iSound

Rastaman. Businessman. Preacher man. Island man. Poetry man. Reggae recording artist Taj Weekes plays many roles, but chief among them is the role of storyteller.

The singer/songwriter tells tales of poverty, oppression, hopelessness and rejection, counterweighing them each with a message of Rastafari faith and spirituality. On his aptly-titled debut CD, Hope and Doubt, Taj sings about life’s tug of war the way only a man of experience can.

Born the youngest of ten children, Taj grew up on the Caribbean island of St Lucia. He became aware of the disparity between the well-heeled tourists and the striving locals early on. Religion and music were the two main salvations for the Weekes family, St. Lucians of Ethiopian descent, and the songs they learned at church often followed them home. "It was like a Caribbean Von Trapp family. Someone was always singing in some corner of the house or entertaining the rest of us, " explains Weekes. While church ...