Jamaica Ska: Keith Lyn

Fort Clarence-- It was supposed to be your typical day at the beach in Jamaica: frying ourselves in the sun; splashing away in the water and fingers deep in the belly of some Escovitch fish, except like all things in Jamaica we were treated to some magic – we met Keith Lyn, lead vocalist for Byron Lee and the Dragonaires.

My mother, aunt, two cousins and myself trekked off to Fort Clarence Beach, in St. Catherine – the next parish outside of the capital, St. Andrew. Going to the beach isn’t complete without eating – so before I could admire one wave I had to take care of the food part. We found a bench under a monster of a sea-grape tree and beside the hut preparing the fish. I left the group and selected which fish I wanted from the mornings catch.

But my mother increasingly got restless. Insisting that the man sitting alone on the next bench to ours was a band member of Byron Lee. She kept telling me and not asking him, even singing “Empty Chair” one of his songs. Finally, as though he wanted to answer her thoughts without saying yes, I did overhear you singing my song and wondering if it was me, he took his guitar from his case and started playing. Somehow the sounds of the waves were quieted by his playing. The mellow beach even got more subdued as the strings were the only sounds we heard. By then my mother was on fire and couldn’t help but ask him. Mr. Lyn, just calmly played and with a serene smile and answered affirmatively.

She told him about her younger days, 40 years before, when she and another sister would sneak out of their parents house to attend parties where Byron Lee & the Dragonaires would perform. They reviewed a few songs she remembered. The words floating back to memory: “Portraits of My Love” and “Kingston Calypso.”

But I didn’t know who Mr. Lyn was specifically. I knew the group but certainly couldn’t identify an individual member. But as we sat down I quickly learned how important Mr. Lyn has been to the development of music in Jamaica. As it turned out he wrote “Jamaica Ska.” Ska was before Reggae and was one of the first songs to put the country on the map as having its own music.

As he started to play “Jamaica Ska” for us, my mother, jumped off her bench to show everyone how the dance went and I moved in and followed her. Under the sea-grape tree and standing in the middle of the group she started swinging her arms. She bent her knees slightly while swinging her hips in place. The two of us dancing under the sea-grape tree with family and new friends and the aroma of food in the air and sounds of crashing waves in the background.

Mr. Lyn has lived abroad and traveled and played all over the world but recently returned to Jamaica to live where he continues to perform. Once he was asked by his church group to speak to a few dozen school children and when he started playing Jamaica Ska he couldn’t get to the second word before all the children started singing the song. He gets that same reaction when he performs for adults. They start signing his songs. He says it makes him feel good to know that others know his work.

A friendly man: quiet; content and secure in his skin, Mr. Lyn just chilled out on the beach. The epitome of Jamaica, relaxing by the sea water with music in the air.

--Connie Aitcheson