Mentoring is possibly one of reggae's best kept secrets, and perhaps the key to its survival.

Dean Fraser and Duane Stephenson. Photography © Martei Korley

Stephenson, 32, initially approached Fraser about producing an album when he was the lead singer of the band To Isis. Shortly thereafter, Stephenson realized his musical direction differed from his group members so he secured Fraser’s efforts for his solo project. “Dean said, ‘you are a good singer but you have a problem with intonation and timing but I know you can learn it’,” Stephenson recalled in a poolside interview at Kingston’s Altamont Court Hotel. “Dean knew my capabilities so I wasn’t allowed to settle for mediocrity; if it means you have to sing something twenty times, then you sing it twenty times.”

According to Stephenson, Fraser demands the very best from the artists with whom he works and he will ask the singers to leave the studio if he is truly dissatisfied with what he hears. “When we write songs, sometimes he says ‘I don’t like that, it is too common, you must be more profound; no man, come out of the studio’. But you don’t get aggressive or say ‘bwoy, me can’t believe Dean say that’, because you learn so much from him,” Stephenson explains.

Fraser’s’s extensive resume includes stellar contributions to more than 1,000 albums, an extended stint as Luciano’s musical director and a pivotal role as the producer of some of contemporary roots reggae’s finest releases including Tarrus Riley’s acclaimed “Parables”. In teaching Stephenson as well as other young talents, Fraser applies many of the principles he learned as a 13-year-old studying with venerable Jamaican jazzman, trumpeter Sonny Bradshaw. “I was very young and scared but Mr. Bradshaw made me comfortable,” Fraser reflected in a conversation at Kingston’s Grafton Studios. “He explained the most important thing is not my ability to play right now but my ability to learn.” Fraser then redirected his comments towards working with Duane. “He is one of the best young singer/songwriters who can write in any genre, and because he is very serious about his music that makes it easier to get good results.”

Such relationships stem back to the late Joe Higgs who mentored many young singers in the 1960s including the original Wailers, to dancehall producer Dave Kelly who learned his craft at Tuff Gong studios from engineer Errol Brown who was guided by his uncle, the late legendary producer Duke Reid, the mentoring process sustains time honored traditions and techniques, as each new generation puts their idiosyncratic stamp on an ever shifting musical landscape.

Fourteen-year old singer/songwriter/musician Javaughn released his debut album Superstar, produced by Damian Marley, on the Marley family’s Tuff Gong imprint in November 2007. As the teen’s proficiency on drums, keyboards and bass guitar demonstrates, Javaughn was born to be a musician, literally, because his training began in the womb. “When I was in my mother’s belly, my father used to play the keyboard and bass on her belly,” Javaughn says. “As a baby, he taped my hands to the keyboard and the drum so I could learn. He taught me the basics and I just developed it.”

“Because I am a musician, I wanted my first son to be one,” Javaughn’s father, John Bond, explains. Bond, who wrote the songs on Superstar and is also Javaughn’s manager, raised him with the music of Bob Marley and Dennis Brown. He explains that disturbed by the violent and x-rated lyrics in current dancehall reggae he hopes that a positive (musical) foundation will prevent his son from embracing negative influences. “Lyrics are a major concern; children idolize artists doing certain songs and they feel pressured because their peers are into it,” explains Bond. “That is why I wrote “Peer Pressure”, so Javaughn doesn’t think he has to be involved in certain trends.”

An artist that has successfully proven that dancehall songs can be about anything, including highlighting social ills, is Queen Ifrica. Born Ventrice Morgan, the daughter of ska icon Derrick Morgan has won many fans by crafting hard hitting messages into chart topping hits: “Below The Waist” explores the contradictions found in abusive relationships; “Daddy” shines a light on the often shunned topic of incest and “Nah Rub” is a forthright commentary on the troubling practice of skin bleaching. Ifrica has been groomed for this outspoken role by enduringly popular cultural deejay Tony Rebel.

Queen Ifrica and Tony Rebel. Photography © Martei Korley

Ifrica credits Rebel with helping to polish her writing skills, liberating her vocal delivery and improving her stage presence. “When I listen to songs I voiced back in the 90s, I sounded so scared,” she said. “Now I understand how to relax. I write all my songs but Rebel showed me how to use correct lyrical measurements. He is not the most patient teacher but you brush aside the elements that come with the teachings and just look at what he is trying to do for you.”

A reciprocal exchange of generational interests and ideas is central to the mentoring practice. Fittingly, Rebel recently returned to the charts, after an extended absence, with the hits “Love Fire” and “Hear My Cry”, an accomplishment he credits to Ifrica’s influence. “In the studio she will say change that style so you don’t sound like the original Tony Rebel; try to sound as if you are a new artist, surprise them,” Rebel explains. “I call it “a revisited Tony Rebel.”

As long as reggae’s standard-bearer’s continually revisit what they have learned and impart those teachings to the next generation, the exceptional artistry that made Jamaican music an international phenomenon will survive, even if it occasionally appears to be gasping for life. “When I hear what is going on today, I am confident that we are creating great crops of young talent,” observes Fraser. “Jamaican music is in good hands, trust me.”

- Patricia Meschino