Peter Tosh As An African Ideologue 1976 1987
Peter Tosh As An African Ideologue 1976 1987
Introduction
Peter Tosh (1944-1987), was among the Reggae artistes of Jamaican descent
whose influence was felt globally between 1976 and 1987. He was a
contemporary of Robert (Bob) Marley and Neville Livingston (Bunny Wailer) with
whom he played together as a group called "The Wailers" from the 1960s until
their breakup in 1974. When they were together as a group, their experiencesas
black men in the Jamaican society, most especially on racism, poverty and
underdevelopment, shaped their thoughts in using music as a means of social
change. For Peter Tosh in particular, when he became a solo artist in 1976, his
lyrics bore imprints of militancy until his violent death in 1987. The story of Peter
Tosh as recounted here, is the story of Jamaica and Africa. It is a story
embedded in the immortal words of DesmondTutu to the effect that Nations are
built through sharing experiences, memories, a history. That is why people have
often tried to destroy their enemies by destroying their histories, their memories,
that which gives them an identityl.
As an African, Peter Tosh expressed clearly and defiantly, Africa's deepest
emotions as the most alienated and tormented continent in the world. He traced
Africa's problems to the Atlantic Slave Trade. His reasons for saying this were
that the trade foreshadowed the alienation, poverty, marginality and racism
which faced his forebears and him from the era of the plantation economy in
Jamaica to independence in 1962. Against this background, Peter Tosh used his
lyrics, his stage performances and press interviews as platforms to convey his
deep seated animosity of the "Shistem" (his popular parlance) which had kept his
black brothers down over the years. Consequently, in the words of George
Santayana,"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"2•
He was born as Winston Hubert McIntosh on October 19, 1944. When he
was born, his father, James Mcintosh who was a preacher in a local church had
abandoned him and mother as a result of hardship. So the young Peter grew up
under the mother's tutelage in his village until they migrated to Kingston in 1960
at a time of great hardship in the island3•
206 UZUVol. 1 No 1, December 2007 B. STEINER IFEKWE