Drummer Santa Davis’ inspiring journey to Musgrave and Reggae Gold awards

When legendary musician, Carlton ‘Santa’ Davis was informed that he had been selected to receive the prestigious Reggae Gold Award at the end of February, he was excited, but, alas, he was unable to travel to Jamaica to collect it in person because he was in rehearsals prepping to go on tour with Ziggy Marley in Australia. Then came a second award, less than one month later, and this time around, the master drummer, who has been an ambassador for Jamaican music and culture for close to six decades, was present to receive the Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica.

“I received two awards in the space of one month,” a surprised and appreciative Davis told The Sunday Gleaner. “Sometimes when you work ... if you work long enough and dedicated enough ... you will be rewarded. But, remember, in this business nothing is owed to you.”

Davis has had a remarkable journey, which has seen him drumming his way from Greenwich Farm in Kingston onto stages across the globe, touring with the likes of Jimmy Cliff, Black Uhuru, Burning Spear, Big Youth, The Wailers, Big Mountain, Ziggy Marley and Peter Tosh, whose last day on Earth he can vividly recall. He has contributed to a plethora of reggae classics such as Africa Unite and Chant Down Babylon by Bob Marley; the Liberation album by Bunny Wailer; Marcus Garvey and Tradition by Burning Spear; Money in My Pocket and West Bound Train by Dennis Brown, and he continues to do what he does best for one reason only.

“I love music. A lot of people today are in it because they want to be famous and make money — nothing wrong with that — but when I started out, there was neither fame nor money. My mother’s advice me was ‘Go find yourself a real job.’ Music wasn’t considered a career,” explained Davis, who, at 11 years old, signed up for the St Peter Claver Drum Corps in the year 1964.

Ranked among the most in-demand drummers in the reggae industry, Davis said that it was the Independence Day parade by the Jamaica Military Band, and similar showcases that inspired him as a youth. The drum corps became the spring board that catapulted him on to the secular stage where he started playing reggae music, which was seen as being “Rasta, ganja and ghetto”.

“A lot of people downgraded reggae music because it started in Trench Town ... downtown ... but we kept it going and it’s because of reggae music that people around the world started knowing about Jamaica. In the early days when we were in America and would tell people that we are from Jamaica, they would ask ‘Jamaica, Queens?’ I sent a lot of people to visit Jamaica,” he said.

MINISTRY OF MUSIC

Davis views music as his ministry, and like many on that chosen path, he has not accumulated riches, but he is not bothered.

“I can’t say that I am rich financially ... if it was about making money right now I wouldn’t be doing it. But humanity and common decency are more important than riches. I am 70 years old and I will ride until the wheels fall off. My purpose is about the lives that are being changed in a positive way. I run into several people who tell me that ‘Because of you I wanted to be a musician,’ or ‘I bought a drum set after watching you play.’ The joy I get seeing people happy is more than gold. I am just happy to be sitting around that drum set and at the end of the concert people come up to me and say ‘That was a great show,’” Davis shared.

That singular perspective has shaped his mission, and nothing can change that, not even a near-death experience when he was shot during the tragic incident on September 11, 1987, which claimed the lives of Peter Tosh, Jeff ‘Free I’ Dixon and Wilton ‘Doc’ Brown. He remembers Peter Tosh as the brother he never had, and during a reluctant recap of that fateful day, Davis reiterated that his friend “didn’t deserve to die like that”. His own life, he believed was saved by God.

“The three men who died that day were shot in their heads. But before Peter was shot, dem beat him. Is the first I ever hear a man get beaten so close to me and I just lie down there defenceless ... helpless. It was one of the hardest things to endure. The last sound to come out of Peter mouth was ‘Eh’, that mean seh him knockout. I was the last person to be shot. I drove myself to UC [The University Hospital of the West Indies]. I still have a bullet inside my body,” Davis said.

While in the hospital, he overheard a nurse saying that she heard that one of the men had driven himself there.

“I said ‘That was me.’ She turned to me and said, ‘No, Mr Davis, the condition you were in when you came here last night you could not have driven yourself to the hospital.’ I repeated that it was me and she repeated her answer. That’s when I realised that the Almighty Creator had assigned some angels and said ‘Carry this man to the hospital,’ because He decided that my time had not yet come,” Davis said.

“Peter was a caring person, a great individual,” he said, abruptly switching the focus. “People would ask me ‘Is Peter racist?’ and the answer is ‘No.’ He was just anti-evil, he just wanted equal rights and justice for all. Peter cared about humanity. Some people might think that all Peter did was sit around and smoke herb but Peter was an avid reader and that’s why he was so well informed on so many topics. That was a robbery gone wrong ... Peter didn’t deserve to die like that.”

Back to the present, Davis, who resides in California, shared that when he is not touring with Ziggy, he is also a member of the Soul Syndicate and he is currently working on a new album.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com