Consciousness (Strugglah, 1997)

*GUEST REVIEW*
Even though reggae is largely ignored in Canada, quite a few good releases have managed to be made by Canadian Reggae musicians.  Probably the best of the bunch is Strugglah's debut from 1997, Consciousness.  Strugglah is a 6-man group consisting of Caribbean immigrants and Canadian-born musicians.  The group features two vocalists, Ras Ibo and Iwango, who compliment each other in an exciting manner.  The latter has a gruff dancehall like delivery, while Ibo has an interesting voice, commanding like Peter Tosh and sweet like Jimmy Cliff.  This album certainly lives up to it's title with great songs like the aggressive and memorable "Cost a Living" and the angry "Dem a Lie."  This album mixes songs for the poor with religious songs like "Jah Jah Way" and "He's On My Side."  There's also an emotional love song called "Way I Feel" with a wonderful emotive vocal from Ras Ibo.  The only complaints I have of this album are that the synths used can be overdone at times and the song "Rise and Fall" is not up to the level of the other songs. Overall, these are 10 powerful songs from a talented and passionate reggae group.  It's pretty rare, but the group toured a lot so you may be able to run into a copy used.  If this happens I strongly recommend the purchase.

- Staas