Ali was invited to perform in Salvador , Bahia / Brasil Carnaval 2006 as Special Guest Artist with the Bloco: Conexão Tribal (Tribal Connection).

The Bands' theme this year was:Tribos Urbanas (Urban Tribes).

We are editing the video footage that we shot as a mini-documentary.