A Touch of Tosh: Reggae icon’s ‘earthstrong’ today

‘A Touch of Tosh’ was the name that the family of late reggae icon and activist, Hubert ‘Peter Tosh’ McIntosh gave to last Wednesday’s tribute and celebration of the 50th anniversary of his iconic album Legalize It.

Tosh, who was born on October 19, 1944, would have celebrated his 82nd birthday, or ‘earthstrong’ as the Rastafarians call it, today, which is the same day that National Heroes Day falls on this year. Tosh is not officially a national hero, but family and friends continue to campaign for it, and he is celebrated as a cultural icon and freedom-fighter, and is the recipient of the nation’s third-highest national order, the Order of Merit.

A Touch of Tosh brought out the memories of the revolutionary, musician, activist, and founding member of the Wailer, who was killed on September 11, 1987, at the age of 42. For his daughter, Niambe McIntosh, it was important to pause and honour her father.

“It’s really important that we become the keepers of our own legacies and our own stories,” McIntosh told The Gleaner.

“My dad’s music has travelled the world and has inspired so many. And we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Legalize It ... from the time when it was released to now, it’s a platinum-selling album. And we have seen legalisation. His song was really a part of the legalisation movement across the world and it continues to be.”

Tosh’s début studio album, Legalize It, was released in June 1976 and appeared on the Billboard 200 album chart for two weeks, peaking at No. 199. In 1999, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for over one million copies sold.

Legalize It put up a stout defence of ganja for medicinal, spiritual, and recreational use, with its lyrics telling how doctors, nurses, judges, and lawyers smoked the herb. The song was initially banned by radio in Jamaican and, in response, Tosh, his bio states, “famously printed the lyrics in a local newspaper and took his fight straight to the public”.

The album cover features Tosh smoking a chillum pipe in a ganja field, “solidifying his identity as reggae’s Ganja Hero”.

OLIVER TAMBO AWARD

Reflecting on her younger years, Niambe McIntosh said that as a child, she would see the excitement of others as it related to her father and also the fact that she was his daughter. The significance, however, didn’t really hit home until she got older.

One event in particular, was when South African government honoured Tosh in 2023 with the Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo (Silver), the nation’s highest national award for foreign citizens who have shown friendship and solidarity with South Africa, particularly during and after the anti-apartheid struggle.

“My dad’s song, Apartheid, was a part of their freedom movement and their liberation. And it really opened up my eyes to see how much of an impact he made. The South African government flew us over first class, hosted us for five days, showed us their country. To celebrate my father’s contribution to the liberation of a whole country is very, very humbling,” the daughter of Peter Tosh said.

Dr. Omar Davies, who was one of the specially invited guests, told The Gleaner that he too was impressed by the recognition for Tosh from South Africa.

“Peter Tosh means to me relief from the cares of the world for a few hours of listening to his music. I enjoyed watching him grow. He started with songs like Yuh Can’t Blame the Youth and so on, he went beyond Jamaican issues and he covered issues related to Pan-Africanism,” Dr. Davies said.

He continued, “I was very, very proud when the South African government recognised his work ... and I don’t think Jamaica has appreciated the importance of the Oliver Tambo Award. Tosh is someone I am very proud of, in terms of his development as a person and his endorsement of issues that I feel strongly about.

Davies shared that he was first introduced to the Wailers as a group, and after studying the three individually, he started to realise the characteristic of Peter.

“It struck me that much of what was written about our music was by foreigners who didn’t understand the context in which our music was written. Prof Carolyn Cooper invited me once to talk about the music and I said let us look at what Peter was saying beyond the music.

They met when the Wailers did their first tour to the US. He met them in San Francisco and he and Peter developed a friendship which saw them writing actual letters - not emails - to each other. Davies said he still has some of those correspondences.

Leader of the Opposition, Mark Golding, who is the member of Parliament for St. Andrew Southern in which Trench Town is located, was invited to pay tribute to Tosh. Trench Town is the place where the Wailers called home and Golding noted that “highest respect is due to all three of them ... Bob, Peter and Bunny”.

“That experience of the Trench Town vibe and Rasta livity and philosophy has created a music that has taken Jamaica to the world like nothing else. And Peter, as the most militant of them ... and supremely talented as well ... I think a lot more should be done by Jamaica to honour his work and his contribution. I think it would be the gift that keeps on giving if we invest in it because the power of the music is unstoppable,” Golding stated.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com