Kaya George, AKA Scratch Rugarchy, will launch his debut album, Rastaman Love Afreekan, in Athlone, on Sunday November 20.
If the late Lucky Dube were alive, he would probably shake his head and clap loudly for Khayelitsha’s dreadlocked Scratch Rugarchy who will launch his first reggae album, Rastaman Love Afreekan, in Athlone, on Sunday November 20.
Rugarchy will perform at the Ras Royal Centre, at 5 Noll Street, sharing the stage with Zimbabwean G-Hyper, Black B, Jeremiah Fyah Ises and others.
Rugarchy, born Kaya George in Umtata, studied social work at the University of Transkei, where he would occasionally bump into Eastern Cape jazz maestro Bushy Dubazana , rehearsing at the campus. It wasn’t long before, Rugarchy was persuaded to buy himself a guitar, and that was the end of his family’s degree aspirations for him.
“In their eyes, my worst sin was to drop out of the social work course I was doing at the University of Transkei to pursue my musical calling. They were angry for years especially when recognising that Rastafarianism was against some cultural norms,” he says.
He has met many reggae influencers over the years, including Gqeberha’s Ras Big Head, Blaq Supreme and Jah Kongo, and he says he draws satisfaction from having helped them produce their own albums.
His happy demeanour does not betray his gravitas as an outstanding music producer, guitarist and African activist, but he has scant regard for radio stations that have seemingly discarded reggae music.
“All the national radio and community stations jump into celebrating Lucky Dube on the anniversary of his death, yet they are cutting us out of programming,” he says.
Rastaman Love Afreekan was produced by Underworld Basement.
Tickets for the concert, which starts at 3pm, are R100 and will be sold at the door.