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Legendary guitarist, Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith, also known as Earl Flute and Melchezidek the High Priest, celebrates his milestone 70th birthday today, Independence Day, and it will be a day of Groundation.
Born August 6, 1955, Smith can clearly recall Jamaica’s first Independence Day in 1962, when he was only seven years old.
“I have two mothers ... one was my godmother ... and she was the one who tek me downtown that day and I never ever see so much fireworks. The celebration would be like something that happen now in Times Square, or Disneyland. I remember getting this Coat of Arms thing and a New Testament Bible. It was a beautiful experience and I cherish it,” Smith told The Gleaner.
He shared that having his birthday on Independence Day was always special.
“It was always a fun thing. It come een like the entire nation was celebrating my birthday with me. I grow up in Greenwich Town ... and on that day there was a lot of food and music and everybody come in and have a drink. My parents had a sound system, so music was there all the time. I remember having a bully beef sandwich with lettuce and having the bread cut a certain way. To this day, if I am having a sandwich and it don’t cut that way, I don’t enjoy it,” Smith said, laughing as he took a trip down memory lane.
Smith, the youngster who got interested in guitar at a young age and, according to his bio, “made his own from sardine cans and fishing line”, would go on to distinguish himself as one of the best to have ever done it. He has worked with the greatest to come out of Jamaica, including the likes of Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Dennis Brown, Augustus Pablo, Sly and Robbie and Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus.
MEMORABLE BIRTHDAY
Smith shared that he has done some memorable things for his birthday, such as visiting Hawaii for his 50th, and another year he had a nine-day celebration with friends who celebrate birthdays around the same time as him.
“That year, me and my bredren Sean ... him pass now ... we brought in a film crew from Florida and we filmed the entire nine days. That was just a vibe,” said the guitarist who, in 2013, was awarded the prestigious Silver Musgrave Medal by the Institute of Jamaica for his contributions to Jamaican arts, specifically music.
His birthday, today, however, will take a back seat to a monthly event which he hosts at his home in St Andrew Park.
“The fact that every first Wednesday we have a Groundation, this year will not even be celebrated so much as a birthday ... it will be Groundation. We will be having Nyabinghi, leading songs, celebrating and grounding. So I will be grounding,” he said.
But the significance of Independence Day will not be lost, as he has his playlist ready.
“Independence means freedom ... that you can tek care of yourself. I remember hearing a song called Federation ... that mean that the queen a guh let we go now and we form a federation. I don’t know what happened, but in that song, Sparrow seh that Jamaica is a traitor and never want federation. But I live to see now that today I have a CARICOM passport. So that is one of the songs on my playlist. The others are Baba Boom with the Jamaicans ... bless up Tommy Cowan because him was a part of that group; Move Up (Festival Time), a song by Al and the Vibrators that never win Festival; Desmond Dekker did have a song that neva win, Unity, that is a wicked song and Satta Massagana.”
Grounded in a generation that ate, slept and played the music 24-7, Smith joined Bob Marley and the Wailers in 1976, and his name appears on the credits of numerous albums, among them Rastaman Vibration, Live at the Roxy, Survival, Uprising, Catch a Fire and Confrontation. He was part of Bob Marley’s backing band at the historic One Love Peace Concert in 1978, and continued the legacy by working with Marley’s sons, Julian and Ziggy. Smith toured with Ziggy and played on his Conscious Party album, which won the Grammy Award in 1989 in the Best Reggae Album category.
Active on the music scene for more than 50 years, Smith’s name is synonymous with the legendary Soul Syndicate band, and he has appeared on more than 500 albums. In addition to working with A-list Jamaican artistes, Smith also recorded with Lauryn Hill on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which won Album of the Year at the 1999 Grammy Awards and the late Amy Winehouse on Frank.
Happy birthday, Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith.
English (US) ·