BY RICHARD JOHNSON–
Observer senior reporter–
Wayne Marshall —
When the history of Jamaican music for 2018 is written, local artiste Wayne Marshall will definitely have a place in these annals.
Last year this act had what is arguably to most popular song on the airwaves — in churches, schools and in the pop music circles. The gospel-laced Glory To God helped to bring Wayne Marshall back from the fringes to center stage as it cut across demographics.
This singjay is not ready to let this momentum slip in any way and fresh off the stage at last Friday’s opening night of Rebel Salute he shared some thoughts with the Jamaica Observer on last year and his plans for 2019, which include an album produced by multiple Grammy Award-winning artiste Damian “Junior Gong” Marley.
“Last year was a big year… big breakout year for me musically, spiritually and even from a performance standpoint. Glory to God is not just a normal song mi come back with. It was a song that people have come to see as a spiritual reference of sorts. People have told me this is a song that wake them up in the morning and put them to bed at night.”
Moving forward this artiste said he is working to emulate what he called the spiritual vibrations at the root of his 2018 hit.
“It’s a hard task because Glory to God had such a special, unique impact, but then again I didn’t do anything magical to get the song, it was my same process — listen to rhythms and try to spiritually manifest some sort if music that I feel suits it.”
As for the pressure to match up to or surpass his 2018 track, Wayne Marshall embraces it as part of the process.
“There will always be that pressure. However the difference is when you know the source. I know that source. The well has been made known to me so it is so much more reassuring to know I can go back and draw from that, and look to the guidance if that creative force,” Wayne Marshall shared.
During the past year the artiste lost his father after a brief illness and made a physical transition, cutting his lock which he had grown for nearly two decades.
The popularity and reach Glory to God also put Wayne Marshall in contact with his constituents who were able to share some of the ways in which the track touched them deeply and impacted their lives in a very poignant way. For him one particular week stands out. He said he received three calls from persons who were contemplating suicide.
“They told me that when they heard the song it took them out of the depression and that dark place. When you hear those testimonies you fully get the power of the song. Then you look at how it reached children. These things are very moving and caused me to think and realize that I have a duty to keep that level and standard in my music. This is not a pull up and dash weh song. It’s a song that I must sing right to the end each time I perform, all four minutes and 30 seconds.”
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