ROOTS singer I-Cient-Cy Mau remembers growing up in Trench Town and hearing the impromptu ‘recording’ sessions that took place throughout the fabled community.

Those jams produced many a classic song, something that has never escaped the Rastafarian singer, who has been a member of the Trench Town group known as the Mau Mau Warriors since 1997.

The patented roots sound that has made Trench Town famous inspired the Kush ‘riddim’ which drives five songs released last week by the Kemetic label, owned by Wayne Dunkley.

I-Cient-Cy Mau says the project worked smoothly because of mutual respect between Dunkley and the ‘warriors’.

“We met three years ago an’ he liked the vibes an’ decided that he wanted to work with us. Before we put the riddim together, I an’ I help select the artiste who would do the songs.”

Dunkley, a self-proclaimed chanter known as Ragga Kente, is one of the performers on the beat. His contribution is Free As The Wind, while the Mau Mau Warriors’ song is Where Is The Love, the compilation’s first release.

Good Shepherd by veteran singer Fred Locks, Rise Up from singer Empress Fyah Flames and Praedial Larceny done by St Ann dub poet Ras Takura, complete the set.

The Kush was recorded at Tuff Gong studios in Kingston by the Mau Mau band which comprises Jermaine Reid on guitar, Germaine Wilson (drums), Damian Benjamin (bass) and Patrick St Lawrence on congos.

I-Cient-Cy Mau was born Desmond Williams in west Kingston, but grew up in nearby Trench Town where he was exposed to the music of hometown heroes The Wailers and roots icons like Burning Spear.

He made a name for himself as part of the deejay duo, Papa Finnigan and Junior Ranking, who recorded songs such as Two The Hard Way, Guiding Star and Youthman Prophecy in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

By the late 1990s, Junior Ranking accepted the Rastafarian faith and adopted a more cultural moniker, inspired by the Mau Mau tribe that fought against British rule in Kenya during the 1950s.

The Mau Mau Warriors’ debut album, When Words Come to Life, was released

in 2010.

— Howard Campbell