Charles Augustus
"Lord" Messam
was far from being the most
prolific of mento artists, recording only 8
tracks that I
know of.
But his recordings were consistently of strong
quality,
and include some of my very favorite mento tracks.
Messam recorded
strictly in the rural style, and his musicians and backing vocalists were
amongst the best. These tracks typically feature a proto-reggae beat, and a
quality that is difficult to describe, though words like, light, exotic,
floating and nimble come to mind. So far, only one Lord Messam track has
been compiled on CD, throwing the benevolence of the almighty into doubt.
In 2013, one of Lord Messam's
four sons, Alphonso Augustus Messam (who today runs
Black
Liberty Records) provided information on his
father and gathered the photos his family was kind enough to share. Messam was born in the
Waterhouse/Tower Hill section Kingston, May 19th 1924, where his mother had
a house on the main road with a little shop that she ran for years.
My mom said that as a teenager growing up in
Kingston, my father was a very gifted singer and dancer. He had some
friends from Kingston that moved to Montego Bay, whenever they would
come to Kingston to visit their family or to do business, they would
always tell my father that a man with his talent and skills needs to be
in Montego Bay and get into to the tourist scene. So one day after not
working for a while, he decided to make the trip. He went there and
within a short time he put together a dance troupe consisting of 38
people and the took over the tourist entertainment scene. He was really
a great singer and unmatched when it comes to dancing, and a very hard
worker.
 |
From The Daily
Gleaner, November 14, 1952.The
billing is described as Lord Messam and Pork Chops famous Mento Band. This is speculation, but perhaps Lord Flea's adroit banjo player, Pork Chops, from his Capitol years was first with Messam and may even have provided the wonderful playing on Messam's MRS singles. |
A survey of The Daily
Gleaner shows Lord Messam to be a fixture of the Montego Bay mento
scene. Gigs as early as 1949 through 1966 are documented in
advertisements, though the span of his performing career was longer, and
filled with members of his family. Alphonso recalls:
My mother, Carmen Nelita Messam, who was a famous dancer before meeting
my father, was a part of his dance group at one point.
They married in 1962. In his later performing years, around 1977, my
younger brother and I was also trained by him to perform on a couple of
his shows. One particular show stands out when I think back to those
days. It was at the Intercontinental Hotel in Montego Bay when my
brother and I performed doing the John Travolta dance to "Night
Fever", dressed in a white suite and black shirt. Can't forget
that show because we brought the house down, and it was fun.
 |
Lord Messam takes a lady and she's hot stuff. |
|
Carmen Nelita Messam charms the audience. |
 |
Why were
there so few records from Lord Messam, who was active for decades? It's because
he was also known
at least as much for his dancing as for his singing. Not only
his own, but there is also record of his Lord Messam Dance Troupe.
His son Alphonso confirms, "He definitely preferred doing live performances
over recording". After all, no amount
dancing skill could be translated to vinyl. Lord Messam passed away circa
1989.
He is buried in Roaring River, Westmoreland. The people of that village
felt they when he passed away, because at the time of his passing he had
helped to put that village on the map and had taught countless youths
how to build the conga drums, various percussion and other instruments.
As a matter of fact, at the time of his passing he was suppose to take
several of the youths on tour for the first time, so you know how they
felt, very disappointed. Roaring River is now on the tourist board
tourist attraction list, but my father is not a part of that attraction,
or recognized in any way, after he had worked almost all of his life for
Jamaica and the Jamaican tourist board. His name is still big in Jamaica
though.
My father has helped countless people and their families over the years
to reach America and Europe to find a better life, and many bad man,
lawyers and doctors and all walks of society respected him highly even
up to this day. And the ladies would go crazy over him, he was truly the
1 and only Lord Messam.
Augustus also shared that Lord Messam's sister was a known figure in
activist, Rasta and music circles:
I'm not sure if you know of his sister Ivy Richards, but her brother is
the Rasta man call Gad man that established the Twelve Tribe of Israel
organization in Jamaica, and she was a part of Bob Marley upbringing in
his youthful days, she and Rita Marley were the best of friends, and she
lived with Rita until she passed away several years bask. She was well
known by everyone in Kingston, and was awarded the Rock Fort picnic
garden by Prime minister Michael Manley around 1976, it was in the news
paper about an incident when she went to his residence to see him
without an invitation. She was also a friend of Miss Lou, Ranny
Williams, Peter Tosh and many many more known people. She was a Rebel, a
soldier and a Rasta. She was called Niah, and was even featured in one
of the Melody Makers video back in the days, She also had a store in
Majestic Gardens/Back Too around 1971, she couldn't read or write, but
you couldn't fool her when it comes to money at her shop, she was truly
a force to be reckon with.
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