Early music and with the Wailers
Tosh was born in Westmoreland, the westernmost parish of Jamaica. He was abandoned by his parents and "shuffled among relatives". When McIntosh was fifteen, his aunt died and he moved to Trenchtown in Kingston, Jamaica. He first learned guitar after watching a man in the country play a song that captivated him. He watched the man play the same song for half a day, memorizing everything his fingers were doing. He then picked up the guitar and played the song back to the man. The man then asked McIntosh who had taught him to play; McIntosh told him that he had. During the early 1960s, as an aspiring musician, Tosh went to vocal teacher Joe Higgs, who gave free music lessons to young people. Through his contact with Higgs, Tosh met Robert Nesta Marley (Bob Marley) and Neville O'Reilly Livingston (Bunny Wailer). He then changed his name to Peter Tosh and the trio started singing together in 1962. Higgs taught the trio to harmonise and while developing their music, they would often play on the street corners of Trenchtown.
In 1964 Tosh helped organise the band the Wailing Wailers, with Junior Braithwaite, a falsetto singer, and backup singers Beverley Kelso and Cherry Smith. Initially, Tosh was the only one in the group who could play musical instruments. According to Bunny Wailer, Tosh was critical to the band because he was a self-taught guitarist and keyboardist, and thus became an inspiration for the other band members to learn to play. The Wailing Wailers had a major ska hit with their first single, "Simmer Down", and recorded several more successful singles before Braithwaite, Kelso and Smith left the band in late 1965. Marley spent much of 1966 in Delaware in the United States with his mother, Cedella (née Malcolm) Marley-Booker, and for a brief time was working at a nearby Chrysler factory. He returned to Jamaica in early 1967 with a renewed interest in music and a new spirituality. Tosh and Bunny were already Rastafarians when Marley returned from the US, and the three became very involved with the Rastafari faith. Soon afterwards, they renamed the musical group the Wailers. Tosh would explain later that they chose the name Wailers because to "wail" means to mourn or to, as he put it, "...express one's feelings vocally". He also claims that he was the beginning of the group, and that it was he who first taught Bob Marley the guitar. Also according to Bunny Wailer, the early Wailers learned to play instruments from Tosh.
During the mid-1960s Tosh, along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, were introduced to Danny Sims and Johnny Nash who signed the three artists to an exclusive recording contract on Sims' and Nash's JAD Records label as well as an exclusive publishing agreement through Sims' music publishing company, Cayman Music. Rejecting the up-tempo dance of ska, the band slowed their music to a rocksteady pace, and infused their lyrics with political and social messages inspired by their new-found faith. The Wailers composed several songs for the American-born singer Nash before teaming with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry to record some of the earliest well-known reggae songs, including "Soul Rebel", "Duppy Conqueror", and "Small Axe". The collaboration had given birth to reggae music and in 1970 bassist Aston "Family Man" Barrett and his brother, drummer Carlton Barrett, joined the group. They recorded the album The Best of The Wailers, which was produced by Leslie Kong and released in 1971.[citation needed]
In 1972, Danny Sims assigned the balance of the JAD Records recording contract with the band to Chris Blackwell and Island Records company and released their debut, Catch a Fire, in 1973, following it with Burnin' the same year. The Wailers had moved from many producers after 1970 and there were instances where producers would record rehearsal sessions that Tosh did and release them in England under the name "Peter Touch".
In 1973, Tosh was driving home with his girlfriend Evonne when his car was hit by another car driving on the wrong side of the road. The accident killed Evonne and severely fractured Tosh's skull. After Island Records president Chris Blackwell refused to issue his solo album in 1974, Tosh and Bunny Wailer left the Wailers, citing the unfair treatment they received from Blackwell, to whom Tosh often referred with a derogatory play on Blackwell's surname, 'Whiteworst'. Tosh had written many of the Wailers' hit songs such as "Get Up, Stand Up", "400 Years", and "No Sympathy". Tosh began recording and released his solo debut, Legalize It, in 1976 with CBS Records company, and Treasure Isle. The title track soon became popular among endorsers of cannabis legalization, reggae music lovers and Rastafari all over the world, and was a favourite at Tosh's concerts.
That was his last album from the Wailers, Island Records. In 2013, a book co-written by French scholar Dr Jeremie Kroubo Dagnini and American Lee Jaffe, his former associate, says Tosh was part of a smuggling operation that raised money to fund this album.
Solo career
Tosh started to make his own albums with Rolling Stones Records and CBS Records Equal Rights followed in 1977, featuring his recording of a song co-written with Marley, "Get Up, Stand Up", and a cover of "Stepping Razor" that would also appear on the soundtrack to the film Rockers.
Tosh organised a backing band, Word, Sound and Power, who were to accompany him on tour for the next few years, and many of whom performed on his albums of this period. In 1978, the Rolling Stones record label Rolling Stones Records contracted with Tosh, on which the album Bush Doctor was released, introducing Tosh to a larger audience. The album featured Rolling Stones frontmen Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and the lead single – a cover version of The Temptations song "Don't Look Back" – was performed as a duet with Jagger.
During Bob Marley's free One Love Peace Concert of 1978, Tosh lit a marijuana spliff and lectured about legalising cannabis, lambasting attending dignitaries Michael Manley and Edward Seaga for their failure to enact such legislation. Several months later he was apprehended by police as he left Skateland dance hall in Kingston and was beaten severely while in police custody.
Mystic Man (1979), and Wanted Dread and Alive (1981) followed, both released on Rolling Stones Records. Tosh tried to gain some mainstream success while keeping his militant views, but was only moderately successful, especially when compared to Marley's achievements.
In 1984, after the release of 1983's album Mama Africa, Tosh went into self-imposed exile, seeking the spiritual advice of traditional medicine men in Africa, and trying to free himself from recording agreements that distributed his records in South Africa. Tosh had been at odds for several years with his label, EMI, over a perceived lack of promotion for his music.
Tosh also participated in the international opposition to South African apartheid by appearing at anti-apartheid concerts and by conveying his opinion in various songs like "Apartheid" (1977, re-recorded 1987), "Equal Rights" (1977), "Fight On" (1979), and "Not Gonna Give It Up" (1983). In 1987, Peter Tosh seemed to be having a career revival. He was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Performance in 1987 for No Nuclear War, his last record.
Death
On 11 September 1987, just after Tosh had returned to his home in Jamaica, a three-man gang came to his house on motorcycles demanding money. Tosh replied that he did not have any with him but the gang did not believe him. They stayed at his residence for several hours and tortured Tosh in an attempt to extort money from him. Over the hours, as various associates of Tosh arrived to visit him, they were also taken hostage by the gunmen. The gunmen became more and more frustrated, especially the chief thug, Dennis "Leppo" Lobban, a man whom Tosh had previously befriended and tried to help find work after a long jail sentence. Tosh said he did not have any money in the house, after which Lobban and the fellow gunmen began opening fire in a reckless manner. Tosh was shot twice in the head and killed. Herbalist Wilton "Doc" Brown and disc jockey Jeff 'Free I' Dixon also died as a result of wounds sustained during the robbery. Several others in the house were wounded, including Tosh's common law wife Andrea Marlene Brown, Free I's wife Yvonne ("Joy"); Tosh's drummer Carlton "Santa" Davis, and musician Michael Robinson.
According to Police Commissioner Herman Ricketts, Dennis "Leppo" Lobban surrendered and two other men were interrogated but not publicly named. Lobban went on to plead innocent during his trial, telling the court he had been drinking with friends. The trial was held in a closed court due to the involvement of illegal firearms. Lobban was ultimately found guilty by a jury of eight women and four men and sentenced to death by hanging. His sentence was commuted in 1995 and Lobban remains in jail. Another suspect was acquitted due to insufficient evidence. The other two gunmen were never identified by name.
Discography
Legalize It (1976)
Equal Rights (1977)
Bush Doctor (1978)
Mystic Man (1979)
Wanted Dread & Alive (1981)
Mama Africa (1983)
No Nuclear War (1987)
Fight Apartheid
Peter Tosh Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Quite illegal
You're in a me land
Dig out me gold
In a me land
Digging out me pearls
In a me land
Dig out me diamonds
We a go fight (3x) against apartheid
We got to fight (3x) against apartheid
You're in a me land
And you build up your 'partment
You're in a me land
You build up you're regimes
You're in a me land
Only talk 'bout justice
You're in a me land
Handing down injustice
Chorus
You're in a me land (Precedes each line below)
You no build no school for black children
No hospital for black people
You build your prison
You build their camp
Chorus
Africa's for black man
Remember
There certain place in Africa
Black man get no recognition
Chorus
You cross the border
You shoot off the children
Cross the border
Shoot down women
Cross the border
You take your might
Cross the border
To beat for right
Chorus
As for majority
Majority rule, yea
Who need minority
But that couldn't rule, yea
Chorus
You break off
Break off from Britain
You're quite illegal
Right where you are
You get your forces
From colonial powers
Taking my diamonds
Filling ballistic missiles
Chorus
In Peter Tosh's song "Fight Apartheid," the artist addresses the issue of colonization and how white settlers have taken over the land that belongs to Africans. The lyrics in the first verse, "You're in a me land, quite illegal...dig out me gold, in a me land," demonstrates how the white settlers have taken over the land and resources that originally belonged to the Africans. Tosh further notes how the settlers build apartments and regimes, never building schools or hospitals for black children or people, but instead build prisons and detention centers. The chorus, "We a go fight against apartheid," serves as a reminder to Africans that they must unite to fight against these injustices.
Tosh highlights how the African continent is for black people, and that there are parts of the continent where black people are not recognized. Tosh also mentions how the settlers shoot down children and women when they cross the border illegally, but then justify their actions by claiming they were fighting for what was right. In the final verse, Tosh condemns the colonial powers that supply the settlers with weapons, who then use them to take over the Africans' land and resources. Lastly, Tosh emphasizes that the majority of people in Africa should rule, not the minority.
Overall, the song is a call to arms for black people to come together and fight against the injustices that white settlers have inflicted upon them. The lyrics serve as a powerful reminder that black people must stand up against their oppressors and fight for what is right.
Line by Line Meaning
You in a me land
You are in my land
Quite illegal
Your presence is illegal
You're in a me land
You are still in my land
Dig out me gold
You are taking my gold
In a me land
In my land
Digging out me pearls
You are taking my pearls
In a me land
In my land
Dig out me diamonds
You are taking my diamonds
We a go fight (3x) against apartheid
We will fight against apartheid
We got to fight (3x) against apartheid
We must fight against apartheid
And you build up your 'partment
You build up your apartments
You build up you're regimes
You are building your political systems
Only talk 'bout justice
You only talk about justice
Handing down injustice
But you are delivering injustice
You no build no school for black children
You do not build schools for black children
No hospital for black people
You do not build hospitals for black people
You build your prison
You build your own prisons
You build their camp
And you build camps for them
Africa's for black man
Africa belongs to black people
Remember
Do not forget
There certain place in Africa
There are certain places in Africa
Black man get no recognition
Where black people do not get recognition
You cross the border
You cross the border
You shoot off the children
You shoot children
Shoot down women
You shoot down women
You take your might
You use your power
To beat for right
To suppress those fighting for their rights
As for majority
Regarding the majority
Majority rule, yea
The majority should have the power
Who need minority
Who needs the minority
But that couldn't rule, yea
But they should not have the power
You break off
You broke off
Break off from Britain
Broke off from Britain
Right where you are
But you stay in my land
You get your forces
You have your forces
From colonial powers
From your former colonial powers
Taking my diamonds
You take my diamonds
Filling ballistic missiles
And you fill ballistic missiles
Contributed by Violet V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@paulkimanikariuki505
@@elrededwards863 "Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king," says the LORD Almighty, "and my name is to be feared among the nations.
His name is : Tefferi (Tefferi (from tefera) is an Amharic expression
meaning : to be feared !
Negus = grate King
Tafari = To be fered !
Get it right !
FACTS only the facts
@paulkimanikariuki505
@@jeanclarke9106 When An Najashi passed away , Al bukhari Rasulullah (saw) says “On this day a rightous man died in Abyssinia so let´s pray on him , let´s make salatul janaza on him and Rasulullah (saw) knew it on the same day which means that Jibril (a.s) (Gabriel) came to Muhammad (saw) to inform him about that event , so it was an important event , that Jibril (alehi salam) had to come and convey to Rasulullah (saw) and the messenger of Allah , Al-Mustafa led salah on An Najashi , he prayed for him and said “ask Allah to forgive him” He was asking the sahaba to make dua for An Najashi.
(1) Psalm 118:26 “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you."
(2) Luke 19:38 "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" When Rasulullah (saw) prayed for An Najashi he also used the words : “Al baraka lil habbashe” (concerning the Negus of Ethiopia) in other words
(3) “blessed be the King of Ethiopia in the name of the LORD” (Who was and is and will forever be in the name of the LORD)
Matthew 23:39 “For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
(Psalm 118:26) (in hebrew) :barukh habba` be-she-m ADONAY
“ “ (Ge`ez / Ethiopic) Burukh ze-yimetz be-sem-e EGEZIABHER
Muhammad was a rastaman !
@paulkimanikariuki505
@@jeanclarke9106 “AMR BIN AAS” persecution against the early muslims !
Eaven though the Muslims (83 men and 18 women) completely left mecca, to go and live in Ethiopia, the people of mecca wer´nt happy with the situation ! They decidet to follow them and to try to bring an end to their religion ! The people of mecca (people of quraish) chose Amr bin Aas for this mission in order to convinece the Negus of Ethiopa to hand out the muslims. “Aṣḥama ibn Abjar was Emperor or al-Najashi (Arabic: النجاشيal-Najāshī) of Ethiopia at the time of Muhammad. The term "al-Najashi" has a variant of al-Negashi; it corresponds to the ancient Aksumite title Negus, with the variant Negash” (Amr bin Aas speaking to Ashama ibn Abjar al najashi of the Habbasha): "there are
(1)“some fool´s" among us who ran away from mekka and came to your land , we know them and
(2) they left our religion , they didn´t follow yours...bla, bla, blaa..we want you to hand them over to us." (All of the Ethiopian officials who had been bribed before by amr bin aas) told the najashi to hand them over)
(3) an najashi sayd : "no, i will not hand over people who sought refuge in my land until i hear their side of the story"
(1) : Matthew (5:22 KJV) :"But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, ‘Raca,’ shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say ‘you fool, ’shall be in danger of hell fire."
(2) : Article 18 of the universal humanrights declaration : Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
(3) :Deuteronomy (23:15-16) : 15 You shall not deliver to his master the servant which is escaped from his master to you 16 He shall dwell with you, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of your gates, where it likes him best you shall not oppress him.
Muhammad ras ulullah (saw) had told his people : "Go to Ethiopia because therein is a king who does not oppress anyone , the king is just and he does not oppress anyone."
Article 14 of the universal humanrights declaration : Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
Isaiah (9:6) For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.Of the greatness of his government and peace / there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his king-dom, establishing and upholding it with just-ice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this !
Ethiopian Constitution of 1931. Art. 3. The law determines that the imperial dignity shall remain perpetually attached to the line of His Majesty Haile Selassie I, descendant of King Sahle Selassie, whose line descends without interruption from the dynasty of Menelik I, son of King Solomon of Jerusalem and the Queen of Ethiopia, known as the Queen of Sheba.
@rumanipatrick8988
Trully the prophet of reggae,he deserves a statue in south africa,he fought for south africa through his music.
@latoriarichardson6754
Yes!
@onetwothree1201
The South African government must honour Peter Tosh with a statue
@winstonmcintosher2702
im 100% with u on this one mandela failed to think abt that.
@merkennahauguste1172
oh
@pumlakhoza16
Nelson Mandela was released after 26 months after Peter Tosh was killed... SA owes him big time. His music and influence liberated SA.
@bernardasiedudarko7213
Will these our stupid useless leaders of Africa appreciate the work n the fight of freedom from our legends who has passed away
@alcatelseven7355
NEED TO
@CarlottaEn
I don't know what makes me want to cry when I listen to this song. Could be the sadness of Peter dying before his time, nostalgia, or African leaders now looting from their own people.
@alcatelseven7355
Everything n moor