Hurricane Melissa has inspired many songs, with most of them focusing on the Category 5 force of nature’s devastation of south-western Jamaica.

On his latest song Karbon gives a different outlook.

Released in January, it is co-produced by Mek Cent$ Entertainment and State of Art Records and Ras Vanni of Fifth Element Music Group.

“After what I saw Hurricane Melissa did to our ‘food basket’ parish, I knew that Mother Nature wasn’t pleased with Jamaica and the direction it’s heading with all that Western toxicity. So she was detoxing Jamaica, because Mother Nature knows the power of the Jamaican people, and that power which they inherited through their ancestors, some of which I mention in the song,” said Karbon.

St Elizabeth, which bore the brunt of Melissa’s powerful winds on October 28, when the hurricane made landfall, has long been regarded as Jamaica’s agricultural hub. Many St Elizabeth farms, and much of its infrastructure, sustained tremendous damage.

The ‘ancestors’ referred to in Jamaica include national heroes Nanny, Paul Bogle, and Marcus Garvey, as well as reggae legends Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer. Karbon believes their resilience must be replicated if Jamaica is to fully recover from post-Melissa trauma.

“The baton must be passed on even in a more advanced manner to the coming generation so they can keep advancing. It’s not just the music, it’s the ‘livity’ of Rastafari, so it all has to encompass one head and heart balance,” he said.

Karbon, who is from Manchester, has been recording music since 2019.

He is known for songs like Top Balla, Lion Roar and Journey while his EP, Bang D Bell, was released in 2023.

— Howard Campbell