If popularity was the yardstick by which we measure the success of
our local musicians, then Supa G would claim that prize. However, if we were
to speak of longevity, then Bredda David Obi would definitely be in the discussion.
Obi started his music career as far back as the sixties when he played with
the Astros, one of the first Belizean American bands formed in Los Angeles.
Armed with ten years of fusing everything from contemporary to Jazz, Rock and
Roll and R&B, to Caribbean and Calypso, he returned to Belize with his first
album release. Today, he stopped by our studios to talk with Jim McFadzean about
his 25th Anniversary release, titled: KUNGO MUZIK. He told Jim why he’s
going back to the start.
Jim McFadzean Reporting,
The anniversary release features 16 tracks, 11 of which are remixes, thanks
to new technology.
Bredda David,
“My music generally I write them, arrange them, play them, and lately
I started recording them, very good experience for a musician. We do have an
instrumental song that I wrote by the name Axiom which I arranged the chords
to give people a chance on my guitar ability instead of just playing fast songs
all the time. I wrote a mellow song by the name of Axiom. That tends to really 
touch me at a soft spot because it shows my ability to play the guitar and to
make nice arrangements. So that is one of my pride but that’s not to say
I don’t love most of my other songs like Tribal Vibes and Belizean Products
which have really did a lot for our country in the area of tourism, the Tourism
Board used it at one point, Keimoun was a big hit in America and Belize, I could
go on.”
The acclaimed musician known as Bredda David was born in Dangriga and grew
up in Belize. The haunting rhythms emanating from the drums of the South would
be his first exposure to musical instruments, but it is with the guitar that
fate would hand him his first introduction to and experimentation with the wider
world of music
Bredda David,
“We used to hear drums all day. Somebody dead, you hear drums, somebody
born you hear drums, if it is Christening you hear drums. Drums was the feeling
of the day and so I give my musical creativity and inspiration to the fact that
I grew up with the rhythm, the rhythm of Africa. When I came to Belize to go
to Technical High School I met a lady by the name of Miss Erica McSweaney. She
was a teacher and she played the guitar and I used to be at Erica’s house
almost everyday trying to learn the guitar. Just before that they had a band
by the name of the Messengers and the guitar player in those days were Chuck
Gladden and he really impressed me with his guitar and that kind of led me over
to wanting to play the guitar.”
The album according to Obie, is mostly a compilation of this unique but little
known and appreciated music called Kungo Muzik.
Bredda David,
“The music is a mixture of Caribbean sound with the African rhythms
in the background with very positive lyrics. That is the basic of Kungo Muzik
and the word Kungo simply means let’s go in Creole. It is a positive word,
it is a plural word. When you say let’s go you probably mean more than
one people or more than one person and it is usually in a good vibe. So some
sort of an inspiration I got to name the music Kungo Muzik because Jamaicans
were coming with reggae music, the African Americans had R&B, the Caucasians
had Rock&Roll and Belize did not have a music as such at that time. Now
we pay more attention to Mr. Peters Brukdong and now we have punta rock but
in those days we did not have punta rock. Lord Rhaburn used to sing calypso
music and so that was not Belizean as such. So we had to have our own music
and hence the inspiration for me to do Kungo Muzik.”
The anniversary CD can be purchased at Fifteen dollars at most music
outlets in Belize City and across the country.
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