Teaching history with rhythms
ANDREW Kiffin sees himself as somewhat of a history tutor. He, however, uses music to tell teach his lessons.
“I loved history from school days. As I read, I realised I had to find a way to shift from the Eurocentric to the Afrocentric history,” said the artiste, who uses the moniker Informative Historyman.
He currently travels to local high schools where he presents his history lessons, laced with popular rhythms, followed by a question and answer period. He has since visited Haile Selassie High School, Pembroke High and St Andrew High School in the Corporate Area.
Historyman, whose first break in was in 1997, said he is motivated to counter the current dancehall music which he describes as “lewd and ignorant garbage”.
Born in Kingston, Informative Historyman spent his teenaged life in St James and Clarendon, before returning to Kingston.
In 1998, he won the Portmore Carnival talent contest and, two years later, he won the Tastee Talent Contest. That year, he hooked up with Jamaica AIDS Support, and recorded Strap Up which encouraged safe sex.
‘History’ said he is currently focusing on his second album. The first being “Chronology Volume I” in 2005.