Exuma 1970 Album

Exuma

I don’t rightly know how to describe this album, or much of Exuma’s music, for that matter. What I do know is, his real name was Macfarlane Gregory Anthony Mackey – quite a mouthful – and after quite a bit of time spent plying his craft in New York City in the 60’s he formed a rather large band and released a series of cult albums which underwent major label treatment in the 1970’s. The genre term is junkanoo, but it really shouldn’t make much of a difference, because Exuma and friends’ express goal here is to take the bush medicine/religion that he grew up with and set it to a musical back drop. Often times, it is a rough and borderline grotesque backdrop – what with zombies and people rising from graves with fire in their eyes – but it’s a backdrop all the same, and one that can be just as captivating in its’ own off-beat manner. The most upbeat track is the opener, “Exuma, the Obeah Man”, which kicks off with coyote howls and is propelled along with Exuma’s excited acoustic guitar strums and exclamations about being birthed by lightning bolts. But for me, the real trick of the album is these extra creepy, séance/chant tracks like “Dambala”, “You Don’t Know What’s Going On”, and “The Vision” where the band expertly sets forth this feeling of despair as well as complete and utter inevitability. And speaking of séance….“Séance in the Sixth Fret” is an actual séance in practice, on the record, apparently….There are only seven tracks in total so it is easy to get completely lost in this vibe altogether, by the way. The feel is very communal and very spiritual, reminiscent of many end-of-1960’s albums with the go-to-Woodstock sentiment and the guru, except now the people involved have tapped into something with real staying power.