Watty Burnett, a member of one of reggae’s most venerable trio, The Congos, has not lost touch with his Jamaican roots, especially music.

Burnett, who migrated to Long Island, in the United States 31 years ago, shows his connection to his homeland in two of his latest projects.

One is in tribute to the cultural movement with which he is identified and the other is the music which provided the soundtrack at the time of Jamaica’s Independence almost 50 years ago.

Stressing “my heart is still here,” the singer born Derrick Burnett in Port Antonio, is getting ready to drop yet another solo album called The Lost Book of Ska on the heels of his current release Rasta at Di Kontrol.

Ska, the precursor to rocksteady and reggae/dancehall, has been through several incarnations. With ingredients combining mento and calypso with American jazz and R&B.

It is to that tradition Watty Burnett has dedicated The Last Book of Ska.

“We putting together people like Ernest Ranglin and Dean Fraser on it,” explained the artiste whose best solo effort to date is the single Rainy Night In Portland, a take off from Brook Benton’s Rainy Night in Georgia.

It was veteran producer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry who gave Burnett’s musical career a kick start by opening the doors to his Black Ark studioto him. It was there Burnett began to rise as a regular session vocalist and instrumentalist on drums, percussion and bass guitar.

Quite fittingly, his first releases were Rise and Shine and Open The Gate, which became the title track of a Trojan Records collection of Perry’s productions. “I’m 63 on May 28. I don’t know how it suppose to feel, but I’m feeling good,” quipped Burnett before reminiscing on his musical pathway as a solo singer and a foundation member The Congos consisting also of Cedric Myton and Roydell ‘Ashanti Roy’ Johnson. The best known album of the group which has been around since 1977, is Heart of the Congos produced by Perry.

“Even before the Congos I was a solo artiste with Scratch from 1968, so I had my solo thing going from a long time, but the group come along in ’77 and I decided to join them. And in time I just dedicated myself to the group and wasn’t releasing not much stuff. So it comes to a time I said, I’m going to put out a solo album for me now, which with more work, two other albums coming after,” Burnett told the Observer.

According to its liner notes, Rasta at Di Kontrol was recorded in 2005, as To Hell and Back, but was put on hold until now for a complete restructuring of the tracks. Other projects on the agenda at this time iinclude a compilation album to be called Klassix 70’s — Watty Burnett and Allies — The Uppsetters Black Arc Years, as well as another album Reggae Dub Symphony Volume One.