By Wandeka Gayle, Freelance Writer
Vincent Reid, 54, uses an old saw to make interesting musical accompaniments to songs. - WANDEKA GAYLE
HE MAY BE going blind, but 54-year-old Vincent Reid is a long way from giving up and doing nothing. In fact, he has taken up a very unusual profession of using an old carpenter saw to make beautiful music.
Reid, from Java district, Manchester, told THE WEEKEND STAR that he first got interested in playing the saw when he met someone in the early '70s who played a saw made specially for music. "He had a saw made out of silver and gold and he said it was made in the U.S.," he said.
Reid, who started to lose his sight in the 1980s to glaucoma, said he was not taught to play the saw, but believes he was given a gift from God. "He (the musician) used a violin bow, but I used a piece of mallet, that is a bow that I made out of cotton thread and a piece of stick," he said.
NOTES AND PITCHES
Reid played his music for THE WEEKEND STAR, by bending the saw back and forth and using the home-made bow to knock various places on the saw to get different 'notes' and pitches. He said that while his sight had been going, he continues to travel the island and sit by the roadside playing his music to earn a living.
"I have played in the food market in Coronation market, the sugar factory, and travelled to Ocho Rios and Montego Bay," he said.
However, he said that relying on the generosity of others to eat bread is becoming increasingly difficult. "And I have to keep moving when people get tired of hearing me," he said.
He added that once in a while he will earn at best $800 a day, but this is rare. "And, people come and record me and don't give me any money for it," he said, "That is why if I could get a little cassette of the music it would be great."
Before the visit was over, Reid played the national anthem on his saw for the news team.
Anyone interested in helping Reid to further his music career, please contact him at 363-9909.
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