Ras Padam evolving but keeping close to his roots

The energy. The spirit. The dexterity. The militant look on his face. That is what you see when Delano ‘Ras Padam’ Douglas is around the Maroon drum. He can also sing and dance. Hear the poignant and dramatic cadence of his voice when he leads a call-and-response number. He can be as mesmerising as the hypnotic sounds coming from his drums.

He is a Charles Town Portland Maroon, who is fast making a name as a conscious reggae performing artiste, who is also a songwriter. He described his brand of music as “calm, smoothing” with an acoustic sound, coming from his guitar, and djembe and conga drums. And he is not into autotune.

“Everything is all natural, no autotunes, so, I barely put any form of mixing on my songs. This is why sometimes when you hear my songs, and you hear me sing, is like listening to the recording all over again,” he told The Gleaner.

Going against the grain, “[autotune is] not for me,” said Ras Padam, “because my cultural experience of live music, it trains my voice in way that autotunes are going to destroy the authenticity of my music. Because we are coming from a traditional, cultural background we try keep things as natural as possible.” So, to a certain extent his experience as a Maroon drummer is impacting his reggae music.

He said Padam means sounds of the drum. It was his brother, Ven, who gave him the name to replace his middle name, Leo, which that brother could not pronounce. His late father, Kenneth Douglas, then a well-known Maroon elder, put meaning to the onomatopoeic name.

“That was a divine intervention from the ancestors,” Ras Padam quipped, “My father was not a man to take on things so quickly, but he said, ‘As of today his name is Padam. And Padam means sounds of the drummer.’” He was destined to be a drummer. But, even before that ‘rebirth’, Ras Padam said he had always dreamt of being a star.

“We always had the passion for singing, and making rhythms. We always pretend that we are on a stage show, whether it’s me or him. Sometimes we went to the river … and would jump on a big stone and a deejay, as if a clash wi a clash, so from we likkle bit we always love the music,” he recalled as his brother, Ven, sitting a few feet away from him, smiled and nodded. They even sang in church.

He taught himself to drum, he said, following the instructions that he said his ancestors would teach him in his dreams, and when he was awake he would still hear the rhythms playing in his head. He would get a pan or a bucket on which he would play those ancestral rhythms. And though he had dreams the notion of being a great Maroon drummer and/or reggae singer did not grip him, and put blinkers on him, at first.

Until one day when he was in the company of Maroon elders, including his father, who were singing, dancing and drumming. He too was singing and dancing, when he saw a drum that was not being used. He told himself that that was his drum, and he took it, and started to play. He put on a display of what he had learnt silently from his elders and what he was taught from those ancestral lessons in his dreams. Those ancestors, his grandmother and grandfather, died the same year when he was born. The elders were amazed, and an uncle, Victor, declared that he was born for that. Yet, his father, who was a drummer and dancer himself, had always known.

For the past five years or so Ras Padam has been performing on the reggae stage, creating magic in a different musical space from the one with which he is more familiar, and while some people want him to focus lyrically on Maroon history and heritage, he said he wanted a “broader perspective”, being able to broach a variety of topics in a “conscious and positive way”.

But, there is no turning of his back on his roots, as he said, “My roots go everywhere I go. Cannot turn away from my roots, my roots is always who I am, and my roots represent me wherever I go. I represent the Maroon everywhere and anywhere I go.” And though the lyrics themselves might not always be Maroon-related, his music is influenced by Maroon drumming sensibilities.

Ras Padam has already acquired a loyal string of fans, and is a beloved role model for the youngsters in his village, some of whom he had trained to be skilled drummers themselves, and who are quite popular at national events and festivals. He has two singles, Beautiful and High Grade.

entertainment@gleanerjm.com