"Tribute to the Roots" - A Trade Roots Reggae Celebration

 This year marks the 20th Anniversary of the opening of San Diego’s reggae store, Trade Roots Reggae. In celebration of this event, the store is hosting the “Tribute to the Roots” concert at SOMA in San Diego on October 15, 2005 featuring legends Horace Andy, Cornell Campbell as well as Martin Campbell. All artists are backed by the Fully Fullwood Band featuring Santa Davis. Event sponsors Bob Marley’s Tuff Gong record label, sustainable gear company Livity Outernational, hemp clothing company I-Path and more will be in the house with ‘nuff giveaways! For more information please click here.

The journey that led Elliott Leib and Renee Romano, co-founders of Trade Roots Reggae, to open their shop some 20 years ago in San Diego began on a message board at a youth hostel in Madrid, Spain.

Renee was seeking a hitchhiking partner to head south with her to Africa, specifically to the Sahara Desert, when she met Elliott in Madrid. They joined together traveling through Spain into Morocco and to Tunisia and Algeria. This six-month period was the foundation of what became more than travel partners, but life partners.

Renee completed her B.A. degree in cultural anthropology and Elliott his M.A. in African studies, both at UCLA. In the summer of 1977, they had plans to do a study trip to Cuba to research the spread of the African Ekpe society there. Due to the travel restrictions imposed by the economic blockade, they were forced to make a last minute change of plans. Off they headed to Jamaica. What they found there were the spiritual songs and teachings of the Rastafarians of the ‘Nyabinghi’ Order. Following this initial 12 week immersion into Rastafari culture, they wanted to return to create a film based on this thriving, rich cultural network still deeply rooted in its pre-slavery African origins.

In 1978 with 16 mm. film equipment in hand (borrowed from the UCLA film department) the documentary “Rastafari Voices ” was recorded in Kingston and St. Andrew. Edited into two parts, “Prophecy of Youth and Elder” orients the viewer to the salient features of Rastafari doctrine and livity. Part 2 is a close-up look at the Nyabinghi at the Hero’s Circle in Kingston in 1978. This was a famous Nyabinghi because most of the Nyabinghi gatherings are called in the countryside.

Four months after the birth of the first of three children, the family headed for New Haven, Connecticut, where Elliott was a Ph.D. student in anthropology at Yale University. A Fulbright scholarship enabled them to return to Jamaica for nearly a year while Elliott was researching his Ph.D. dissertation on the African diaspora and Rastafari. Toward the end of their stay, Renee shot the video footage for “Rastafari: Conversations Concerning Woman.” Both of these film and video projects have served as a great resource for numerous institutions such as university libraries, cultural community centers, and the prison system.

The roots of the promotions side of Elliott's and Renee’s reggae journey began while they were in Connecticut. Elliott was a co-host with Roger Smith of the first reggae radio show in New Haven called “Reggae Iration” on WYBC. In the early 80’s the couple brought artists like Don Carlos, the Itals, the Roots Radics, and The Gladiators to the area.

When it came time to write his Ph.D. thesis, Elliott and Renee had a growing family. They decided to return to Renee’s hometown, San Diego. They had made links in San Diego with what was at that time known as The Prophet, a vegetarian restaurant which served as the origin for the present day World Beat Productions that was created by San Diego music production luminaries- Makeda Dread and Cynthia Morris. They were actually the first people in California to rent the film “Rastafari Voices” to show publicly.

On arriving in San Diego, the couple became concerned that there was no place for them to feed their musical addiction for Reggae music! As Elliott tells it, the store’s origins stemmed from a chance meeting. “When we moved to San Diego, Renee found a place for us in a part of town called Golden Hills. One of our neighbors was a reggae woman whose name was Pat Andrews. While I was unpacking the car, she was playing reggae music.” Renee adds, “She shared with us that she wanted to open a reggae store and that she had the money to open the store but she didn’t have the time. So we all got together, legally she was half and I was half.” My half was shared with Elliott.

Within view of the neighbors’ yards was a one-car garage which they rented for the store. It had a real “yard” style vibe and served as a reggae refuge of sorts for the growing community of people in San Diego that were interested in roots and culture.

Elliott makes the link to their original life path explaining, “Cultural anthropology as a subject is about brokering cultural understanding. So the idea of doing something in business that had to do with popularizing the music, wasn’t a far step. It wasn’t academic in the sense of reading and writing”. They visualized this not merely as a retail store but also as a community cultural meeting place.

At the opening of the store, the couple held a screening of “Rastafari Voices” setting the stage for Trade Roots to be a vehicle to expose the many aspects of reggae music to the greater community.

This tiny, original Trade Roots location would become a badge of honor worn by those who would proclaim ‘I was at the original.’ Trade Roots remained at the Golden Hills location for ten years. It wasn’t big enough to support Elliott and Renee--at one point they had a second shop in Ocean Beach--and for the past 14 years they have been at their current location at 3804 Rosecranz.

As for Elliott’s Ph.D. dissertation, he notes “Trade Roots is my school room instead of some elitist university.”

As dancehall reggae came in with its harder vocals and rugged rhythms, it became popular to customers. Despite its popularity, Renee stayed on the path of the original mission of the store. “I always told anyone who worked with us, not to let a customer leave the store without hearing the Roots. I felt that the dancehall thing would come and go, but once people heard Roots music, they would be our long time customers… they would become reggae addicts like us!”

As for the store’s product line, it is as varied as they come in Rasta and reggae culture, from incense to hats to posters and books, but with its foundation in CDs and vinyl. As Renee puts it, “We always sold vinyl… it was like a library, we would dig out the rare stock for people so they could hear it.”

As Elliott assimilated into the San Diego reggae community as a shop owner, he was also as he recalls “quick to make companions with some of the people from the authentic dancehall culture. There was a sound called Ram Jam that we helped promote. We had a spot that was called Fidelity Hall which was in the southeast part of San Diego which is affectionately called 'the ghetto' here. We could have a genuine session with curry goat and Heineken selling, ‘til six in the morning and the bass box is booming.”

Trade Roots during this era also became the executive producer for “Reggae Boom”, a show that started out on AM radio with “Major” Chris Martinez as the host (“Lord” Chris can still be heard every fourth Sunday from 7-8pm on XBCN 1470 AM in San Diego/Tijuana; his shows are archived on the Trade Roots Reggae website).

Trade Roots continued to be a vibrant force in the live music community, introducing the first Marcus Garvey Day, promoting an annual “Steve Biko Day” for several years in honor of the fallen South African freedom fighter, as well as introducing great artists to the San Diego market including Jimmy Riley, Carlton Livingston, and Leroy Smart.

Over the years, Elliott and Renee traveled extensively as vendors with several cross-country tours including the annual Reggae Sunsplash tour and the Teva Tour. Trade Roots has been a vendor at numerous annual festivals throughout California and the West Coast.

In more recent years, Elliot has pursued another aspect of the reggae arena through his involvement in the Zion High Productions record label. Zion High Productions was co-founded by David “Jah D” Goldfine. Zion High Productions debuted with the critically acclaimed REBELUTION by Yami Bolo (2003) featuring the hit “Liberation” with Capleton. The label’s next release is the forthcoming album HOLDING FIRM from St. Croix artist Ras Attitude.

When asked about the foundation for his 20th anniversary concert he notes. “Reggae music stands for food, clothes, and shelter. We want to celebrate with the community that has supported reggae and supported us throughout the years with a roots music theme. We invite everyone to come share the vibes that this tradition can give and experience some of reggae’s finest performers. Horace Andy got his start in the 60’s so he is definitely an original. All the band members have been around as the Soul Syndicate performing for countless sessions and live shows. Cornell Campbell is one of reggae’s greatest voices as well as Martin Campbell who has a huge appeal here in San Diego.”