Artist Spotlight: From Anguilla to Africa, Omari Banks has No Point to Prove
Kenya’s Juiced Today recently caught up with former professional cricket player now reggae artist Omari Banks. Below is an excerpt of their in depth interview.
Anguilla may be a small dot on the map off the Caribbean islands, but this small country hails large in people and culture. Talking about his father, Anguilla’s reggae star Bankie Banx, would only be just but a small shade and part of the Omari Banks story- which is just too good to start in the end.
Music as a birthright and growing up in a family of musicians and music lovers might have charted his destiny early on, but cricket beckoned, and he obliged. But his love for reggae music would see this top flight cricketer hang his bats for music records and go ahead from setting world records, to breaking records musically and yes, recording them too.
What was the inspiration behind the single ‘O Africa’?
‘O’Africa is a song that I wrote from a place I was getting in touch with my roots and culture, and becoming a lot more conscious of my second culture. We here in Caribbean connect with the African culture in terms of slavery. Interestingly O’Africa is a song I wrote to share my views on our origin and I believe Africa is the origin of humanity. It is well documented now and the global belief from the information out there, is that Africa is the origin. I think Africa has some much over the years in terms of history and culture that we can learn from. Caribbean people, African and people of the world need to connect to that and continue to build Africa, stand for Africa and take it to the place it can be and wants to be.
Continue reading and full interview HERE
