Mystic Revealers
Mystic Revealers
Reggae band
For the Record…
Authentic Approach to Reggae
Reggae Show Stealers
Slow Start in the United States
Selected discography
Sources
The Mystic Revealers burst onto the global reggae music scene in 1985 with their first major single, “Mash Down Apartheid.” Produced by reggae legend Jimmy Cliff, the song equates political revolution with personal spiritual upheaval in a potently mystical manner. Proceeds from its sale were donated to South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) to assist in that nation’s struggle for racial, social, and political equality. This philanthropic gesture, unusual for a first-time success, accurately reflects the convictions, sensibilities, perspectives, and priorities of the Rastafarian, politically-oriented Mystic Revealers.
The Mystic Revealers were formed in the early 1980s in a rural village in the St. Andrew Parish of Jamaica. They draw upon Jamaica’s rich, established reggae tradition of outspoken political awareness when writing and performing their original material. The band’s four founding members form the heart of the group and include Kingston-born vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Billy “Mystic” Wilmot; former Jalan and Earth Disciples drummer and record producer Nicholas “Drummie” Henry,
Original founding members include Steve Davis (born in Montego Bay, Jamaica), lead guitarist and vocalist; Leroy “Lion” Edwards (born in Kingston, Jamaica), bass guitarist; Nicholas “Drummie” Henry (born in the U.K.’s Shropshire region), drummer; and Billy “Mystic” Wilmot (born in Kingston), vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter. Later members include William “Willigan” Cocking (born in Kingston), percussionist; Winston “Metal” Stewart, keyboard player and lead guitarist; and Robert “Patch” Walters, keyboard player.
Group formed in the early 1980s in the St. Andrew Parish of Jamaica; hit global reggae music scene in 1985 with their first major single, “Mash Down Apartheid,” produced by Jimmy Cliff; toured Japan, the United Kingdom, and Europe, 1985-91; performed at the Reggae Sunsplash Festival, 1988; released debut album, Young Revolutionaries, 1992; toured 17 American cities to promote the single and video “Religion” and the single “Remember Romeo” ; performed at the EXPO 1992 in Seville, Spain; participated in the 1993 Reggae Sunsplash tour and the 50th birthday celebration concert for Bob Marley in Jamaica, 1995.
Addresses: Record company —RAS Records, P.O. Box 42517, Washington, D.C. 20015.
who hails from the Shropshire region of the United Kingdom; lead guitarist and vocalist Steve Davis of Montego Bay, Jamaica; and bass guitarist Leroy “Lion” Edwards of Kingston. Kingston-born percussionist William “Willigan” Cocking, keyboard player Robert “Patch” Walters, and keyboard player-lead guitarist Winston “Metal” Stewart were later additions to the band.
In the early 1970s, when Wilmot, Henry, Davis, and Edwards were teenagers in Bull Bay, Jamaica—which is eight miles east of Kingston—they were surrounded by Rastafarians (followers of a complex set of mystical religious beliefs). Like the Rastas, they grew their hair into dreadlocks. Wilmot told Vibe magazine’s Rob Ken-ner, “We were all awed by the magnificenceof Rastafari. And at that time, it was what was hip. Them [sic] more look at you as a religious fanatic now if you tell them’bout Rasta.” Caribbean News contributor Jamie Lee Rake noted, “There is a true Rastafarian spirit which lives and moves within [the Mystic Revealers], the first roots reggae band to emerge from the island of Jamaica in years.”
Part of what distinguishes the Revealers from their more traditional counterparts is the fact that they utilize contemporary rap, hip-hop, and even disco sounds in their songs. Although the band is as conscientious and as roots-oriented as the older vanguard of reggae stars—such as Bob Marley and Peter Tosh—they have established their own style and sound, combining traditional reggae, dancehall, folk, and pop music. Kenner called the Mystic Revealers, “one of the few traditional roots bands still writing original songs that move the heart and the hips.”
Between 1985 and 1995 the Mystic Revealers played with such notable artists as Burning Spear, the Neville Brothers, Joan Baez, and Big Mountain. When the band performed at the Reggae Sunsplash Festival in 1988, they attracted international attention. Japanese producer Shinjiro Kanazawa of CHUKYO-TV featured the Revealers on Japanese television, deeming them the future of reggae music, and Canadian record producer Bob King lauded them as musicians with a universal appeal. They also performed at the EXPO 1992 in Seville, Spain. But the band garnered the most U.S. exposure and recognition from participating in the 1993 Reggae Sunsplash tour.
At a 50th birthday celebration concert held in Jamaica in honor of Bob Marley in February of 1995, the Mystic Revealers performed along with reggae greats the Wailers, Rita Marley, actress Vanessa Williams, vocalist Judy Mowatt, Toots Hibbert, Ziggy Marley, DJ Tony Rebel, and the veteran roots group Wailing Souls. Billboard contributor Garry Steckles, who attended the show, wrote, “The most solid and satisfying performance of the evening was provided by the Mystic Revealers, one of the few serious roots groups to emerge in Jamaica in recent years.” Their rendition of “Natural Mystic,” “We and Dem,” and “Religion” won over numerous new fans that evening, including other respected reggae musicians.
Although the Mystic Revealers released their first single, “Mash Down Apartheid,” in 1985, and the single was popular, they did not release their first album, Young Revolutionaries, until 1992. Between 1985 and 1991 the band toured Japan, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Then, in 1992, they toured 17 American cities to promote their singles “Religion” and “Remember Romeo.” Their second album, Jah Works, was released in 1993 and their third, Space and Time, came out two years later.
The Mystic Revealers’ songs reflect the band’s commitment to basic human values. The single “Religion” is a straightforward reggae song, preaching love and protesting injustice, enhanced by Wilmot’s sweetly lyrical voice. And singles such as “Young Revolutionaries” and “Living in Kingston” from the album Young Revolutionaries are a tribute to life in Kingston, a contribution to class consciousness, and a means for the Mystic Revealers to extol the virtues of a simple, honest life. The group’s songs have also exerted a considerable influence on top-selling contemporary artists. Rake, writing in Option, suggested that the Revealers’ track “Rasta Man” “provides a clue to where Seal might have picked a couple of his ideas.”
The cover art for the band’s album Jah Works features symbols from ancient Ethiopian scrolls, which highlight the performers’ mystical, ancient Rastafarian perspective. The’93 release was listed at Number Two on the Planet Reggae Top 40 Chart. Meanwhile, their’95 effort, Space and Time, steadily gained popularity in the States. Video exposure in the United States—especially on the Black Entertainment Television (BET) cable network—is helping to spread word of the Mystic Revealers to mainland American listeners.
Singles
“Mash Down Apartheid,” Gong Sounds, 1985.
“Gotta Be a Better World,” Uni/MCA, 1993.
“Religion/Remember Romeo,” RAS Records, 1994.
Albums
Young Revolutionaries, Gong Sounds, 1992.
Jah Works, RAS Records, 1993.
Space and Time, RAS/REP Records, 1995.
Billboard, June 4, 1994; February 25, 1995.
Caribbean News, June 7, 1994.
CMJ, February 28, 1992.
New Music Report, February 28, 1992.
New York Review of Records, July 1992.
Option, May/June 1992.
Santa Barbara Independent (Santa Barbara, CA), August 30, 1993.
Tahoe World (Tahoe City, CA), August 14, 1993.
Vibe, September 9, 1994.
Additional information for this profile was taken from RAS Records press materials.
—B. Kimberly Taylor
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Magazine article from: Philological Quarterly; 3/22/1997; ; 700+ words
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The Cynewulf Reader. (Shorter Notices).
Magazine article from: Medium Aevum; 3/22/2002; 361 words
; ...New York: Routledge, 2000. xxv + 367 pp.; 18 illustrations. ISBN 0-415-93754-X. 25.00 [pounds sterling] (p/b). A corrected paperback reprint of the collection of major articles on Cynewulf first published in 1996.
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Hopkins.(Guide to the Year's Work)(Gerard Manley Hopkins and Christina Rossetti)(Critical essay)
Magazine article from: Victorian Poetry; 9/22/2006; ; 700+ words
; ...criticism that examines it. In "Hopkins and Cynewulf: 'The Wreck of the Deutschland...of diction, images, and themes from Cynewulf's Old English work Christ. He particularly...Wreck," st. 3, l. 21) with Cynewulf's depiction (as he himself recalled...
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Stacy S. Klein, Ruling Women: Queenship and Gender in Anglo-Saxon Literature.(Book review)
Magazine article from: Medium Aevum; 9/22/2007; ; 700+ words
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Who is the nun from Heidenheim? A study of Hugeburc's Vita Willibaldi.(Critical Essay)
Magazine article from: Medium Aevum; 3/22/2002; ; 700+ words
; ...of identity and the desire to be recognized and remembered. Cynewulf, writing Old English poetry in the ninth century, (9) scatters...Dhuoda, to her dear son William. Read.'). Both Cynewulf and Dhuoda, besides their explicit appeals, challenge their...
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Fantasies of our identity.(On Poetry)(Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination)(Introduction to The Poet's Guide to Life: The Wisdom of Rilke)(Book Review)
Magazine article from: The New Leader; 1/1/2005; ; 700+ words
; ...account of the rivalry between the eighth-century Mercian bards Cynewulf and Cyneheard reads like a transcription of the era's oral...wizards, and men was inspired in part by the writings of Cynewulf. The trilogy imaginatively recreates an ancient poetic tradition...
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Dogode in Wulf and Eadwacer and King Alfred's Hunting Metaphors.
Magazine article from: ANQ; 9/22/2000; ; 700+ words
; ...Eadwacer as a poem about animals. His purpose was to identify as Cynewulf the author of the riddles that follow the poem in the Exeter...interprets the "Wulf" for whom the speaker yearns as an element of Cynewulf's name. Although a wide range of suggestions has been offered...
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Ruling Women: Queenship and Gender in Anglo-Saxon Literature
Magazine article from: Arthuriana; 12/1/2006; ; 700+ words
; ...spirituality'(4). Examining Bede's Historia ecclesiastica, Cynewulf's Elene, Beowulf, and lfric's biblical translations...Crossing Queens, Pleasing Hierarchies,' which reconsiders Cynewulf's depiction of Helena, mother of Constantine and legendary...
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Cynewulf
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of World Biography
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Anglo-Saxon literature
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Vercelli
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
...16th cent. In the library of the cathedral (16th-18th cent.) is the Vercelli Book or Codex Vercellensis, a late 10th-century Anglo-Saxon manuscript that contains a collection of religious poems, including Elene by Cynewulf .
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Dream of the Rood, The
Book article from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
...which represents the feelings of the Cross during the Crucifixion. The poet is unknown, as are the date and origin of the poem, which was formerly ascribed to Cynewulf . Some 15 lines of it are carved on the Ruthwell Cross (8th cent.).
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Vision of Judgement, The
Book article from: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music
Vision of Judgement, The. Oratorio by Fricker , his Op.29, to text compiled by him from 8th-cent. poem by Cynewulf. For sop. and ten. soloists, ch., and orch. Comp. for 1958 Leeds Fest., where its f.p. was cond. by John Pritchard.
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