The Legacy of Reggae Singer John Holt Continues as Junior Holt and Bamm Holt remake, “Tribal War”
by Howard Campbell
SOUTH FLORIDA – The fight against racism will go down as one of the highlights of 2020. Controversial deaths of black persons at the hands white police officers rank second in terms of impact to the dreaded coronavirus.
The father and son team of Junior Holt and Bamm Holt thought it appropriate to record “Tribal War” to protest racism, especially in the United States.
“It was my father’s idea to do this collaboration. With the current events in the world, that song I feel sends a message to the people. Through music and through visual, my father brought this project to life,” said Bamm Holt.
Tribal War was recorded by Junior Holt’s father John Holt in 1978. The song was originally done in 1975 by roots singer Little Roy.
At the time John Holt did the song, Jamaica was embroiled in political warfare. Supporters of the governing People’s National Party led by socialist prime minister Michael Manley waged a bitter conflict against backers of the conservative Jamaica Labour Party, led by Edward Seaga.
Junior Holt was 12 years-old then and in his first year of high school. Today, he lives in Connecticut; Bamm resides in Florida.
John Holt, arguably reggae’s most influential singer, died in 2014 at age 67.
Though he has been recording for nearly 30 years, Junior never got the opportunity to do a song with his legendary father. For Bamm, that makes doing Tribal War even more special.
“It is a great feeling to do a song with my father. Especially for it to be one of my grandfather’s songs. It’s a blessing to be able to accomplish that,” he said.
Their version of Tribal War is produced by the Earl With Love label out of New York with veteran musicians Flabba Holt on bass and Lloyd “Obeah” Denton on keyboards.
Amid the devastation of the coronavirus, three African-Americans (Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks) were controversially killed by law enforcement in Kentucky, Minnesota and Georgia.
Their deaths sparked global protests by groups like Black Lives Matter.
