From his early years listening to Bob Marley, Buju Banton and Garnet Silk, Surinamese singer Jah Nelson has yearned to make contact with Jamaica, the mecca of reggae music.

Two weeks ago, the roots artiste made his debut at Kingston Night Market. On April 3, he performed on ‘Music Is The Rod’, a show at Footprints, also in Kingston.

“It is a great feeling, actually a dream come through,” said Jah Nelson in an interview with Observer Online. He admitted to being a bit nervous during his maiden shows in Jamaica, but added, “It is still good.”

Jah Nelson (real name Agita Nel) is also in Jamaica promoting his latest songs – Name of Jah, Africa and How Long. Those tracks have received steady rotation in his homeland, particularly the capital Paramaribo.

The Jamaican music vibe in Suriname, he notes, is strong.

“Reggae is a big thing in Suriname, when you keep a reggae show everybody come out,” said Jah Nelson.

The dreadlocked artiste has been playing and recording music since the late 1990s, working with various bands in Paramaribo. Born in the remote town of Brokopondo, he began singing at age seven, encouraged by his grandfather.

A turning point in Jah Nelson’s career came in 2002 when he formed Jah Feeling, a group that performed reggae and dancehall.

“With Jah Feeling, I really started making reggae music. At that time, we also performed at an international concert in Suriname with a Jamaican reggae band, and a gentleman (Guno Ravenberg) came to me and said, ‘You have to go to Jamaica to make your music there. You will succeed, for sure, you have talent’,” he recalled.

Aaron Silk, Nature Ellis, Marlon Brown and Ama (from Ghana) are also featured on Music Is The Rod, which acknowledges Garnet Silk’s birthday (April 2).

– Howard Campbell