Kenneth Dayes, a founding member of Culture, the group led by the late Joseph Hill, has put out his debut solo album called Still I've Got Love.

"Me and Ansel Colins did this album around four years now, and I just sit on it because I don't have any distributor.," Dayes said about the set for which his wife Gwendolyn Dayes, is executive producer.

The group members of Culture (from left): Joseph Hill, Albert Walker and Kenneth Dayes.

Over 30 years ago, Dayes along with Albert "Ralph" Walker and singer /songwriter Joseph Hill for whose lead vocals they provided harmonies, established themselves as the trio internationally renowned as Culture.

From their 1977 runaway success with the single, Two Sevens Clash, and album of the same name for veteran producer Joe Gibbs, the group has helped to give definition to the sound and musical style now referred to globally as "roots rock reggae". In fact, Hill in particular, and the group in general, became the personification of the success of the sub-categorisation of that form of reggae commonly called "culture music".

"Joseph (Hill), did a nice work, a really nice work, right. But Joseph did too much work, Joseph did need some rest. because is 203 shows it is said that him do per year. That is too much work, bearing in mind that the big lights dem a bun yuh out pon stage," Kenneth Dayes told Yesterday's Notes.

"But is me formed the group Culture in 1976, when I went to a place name Homily in St Catherine for Joseph and his cousin Albert Walker," he said as he reminisced on how their first recording at Joe Gibbs' Studio titled This Time with the punch line, "If Babylon kill one more Rastaman the sun will stop shine", was banned from the airwaves.

However, that was just a temporary setback for the group which, from then on, was unstoppable. "But the second song, was Jah Jah See Dem A Come (I 'n' I a conquerer), and it was a hit. From that, it was just hit after hit going down the line," recalled Dayes.

The string of releases that followed also included Down In Jamaica Weh Garvey Come From, I'm Not Ashamed To Own Jah Jah, Baldhead Bridge Is Burning Down and then Two Sevens Clash. "All of us wrote those songs. The three of us together wrote those songs," said Dayes.

"Those type of songs weh we choose to sing, is the power from the Almighty. Me don't even know how we come to sing it. is just Jah a do this fi we, this bigger than we," the Rastafarian entertainer insisted.

He also recalled that the group was first called African Disciples, but the late singer/producer Blacka Morwell who was in charge of production at Joe Gibbs, was so impressed with the message in their songs, he gave them the name Culture.

The group actually had a fourth member, Noel Brown, who died before they came to prominence. Dayes told Yesterday's Notes that Culture, which broke up and regrouped five times, is no longer together. He said that Kenyatta Hill, the son of Joseph Hill, has been touring in his own right as a singer with support from Albert Walker, but they are not billed as Culture for the gigs on which they perform.

"Kenyatta is touring as Kenyatta Hill, and Albert touring with him. Dem not performing as Culture. That's the problem I have. I've two sisters singing with me, Sonia Roberts and Natalee Fresh. because the work affi go through, for me love the work even more than mi self," Dayes said.

When asked to compare the music of that time to now, he admitted that the current crop of artistes are better rewarded for their work, because in his time he and his contemporaries did it more for the love of the music than for money.

"In that time when we were singing, we did love the music, seen, but we didn't know sey that money was in the music until this time. for when we a sing we didn't get no money. no advance, no royalty. From we a sing, I never got any royalty statement from a producer. When I left Jamaica, nothing was going on for me. I did a lot of songs for people still, but they don't put them out. So I left and went away, So I said I wasn't coming back.," he explained.

The 56-year-old father, who has 21 children, living in places such as England, Germany, Zimbabwe, California, Miami and Jamaica, blasted the negative lyrics that are so pervasive in the music of today. "You see the quality a di music then, compare to this time," he added, "right now dem nah send out nuh music like how we use to do it first time, because some music weh dem a send out now, mi can't tek it, honestly to God.

The deejay music wid di baad wud and the disrespect and dem ting deh, mi can't tek dem kinda song deh, yuh see weh mi a deal wid. Mi like di song dem wid message so it can teach di yute dem something in life. Because it nuh mek sense yuh sing something weh you can't teach the yute dem. So mi prefer to sing about positive things.

"But in this time yah now mi like how the strength of the music a go through, so mi still give thanks and praise. And right now mi a come wid some of our thing weh we grow upon. Musician inna studio and we sing, dem type a way deh. No computer business, because right now, di computer business, mi can't work wid it."

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