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Danglin, how are you doing? I'm great man, how are you? I'm good thank you. It's an honour to be speaking to someone who's part of such greatness. Give thanks, man, give thanks. Nice. So The Wailers are still wailing, they're still crying for the people yeah? Yeah we're still wailing man. There's so much going on in the world right now, especially brutality by the police and all this uprising and stuff, of racism and hatred, so we need to trample that down and conquer that with some positive ambition. For real. I mean we can see that these issues are very prevalent today and everything we see on the news in America, but how is life where you come from now? Well I mean in Jamaica we battle with poverty, our biggest struggle and our biggest problem we got out here is poverty in certain communities. 90% of the island is struggling day to day. Yeah, a lot of this will be a throwback from racism of days before. Yeah I mean racism was always around, it just changed from being physical to being mental. I mean Marcus Garvey say "emancipate yourself from mental slavery", if you emancipate the mind ultimately you emancipate the body. But the masses did not take heed when Marcus Garvey was uttering these words, that's why it's always possible for this kind of racism and this kind of hatred to resurface, because we didn't get to the core of it and the people's minds weren't emancipated, it was just the physical things that were removed, the mentality still remains. Our mission as Rastafari and musicians in reggae is to elevate the people and get them to understand a higher meditation and a higher calling, and to focus on his majesty, focus on Marcus Garvey, focus on learning things in terms of Africa and history, the race of Africa. Wow. And Rastafari comes from a notion bringing black people back together again, is that right? Well Rastafari is the elevation of Africans. I don't say black because that is not a race, that is a colour. We say Africans, so Africa is the purpose of Rastafari, to help the African people but it's to unite all people because all people come from one. All people come from one entity, and Africa is the birthplace of humanity and our civilisation, so the ultimate goal is to get Africa to come together again and to rise and to understand its place in history and how it determines the future. It must be such a blessing for yourself, how does it feel to be able to represent Rastafari in the highest way? Well I mean it's a responsibility, whereby you have to figure out if you want to be a part of the solution or a part of the confusion, so I choose to be a part of the solution. Rastafari give that opportunity, reggae music give the medium of expression, to reach people and to spread the message and positive vibrations, and revolutionary goals and means of achieving justice for those who have been done wrong and who have experienced inequality and aggression. Your messages are universal and they're obviously useful and needed the world over, is there anywhere where you've been specifically where they are particularly receptive to your messages? For the most part, in hindsight, people are receptive to the messages, but what I always tell people is that we don't want you to just come to the show and to act as if the entertainment is the only thing that's really available. Our goal is to educate people ad inspire people to be the better versions of themselves so when you leave the show your supposed to practice these things. We speak about one love, we talk about get up and stand up for your rights, these are things we expect the people that come to the shows to go and spread amongst the people. So when people leave your show they're supposed to go and do something? Yeah you're supposed to go and do something positive and spread the message of love and unity and try to be a part of the solution, not a part of the confusion. You must first examine yourself, examine your role in society and see where you fall, and what are you doing to improve society. And talking about positivity, you said once you were on the way to Chile and you met a doctor who said he got married to the song 'Is This Love'. Yeah she was from Israel, flying to Chile, and she said the song that she got married to, 'Is This Love', because the particular line that says 'I'm willing and able', that was the line that really did it for her because she said that's all her husband had to be, willing and able. Those are powerful words, those are the things she was looking for, and Bob just put it so eloquently and just simple. The simplicity of the song, really, really captured her heart so she got married to that song. Since then I've heard a lot of other people say the same thing. Have you heard any other inspiring stories about your music, which obviously inspires the world? Everyday people tell me about different songs that get them through rough times. I've had people talk about being near suicide and because of just having somebody introduce them to Bob Marley they get inspiration to carry on. So I know everybody is really looking forward to the show here in November, you're going to do one of your biggest UK tours to date right? Yeah man, this tour is very important and we're doing a lot of revolutionary songs because people need to get up, it's time to get up. For real. And London has a special connection for you right? Yeah I mean London is the first place that The Wailers toured, it was the first place when we left Jamaica we arrived. Bob came here first by himself to do some acoustic performances and then later he brought the entire band. People obviously need you more than ever now, does that pressure ever get to you or are you happy to hold that responsibility? It's an honour and a privilege to be able to be a positive part of the solution. Like I say always be a part of the solution never part of the confusion, so that is a responsibility. 7 55 Issue 79 / 2015 REGGAE / DANCE HALL guestlist.net " Try to be a part of the solution, not a part of the confusion " Formed in 1969 together with Bob Marley, The Wailers are the greatest living exponents of Jamaica's reggae tradition. We spoke to Dwayne "Danglin" Anglin about spreading the message of peace, love and equality INTERVIEW ThE WaIlERs Interviewed by: Oshi Okomilo