Exuma

Exuma
12" x 9"
watercolor on board, 2013

It's a watercolor, what can I say? I've done watercolors before but not like this... I mean like a textbook kinda watercolor. The kind you see for sale at art festivals and gift shops at a cultural arts center. The watercolor depicts, beside the landscape of my backyard, the musician Exuma, which is an alias of Macfarlane Gregory Anthony Mackey (1942-1997). Exuma (also the name of his 7-piece band) is from the Bahamas, he grew up in Cat Island. Exuma, the name, refers to a district of the Bahamas. Now the Bahamas may sound very exotic, but it is in fact not all that far away from where I am at in South Florida. I've never visited the Bahamas but music from the Bahamas, from the great Joseph Spence, has been in my Top 100 many times before. The music of Exuma is pretty exotic, with elements of calypso, reggae, junkanoo, and an African type of spirituality. I found Exuma while searching for Count Ossie (also in this year's list), and that'll give you an idea about the direction of the music. As the list for 2013 slowly takes shape, it is clear that there will be a good amount of Caribbean music in it. Due, no doubt, to what I've been referring to as the 'great reggae haul'. This is a link to Exuma's Wikipedia page, it's a good read!