The NOMAD Tour visited Discovery Bay on August 26 to mark the 140th birthday of National Hero Marcus Garvey who was born in the coastal town. An outreach programme based in the United States, the African American organisation serves as a cultural village economy “designed to stimulate, streamline and share the tangible and intangible resources of Rhythm People”.

The Jamaica leg of their tour followed the group’s stop in Dallas, Texas. According to Umm Jasmine, a senior member of the group, her team “focused on the importance of children, youth creation and inter-generational conversations” with children at the Discovery Bay Community Center and Sports Complex.

“As a child I remember Jamaica, and this is not the Jamaica I grew up in. The kids don’t go outside and play and create anymore. I see it in my two sons. If the culture of mindful creation is changing, well, we can change the culture back,” she said.

The event had a musical component. Teenager Avandre Sayles from the Teaching Artist Institute (TAI) in Cleveland, Ohio, manned a workshop station dubbed ‘The Instrument Petting Farm’, in which he gave students pointers on how to play the saxophone and violin.

His mother, Angela Sayles, is a facilitator of the TAI, umbrella organisation for the NOMAD Tour. She also participated in the session which was covered by Entertainment Media Magazine and National Black Unity News out of Baltimore, Maryland.

The event ended with an interactive performance by hometown artiste Ritchie B and Kim Poole, the NOMAD Tour’s proclaimed Soul Fusion Artiste and Chief Visionary.

Poole had a lively exchange with her ‘students’, posing questions Garvey would have endorsed.

“Raise your hand if you know where Africa is. Raise your hand if you know that all the black people in the USA that look like me, and all the black people in Jamaica that look like you, and all the black people in Africa all come from Africa,” she declared to enthusiastic response.

One of the founders of the NOMAD Tour, Poole was part of the group’s stop in Dallas and is expected to participate in visits to Los Angeles next week and Santiago, Cuba later in October. Their message is consistent with the pan-African message of Garvey who died in 1940.

“We are all connected because we are the Rhythm People. And just like the drum around your neck, created by an artist in Ghana, West Africa, you can create anything you can think of. When you hold that little drum around your neck, always remember that we are connected,” she said.

— Howard Campbell