Entertainment

A Gentleman from Germany

BY MEL COOKE, Freelance Writer

Gentleman - carlington wilmot

Starting today as part of the Artiste Of The Month feature THE STAR will be presenting a three part interview with the German reggae artiste, Gentleman.

western bureau:

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN GERMANY and Jamaica, somewhere between the early 1990s, Gentleman emerged from the cocoon of Tielman Otto, complete with fluent Jamaican speech and rhythm in his bones.

Tillmann Otto came to Jamaica from the city of Cologne looking for the roots of the records that his big brother played in Germany and left with the new sound of dancehall, but with the enduring roots attitude, which he maintains to this day.

And it is in this mode that he delivers Superior, which is on the Reggae Gold 2005 album, the 13th in the annual series from VP Records. It is the second single from his third album, Confidence.

"Reggae music was always in my family. My brother had a nice selection of reggae music. He is four years older than me. He always went to the flea market and buy records," Gentleman said, naming Dennis Brown, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh among the singers who had an early influence on him.

"Nobody knew of dancehall music. I first went to Jamaica when I was 17 and it changed my perspective of reggae. When the reggae started, it really excited me."

When the then Tielman Otto made his first trip to Jamaica he did not leave empty handed. "I got some seven inch records from Jamaica and we rented a PA system and played them," he said, putting this at about 1990 or 1991.

The bug bit hard. "From that time my whole life was getting money for the next trip to Jamaica," he said.

It also became an unexpected and unplanned for adventure in music, as he began talking over the records and one thing led to another. He first recorded a song with the German hip hop band Freundeskreis (which is French for 'friendship'). That song was named Tabula Rasa, an African term meaning "cleaning the table". It was a surprise hit, going to number 11 on the charts.

Return trip

After that song, done for an independent record company that is supported by Sony, he got the chance to record an album.

There was only one place that he wanted to do the album, so in 1998 Gentleman came back to Jamaica again, but this time to a new place - Kingston.

After three or four previous trips to Jamaica, on which he had gone to places such as Portland and Flanker, in Montego Bay, it was his first time in the capital - and a shocker.

"I was totally surprised, for Kingston was different from the rest of Jamaica I saw," Gentleman said. "It inspired me too," he added.

A link that he had made in Germany was of invaluable assistance.

Run-around

"I met Jack Radics in Germany and he opened doors. He told me to check Anthony Red Rose and Richie Stephens and tell them 'me send you'," Gentleman said. When he came he could not get them at first and he spent two frustrating weeks getting the run-around from various persons ("you know, you call a man an' tell yu have a riddim an' dem sey yeah man, come, an' when yu reach there is nobody"). Finally, he got in touch with Stephens, and eventually did his first song, Heat of The Night, which features Stephens and Mighty Tolga.

"Is a gallis tune," Gentleman said, giving a touch of it with "in the heat of the night/I want a hot girl". It was the first track on his first album, the 1999 Troddin' On.

"Now me listen to it and say I wouldn't do it now," Gentleman said, adding that he is not going to do anything that he cannot play for his son. "Any tune me mek, me can stan' up behin' it," he said firmly.

And he has taken his time. "I was patient ... I neva make no step I was not ready for," he said.

"I did not plan to be a reggae singer. This is just what happen."

Tomorrow: Stung by Sting