June 24, 1999
by C. H. Bartlett
Special to The Gazette
by C. H. Bartlett
Special to The Gazette
Hidden in a dimly lit suite above a pawnshop in Riverdale Heights is Riverdale Music Internationale -- a business well-known for producing top African entertainers.
Nigerian singer Shina Peter's latest CD was recorded and mastered here. CDs were produced here by Ghanaian pop singer Alex Obeng, Nigerian gospel singer Ajayi Michael and Jamaican reggae artists Englishman and Maccabe. Even Riverdale Music Internationale's owner, Ed Jatto, has produced an album of his own in the shop.
For some, this would seem an unlikely spot for such a big producer, however, Jatto disagrees.
Jatto sees Prince George's County as an unrecognized center of "world music."
"When you meet an African musician who is living in or visiting [this part of] the United States, he'll say he's in the Washington area, but he really means Prince George's. You hear a lot of talent in this area."
"World music" has emerged as a term to describe the re-integration of Western musical styles such as disco, rock, gospel, jazz and gospel with the musical traditions -- largely African -- from which they arose.
The results range from sparse, uninstrumented songs of Muslim religious devotion to pop tunes that are upbeat, danceable and rhythmically interesting, in which traditional instruments such as talking drums begin melodies later taken up within intricate guitar playing.
These are the sounds that one hears in the background as Ed Jatto patiently explains how the business began and what his plans are.
Coming from a small town in North-Central Nigeria, Jatto's family was originally skeptical about his choice of career.
"Where I grew up," Jatto said, "people look at musicians as beggars, as people who live in the streets. Making music just isn't seen as a respectable way of earning a living, like being a lawyer or an engineer."
Despite his family's objections, Jatto embarked on a career playing the drums and guitar in clubs in Nigeria and working as a sound engineer for recording giant EMI. In Nigeria in the mid-1980s, he released his first CDs, titled "Love Explosion" and "Love Edition."
After coming to the United States in 1988 and struggling with a variety of odd jobs, Jatto started his music business in 1993, producing the work of fellow African musicians.
He is wounded to see African musicians and other professionals trapped in dead-end jobs after coming to this country.
"That is why I want to help other people. I do not want other people to go through what I went through when I was in Nigeria and when I first came to the United States." Jatto says he wants to enable lesser-known artists to make recordings and to make these recordings more widely available, both within Africa and among foreign audiences.
When asked about any difficulties in working with strong-willed recording artists, Jatto merely smiles. "My favorite person to work with is the one I'm working with right now. ... I can't get mad with anyone, because getting mad means you're not satisfied with what God's given you."
Although the Riverdale Heights studio used to handle all parts of the production of cassettes and CDs, Jatto -- encouraged by the recent democratic elections -- recently moved equipment to Nigeria to handle duplication. He plans a summer trip to West Africa to explore opening studios in Gambia, Sierra Leone or Ghana to produce music from much of West Africa. His plan is to record music in Africa, mix it at his Riverdale Heights studio, and then manufacture and distribute CDs in Africa.
Another of Jatto's hopes is a joint production arrangement with a major label that would allow wider U.S. distribution of the work of African artists. In the United States, most African CDs are now distributed through ethnic grocery stores, according to Jatto. Such markets are likely to have a rack of videos or CDs, but most people will never see them unless they go shopping for palm oil or manioc flour, he said.
At Riverdale Music, one ongoing project is the production of a CD to benefit Ethiopian war victims. Four other CDs are in production, one gospel-oriented for the American market and the others more targeted to African audiences.
Although most of Jatto's recent efforts have gone into producing others' recordings, last year he released his first American CD, "City Under Siege." This pop-influenced recording contains songs in English as well as several African languages, including Yoruba and Ebira. He intends to release another later in 1999 with the working title "Rorajaye," which he translated as roughly meaning "take it easy." This CD will focus on traditional Ebira folk music.
Jatto, who began writing songs in high school, writes his songs in whatever language they come into his mind. Love songs tend to come out in English, while his songs in African languages frequently address moral conflicts or family issues that are not often the subject of Western music.
Jatto welcomes the additional exposure that American artists, such as Paul Simon, who have experimented with incorporating elements of African music into their own work, may provide for African artists. However, he expresses concern about the long-term willingness of Western recording companies to support local artists in Africa and about the possibility that, with its greater commercial backing, Western music may crowd African music off the air on African radio stations.
Jatto was a supporter of last year's Prince George's World Jazz Festival, held at Prince George's Community College, which showcased the work of several African performers. In discussing the festival, Albert Maitland, executive director of the Prince George's Arts Council, described Jatto as "a central figure in promoting the work of local and African artists." Jatto himself expresses great hopes of further building on local talents, tastes and resources to establish the area as an international music center.
