Remi D

Founder

Cultural philosopher, griot, teacher

topical reach from a tropical beach

Upfully treatya, downpressor beatya,

meetcha, greetcha like Buck and the Preacher.

Remi D Maroon

Reggae Jazz philosopher, Reggae Jazz novelist, Reggae Jazz musician, Reggae Jazz storyteller, Reggae Jazz educator: Remi D, the founding educationist edutainer behind Abracadia.

50’s London Jamaican Maroon Windrush orphan raised in care… Multiple survivor of some heavyweight imponderables… 

Expelled from school aged 15 for breaking the cane, Remi left school without qualifications. Streetlife…

Ten years later… broke into university, graduated top of his year in philosophy while his first marimba recording (with the Mad Professor) entered Black Echoes’ reggae charts at Number 6. Subsequent scholarship PhD with distinction (cultural development through the educational use of story) personally endorsed by Paulo Freire …

After twelve more years playing percussion with African and Reggae bands, plus teaching (R.E., English and music) and storytelling, Remi’s birth family found him. That’s when he learned of his griot Ancestry. Remi’s grandfather was a reputed Maroon minstrel in the 1920s and 30s, the seventh generation of musician storytellers in a line traced back to our first arrival in 1700s Jamaica. Discovering the coincidence between his Ancestors’ work and his own inspired Remi to leave school teaching and start Abracadia, committing full time to his Ancestral role as a griot in our time. 

The Artist is…

The artist is a mirror reflecting the minds of those interacting with the art… 

The artist is transgressor because they break 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 with wisdom in constructive ways through positive cultural action.

Literary influences

Names? Titles? Too many to say. Here’s a random but alphabetical handful of the scores I’ve enjoyed:

H. C. Anderson, James Baldwin, William Blake, Johan Borgen, Raymond Chandler, Phil K. Dick, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Umberto Eco, Kahlil Gibran, Thomas Hardy, Graham Hancock, Chester Himes, Langston Hughes, Elmore Leonard, Wilfred Owen, Richard Stark.

Plus one-offs like ‘Candide’, ‘Gulliver’s Travels’, ‘Confederacy of Dunces’, ‘Last Exit To Brooklyn’ and ‘Ringolevio’.

And mythologies and traditional tales from all times and cultures.

Musical influences

Again, too many to mention. But here’s a tiny taster from the iceberg’s tip:

  • Drums: Art Blakey and Leroy Wallace (‘Horsemouth’) for swing; Max Roach and Ginger Johnson for polyrhythm and punctuation.

  • Vibraphone: Billie Holiday, Augustus Pablo, Thelonious Monk, Lennie Hibbert, Milt Jackson, Charlie Parker, African Ancestral ‘Marimba’ tradition.

  • Melodica: Billie Holiday, Augustus Pablo, Stevie Wonder, John Coltrane.

  • Vocal: Yabby You, Sugar Minott, Bim Sherman, Bob Marley, Fred Locks.

You’ll find traces of all of them and many more in Remi’s music. Beyond that, there’s a whole spectrum of divine-light musical magi who’ve made a mark on his sound, from Miles Davis, Jackie Mittoo and Fela Kuti, to Ernest Ranglin, Allen Toussaint and Keith Hudson to James Brown, Roy Ayers and Erykah Badu. It’s a waaay long list.

Mission Ambition

Let’s go fishin’

Remi’s mission as a marooned Maroon elder is to share his exceptional lifetime’s knowledge and experience, passing on what’s been passed on to him by the great and the humble alike, and to nail his colours clearly to the mast. He uses Abracadia to do this in two ways:

First by denouncing the 400 year ongoing historical legacy of mass kidnap, mass human trafficking, mass enslavement, land theft and genocides by profiteers without conscience.

Then by announcing the brave new wave of Afrocentric and pan-African consciousness irrepressibly spreading, sure as gravity’s arc, across the continent and across the globe with a promise of better new tomorrows.

“Ours is no small task,” says Remi. “It requires many hands and hearts joined in a spirit of Ubuntu.” Hands and hearts reach out to each other in our time. Many are emerging. Take heart. Lend a hand. Hasta La Victoria Siempre. Join us. Together we shall over...