Founder
Remi D
The Reggae Blues Griot
Philosopher, Novelist, Musician, Spoken-Word Storyteller, Educator, Connector…
Upfully Treatya, Downpressor Beatya,
Remi The T’Cha Humbly Meetcha
Meet Remi D
It’s not what you do or the way that you do it...
It’s who you show up as - and why!
Remi D is a North London born Windrush orphan of combined Taino-Ashante-Maroon-Ashkenazi descent; a multiple survivor of some heavyweight imponderables as a child in care…
Failed by the care system and expelled from school aged 15 for breaking the cane, Remi left school without qualifications, remaining in the gritty underworld where he’d been raised. Luckily, his 70s London nightlife circle included artists like Ronnie Scott, Art Blakey, Bob Marley and most especially Johan Borgen. These and others inspired and encouraged Remi to rise above difficulties and express himself through writing and music.
Eight years later, escape at last! Remi devised a ploy to break into university, acquiring education ‘by any means necessary’. He graduated fair and square top of his year in philosophy whilst supporting Joseph Hill’s Culture live and making his first marimba recording with Mad Professor. Subsequent scholarship PhD (Distinction) in the dynamics of cultural change through mythic storytelling, personally endorsed by Paulo Freire.
In his 40s, after twelve more years helping young people up as teacher (R.E., History, English and Music), mentor and education consultant, plus playing percussion with African and Reggae acts, Remi’s birth family traced him. That’s when he learned of his Maroon griot Ancestry:
Remi’s paternal grandfather was a popular Maroon minstrel in 1930s Cockpit Country, the seventh generation of Ashante musician-storytellers (griots) in a line reportedly traced back to arrival in 1700s Jamaica with the retinue of Naquan. Discovering the coincidence between his Ancestors’ work and his own inspired Remi to split his time between schools (where the teens of Southern England dubbed him Dr T) and fulfilling his Ancestral role as a griot in our time as the artist Remi D.
Discovering his Maroon griot heritage inspired Remi to fictionalise his colourful story in the form of a novel, a testament to the unifying music of Jazz, Reggae, Soul and Blues, the music he calls humanity’s highest and deepest achievement. A seasoned master of spoken word, writings and music, Remi uses these cultural tools to brighten a fretful world with joy, restoring the faith for healing to grow, reminding us all of the change we sow: another fearless beacon in the darkness shining our true human nature to positively transform our life and our world.
The Artist is…
Rebellious, the artist defies the tyranny of ‘what is’ to show ‘what can be’. They travel between this world and that.
Doubly reflexive, thinking about thought itself, the artist is also a mirror reflecting the minds of those interacting with the art…
Transgressive, the artist breaks down the barriers between self and other, giving a sneak-peek of that higher unified reality…
The arts and works of Remi D signify another step towards the realisation of our human potential to transform our world creatively, constructively, wisely through positive cultural action.
Click below to discover some of the writers and musicians who have inspired Remi’s development as an artist.
Mission Ambition
Let’s Go Fishin’
Remi’s mission as a Maroon elder is to help others up by sharing his knowledge and experience and by passing on what of value was passed on to him by the great and the humble. And it is to connect with you co-imagineers who appreciate the need for positive cultural action in our time.
Remi uses Abracadia to nail his colours clearly to the mast. First by denouncing the 500 year ongoing historical crimes of mass kidnap, mass human trafficking, mass enslavement, mass land and resource theft and mass genocides by profiteers without conscience.
Then by announcing the new paradigm of connected consciousness from pan-African ubuntu to organic, indigenous, community based and nature related world views and projects worldwide.
That new paradigm is spreading irrepressibly, sure as gravity’s arc, across the globe with a promise of hopeful new tomorrows.
“Ours is no small task,” says Remi. “It requires diverse hands and hearts to join in common cause. Wherever we look we see hands and hearts reach out to each other in our time. A net of humanity. Many are emerging. Take heart. Lend a hand.”
‘One hand alone cannot tie bundle’, goes the old Jamaican saying. We must all play a part in the dance towards our ideals. Welcome to the long awaited sharing that unfolds into a greater destiny for us all.