A short update with Taj Weekes by Teo Rootical


TR Blessings Taj! We are proud to host you again and to have the occasion to talk with you about your latest release and more. First, I would like to ask you to tell our readers how are you now, and how the dramatic events of the past 2 years have influenced your meditations and actions?


TW I feel wonderful, I’m fine, I’m thankful and, first of all, let me thank you for having me. The past year has been, for me, very restrictive. Quite over well at times, just from a human standpoint. But, as a musician, It’s even more difficult, because live music, the live music industry has been earning very slow; instead, from an artistic standpoint however musicians, songwriters drive on despite circumstances. So, from an artistic point of view, It’s been wonderful, because It’s been an overflow of creativity.

TRPAUSE” is the title of the album you released last August 2021. May we can define It as a musical chronicle and a sort of creative reaction to last year’s crisis?

TW I whole accept your analysis: the album is a real musical chronicle of the time of last year crisis. It’s me trying to make sense of It all. A lot of crisis, I mean: the corona issue, the rise of the Outer Right, black and brown people fighting for their right to Be, hundreds of years later. So, I think that was what we try to do.

TR What are the main topics, expressed through your lyrics, you sing in the various tunes?

TW But there’s just one topic: the main topic is Life: the life we are living; circumstances that allowed people to be treated better or worst than others; the law that proportionally affects some people, not another one; healthcare; governments. The main topic is Life.

TR Regarding sound and arrangements is there something different from previous albums?

TW Anytime there are different musicians playing on the albums. It’s immediately different because there are different energies. The playing staff is different. The interpretation is different. So there’s an automatic change from what existed before. The different energies shifted the music in a different way.

TR You are always involved in charity projects to really help your community. What about the TOCO (They Often Cry Outreach) work during the pandemic and today?

TW We have been very busy, during the pandemic. Our charity never stops leading after-school arts and sports programs, and diabetes and domestic violence awareness activities. In 2021, We collaborated with Rotary Club to provide five tons of food to the island’s social services to feed the hungry; and to provide tablets, to make the children learn. We have projects also in Accra, Ghana.

TR Please send a greeting to our readers. Thank you very much for the time you shared with us. See you. All the best. Bless!

TW I want to share a simple message for the World A Reggae readers: I know Life can be complicated, but the simplest thing we can do It’s to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, and everything will be fine. That’s love. Let’s keep on.

Transcribed by Teo Rootical
Reggae Corner radio show
Milan, Italy – November 2021