Exuma
Exuma was Bahamian musician, artist, playwright and author Macfarlane Gregory Anthony Mackey (born 18 February 1942 on Cat Island, Bahamas; died 25 January 1997; Nassau, Bahamas). Known for his almost unclassifiable music, he recorded many albums, starting with Exuma, The Obeah Man in 1970 and ending with Rude Boy in 1986. His songs invoke influences from calypso, junkanoo, reggae, African and folk music with his lyrics dealing heavily with Obeah, a sorcerous Caribbean folk religion resembling African voudou. Read Full BioExuma was Bahamian musician, artist, playwright and author Macfarlane Gregory Anthony Mackey (born 18 February 1942 on Cat Island, Bahamas; died 25 January 1997; Nassau, Bahamas). Known for his almost unclassifiable music, he recorded many albums, starting with Exuma, The Obeah Man in 1970 and ending with Rude Boy in 1986. His songs invoke influences from calypso, junkanoo, reggae, African and folk music with his lyrics dealing heavily with Obeah, a sorcerous Caribbean folk religion resembling African voudou. He toured with a backing band of six people, known as The Junk Band.
McKay moved to New York City at the age of 17 to study architecture. In 1969 McKay launched the group "Exuma" with his then-partner and lifelong friend Sally O'Brien. He enlisted several musician friends, forming his backup band, the Junk Band. The band included O'Brien (as Princess Sally), Bogie, Lord Wellington, Villy, Spy Boy Thielheim, Mildred Vaney, Frankie Gearing, Diana Claudia Bunea (as Princess Diana), and his good friend Peppy Castro (Emil Thielhelm, lead singer of the Blues Magoos).
By the 1980s McKay had moved to New Orleans and was a regular at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
Over the years the group Exuma played and / or toured with Patti LaBelle, Curtis Mayfield, Rita Marley, Peter Tosh, Toots & the Maytals, Sly and the Family Stone, Steppenwolf, Black Flag and the Neville Brothers. Numerous artists performed on his recordings and in his stage shows.
After growing up on Cat Island, Tony McKay moved to New York City at the age of 17 to study architecture. However, he did not complete his studies and soon entered the music industry in a group called Tony McKay and the Islanders. In New York's 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene McKay often found himself performing with such greats as Bob Dylan, Richie Havens, Jimi Hendrix, and Barbra Streisand among others.
He soon gained the attention of Blues Magoos manager Bob Wyld. Wyld brought McKay to Mercury Records and convinced them to sign him. In 1970 McKay, now redubbed Exuma, released the albums Exuma and Exuma II. From those albums he released the singles "Exuma, The Obeah Man", "Junkanoo", "Damn Fool", and "Zandoo". Exuma also garnered recognition for his song "You Don't Know What's Going On", which was featured on the soundtrack to John G. Avilsen's 1970 film Joe starring Peter Boyle, Susan Sarandon, and Dennis Patrick.
Exuma left Mercury in 1971 to sign with the Kama Sutra label, where he released the albums Do Wah Nanny (1971), Snake (1972), Reincarnation (1972), and Life (1973). From these albums he released the singles "Do Wah Nanny", "The Bowery", "Brown Girl", "Rushing Through the Crowd", and a cover of Paul McCartney's "Monkberry Moon Delight". After low sales and seeking the freedom of independence, Exuma was no longer featured on a major record label for the rest of his career. He released Penny Sausage, Going to Cat Island, Universal Exuma and Street Life in the early 1980s, but none of these albums received much exposure.By this time, Exuma was enjoying his greatest recognition. In the Bahamas, he even scored two hit singles, "Shirlene" and "Rose Mary Smith." He had moved to New Orleans and was a regular at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage festival. He performed regularly at the Old Absinthe Bar. These nights could become jam sessions, as he had a habit of starting songs that were not in the set list and he still attracted great musicians, such as Bill Wyman and Bob Dylan's backing band. In 1986 under the ROIR label, Exuma released Rude Boy, which garnered slightly more attention and featured songs from some of his previous 1980s releases.
Over the years Exuma has played and/or toured with Patti LaBelle, Curtis Mayfield, Rita Marley, Peter Tosh, Toots & the Maytals, Sly and the Family Stone, Steppenwolf, Black Flag and the Neville Brothers. Exuma was even recognised by Queen Elizabeth II in 1978 when she awarded him the British Empire Medal for his contributions to Bahamian culture.
In the late 1980s, Exuma suffered a mild heart attack, and thus devoted much more of his time to painting, his other great talent. His paintings have been exhibited several times and collected by many art lovers. Never abandoning his music however, he still wrote and performed his original music. He continued to perform at the New Orleans Jazz Festival until 1991. The last years of his life saw him splitting his time between Miami, Florida and Nassau, in a house that his mother had left him. He died in his sleep in 1997.
Professor and fellow Bahamian Alfred M. Sears stated that Exuma was "A Bahamian visionary, humanistic philosopher and people's poet. Exuma gives expression to the beauty and power of the cultural life of the Bahamas - the people's every day experiences, folklore, myths, stories, junkanoo, rake and scrape, pain, joy, struggle and survival. His life and art reflect the wonderful cultural heritage and personality of Bahamians, drawing on the roots of Africa and the branches of the Amerindians, Europeans and Americans."[2]
Tony McKay had many children including Gavin, Kenyatta, Acklins and Jahleena. His first son, Shaw and his mother, "Sammy" were murdered in the early 1970s in New York's Lower East Side. Both Acklins and Kenyatta Alisha are vocal artists, carrying on the tradition of their father through their individual genres.
McKay moved to New York City at the age of 17 to study architecture. In 1969 McKay launched the group "Exuma" with his then-partner and lifelong friend Sally O'Brien. He enlisted several musician friends, forming his backup band, the Junk Band. The band included O'Brien (as Princess Sally), Bogie, Lord Wellington, Villy, Spy Boy Thielheim, Mildred Vaney, Frankie Gearing, Diana Claudia Bunea (as Princess Diana), and his good friend Peppy Castro (Emil Thielhelm, lead singer of the Blues Magoos).
By the 1980s McKay had moved to New Orleans and was a regular at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
Over the years the group Exuma played and / or toured with Patti LaBelle, Curtis Mayfield, Rita Marley, Peter Tosh, Toots & the Maytals, Sly and the Family Stone, Steppenwolf, Black Flag and the Neville Brothers. Numerous artists performed on his recordings and in his stage shows.
After growing up on Cat Island, Tony McKay moved to New York City at the age of 17 to study architecture. However, he did not complete his studies and soon entered the music industry in a group called Tony McKay and the Islanders. In New York's 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene McKay often found himself performing with such greats as Bob Dylan, Richie Havens, Jimi Hendrix, and Barbra Streisand among others.
He soon gained the attention of Blues Magoos manager Bob Wyld. Wyld brought McKay to Mercury Records and convinced them to sign him. In 1970 McKay, now redubbed Exuma, released the albums Exuma and Exuma II. From those albums he released the singles "Exuma, The Obeah Man", "Junkanoo", "Damn Fool", and "Zandoo". Exuma also garnered recognition for his song "You Don't Know What's Going On", which was featured on the soundtrack to John G. Avilsen's 1970 film Joe starring Peter Boyle, Susan Sarandon, and Dennis Patrick.
Exuma left Mercury in 1971 to sign with the Kama Sutra label, where he released the albums Do Wah Nanny (1971), Snake (1972), Reincarnation (1972), and Life (1973). From these albums he released the singles "Do Wah Nanny", "The Bowery", "Brown Girl", "Rushing Through the Crowd", and a cover of Paul McCartney's "Monkberry Moon Delight". After low sales and seeking the freedom of independence, Exuma was no longer featured on a major record label for the rest of his career. He released Penny Sausage, Going to Cat Island, Universal Exuma and Street Life in the early 1980s, but none of these albums received much exposure.By this time, Exuma was enjoying his greatest recognition. In the Bahamas, he even scored two hit singles, "Shirlene" and "Rose Mary Smith." He had moved to New Orleans and was a regular at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage festival. He performed regularly at the Old Absinthe Bar. These nights could become jam sessions, as he had a habit of starting songs that were not in the set list and he still attracted great musicians, such as Bill Wyman and Bob Dylan's backing band. In 1986 under the ROIR label, Exuma released Rude Boy, which garnered slightly more attention and featured songs from some of his previous 1980s releases.
Over the years Exuma has played and/or toured with Patti LaBelle, Curtis Mayfield, Rita Marley, Peter Tosh, Toots & the Maytals, Sly and the Family Stone, Steppenwolf, Black Flag and the Neville Brothers. Exuma was even recognised by Queen Elizabeth II in 1978 when she awarded him the British Empire Medal for his contributions to Bahamian culture.
In the late 1980s, Exuma suffered a mild heart attack, and thus devoted much more of his time to painting, his other great talent. His paintings have been exhibited several times and collected by many art lovers. Never abandoning his music however, he still wrote and performed his original music. He continued to perform at the New Orleans Jazz Festival until 1991. The last years of his life saw him splitting his time between Miami, Florida and Nassau, in a house that his mother had left him. He died in his sleep in 1997.
Professor and fellow Bahamian Alfred M. Sears stated that Exuma was "A Bahamian visionary, humanistic philosopher and people's poet. Exuma gives expression to the beauty and power of the cultural life of the Bahamas - the people's every day experiences, folklore, myths, stories, junkanoo, rake and scrape, pain, joy, struggle and survival. His life and art reflect the wonderful cultural heritage and personality of Bahamians, drawing on the roots of Africa and the branches of the Amerindians, Europeans and Americans."[2]
Tony McKay had many children including Gavin, Kenyatta, Acklins and Jahleena. His first son, Shaw and his mother, "Sammy" were murdered in the early 1970s in New York's Lower East Side. Both Acklins and Kenyatta Alisha are vocal artists, carrying on the tradition of their father through their individual genres.
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Exuma The Obeah Man
Exuma Lyrics
I came down on a lightning bolt,
nine months in my Mama's belly
When I was born the midwife
screamed and shout
I had fire and brimstone
coming out of my mouth
I'm Exuma, I'm The Obeah Man
Exuma was my name when I lived in the stars
Exuma was a planet that once lit Mars,
I've got the voice of many in my throat
The teeth of a frog and the tail of a goat
I'm Exuma, I'm The Obeah Man
When I've got my big hat on my head
You know that I can raise the dead
When I got my stick in my hand
You know that I am The Obeah Man
If you got a woman and she ain't happy
Come see me for camalame
Take that camalame and you make her some tea
and she will love you all the time
And when she got you running
like a train on a track
take some flour and you make some pap
that will give you strength in your back
I'm Exuma, I'm The Obeah Man
I've sailed with Charon, day and night
I've walked with Hougaman, Hector Hippolite
Obeah, Obeah, Obeah, Obeah's in me
I drank the water from the firery sea
I'm Exuma, I'm The Obeah Man
Tony McKay was my given name
given on Cat island when my mother felt the pain.
Creatures of the Earth, Space, Sea, and Land,
I'm Exuma, I'm The Obeah Man
I'm Exuma, I'm The Obeah Man
Contributed by Carter I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
To comment on specific lyrics, highlight them
Terry Platt
Heavens, I'd forgotten about this one! Back in the late 60s and early 70s, with little money to spend, I was buying every sampler that came out, from You Can All Join In and Bumpers (Island), The Rock Machine and Fill Your Head With Rock (CBS) and Garden Of Delights and New Magic In A Dusty World (Elektra), to Suck It And See (Vertigo), Fruity (Warners), Picnic (Harvest), Heads And Tales (Transatlantic) and Charisma Disturbance (Charisma), as a way of adding a lot of new sounds to my growing collection, without spending very much.
Mercury added their own volume, Dimension Of Miracles. I wasn't taken with much of the material on the 2 LPs, until I got to the very last track, which was Exuma. I had no idea who he or they were, but I was fascinated by the impenetrable ethnicity and tribal-sounding nature of the music, as well as the somewhat worrying feeling that if I engaged with it too deeply, I would be sucked in to something that would devour me and turn me into a zombie!
Happily I survived - but I never heard any more of or about Exuma, and it slipped into the thick, deep fog of memory. Almost half a century later, I'm so glad to have rediscovered it, and while the nagging fear of transmogrification no longer troubles me, it's still an unsettling sound, but one which I can now appreciate in a more rational manner.
Only one other track from that DoM compilation made any real impression on me, and that was JD Blackfoot's The Ultimate Prophecy - seemed terrifying at the time, and still wields a great deal of power all these years later. Go listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS9gznc5AKA
(you'll need to drag the time bar cursor to 19:00, as it's only posted on the full album. Check out the full 5-part suite, which wasn't on DoM). Could almost be a Blue Öyster Cult outtake!
Bill Datz
Loved this song! I picked it out of the 99 cent bin, because of the cover- The record store didn't know how to categorize it- I think they tried to put in "Psycadelic calypso" or some such nonsense- love this cut!
Cryptic Cyclone
Lol wow. I guess that category would fit. Especially when you don't know the origin. I'm from Exuma. The right category is Rake 'n' Scrape.
Christine Rabah
What cathegory is it now? Voodoo-priest I would say
marshall devine, jr.
Myself, man. I'm 56 years old. I never heard of Exuma until a week ago. This album came out when I was nine years old. I'm basically a hard rock and metal head, but I like some eclectic stuff, and when I came across this, I was blown away. Jumpin Jeezus Christ. I've been missing out.
blackmore4
Sounds exactly like "psychedelic calypso" to me.
Shanette Gordon
Paddy Scott hi this Kimarly Orville Kerr wassup
Charles Snarls
The man at the little record store didn't have any Mothers of Invention records but he said we would like Exuma just as well- we did.
MsAppassionata
Thanks Dorian 😁 (re - your profile photo. Oddly enough, I just watched that film again yesterday. It was on T.V.)
M. Lawson
Heard it first more than 40 years ago! It still fascinates. What a trip!
Gil Jimenez
@Richard Pampinella this was a pleasant surprise to hear from someone that DJ and is familiar of the early club scene. The music played at the time was intoxicating and totally tribal, no comparison to any other ever. What is labeled as disco music is nothing alike.