REPOSTED WITH EXPLICIT PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR
CHRISTAFARI IS REBORN
Dateline 12-30-1997
In case you haven't noticed, there are two
Christian reggae albums out this year. The first to be
released is the self-titled album by Temple Yard. The
second is the latest offering by Christafari.
Now, I know there are all these rumors and stories
around that say that Christafari broke up, Temple Yard
is Christafari, Mark Mohr died, and so on. So, first
things first, let's get down to the truth of the matter.
Recently, I talked with Mark Mohr, Christafari's
founder, lead singer and moving force.
"So, to answer all questions, Christafari didn't
change it's name, members left and formed Temple Yard.
Temple Yard is not 'the lead singer and band of
Christafari' as it has been advertised. Christafari
didn't change their name, we didn't break up. There was
a definite transition, some would call it a split, or a
departure of ways. And Christafari still stands strong.
New album, new record company, new musicians, same name,
same ministry, same vision, with even stronger
music," said Mohr. And what follows is "the
true, true, true story."
So how did all this happen? What caused "the
split" or "transition"? Christafari has
always been known to have member changes. Members have
left for a variety of reasons. But not like they did
back in 1997. Right after they recorded Valley of
Decsision, Bassist Lyndon Allen left. "[In the]
summer of 1996, without Eric and I knowing, some of the
band members snuck out and started another band called
Temple Yard with Marky Rage being lead vocalist. The
purpose of this was to make some money and they wanted
to do some club gigs, at secular clubs around Nashville,
and around the area, on off times from Christafari. They
ended up covering normal, secular reggae songs. That was
truly the birth of Temple Yard. That was the beginning
of the division. We found out about that after about a
month, and said ÔHey, you are breaching the contract'
and they stopped. It wasn't the most comfortable
situation, but it was a foreshadowing of what was to a
happen in the future. Months went by, and conflicts kept
arising, and it was like, most of the band member felt
that something was broken, and no matter what they tried
to fix, it couldn't get fixed. I would attribute that to
a lack of unity, a lack of unity in vision, a lack of
spiritual unity. We were meeting with pastors and trying
to work it out."
What caused this "lack of unity"? Two things.
Money and musical differences. "As you probably
know, quite a few of the members got married, or were
getting married, one had a child, now we had families we
had to provide for. And there was more pressure [on us]
to provide financially. Any body who knows anything
about the record industry knows that you don't get money
if you are signed to a record label for the most part.
Especially if you are splitting it among five or seven
people." So they started having meetings to try to
fix things and make things work again. "And their
idea of fixing things was to save money. And their idea
of saving money was to get rid of people. First things
to go was horns and the extra keyboardist. And then they
wanted to get rid of Vanessa [Mohr], and didn't want to
have any more dancing, or her as a backing vocalist on
stage. And when they brought these ideas up to me, I was
very distraught. It was hard for me to deal with,
especially when somebody says they want to get rid of
your wife."
But this wasn't the only things the guys wanted to cut.
"They said that they didn't want to have any more
ragamuffin, or any more dancehall/ DJ chanting. They
wanted to have just singing." They wanted Mark to
go as well. Needless to say, this didn't exactly go over
too well.
"When these guys who asked if they could join a
band, that was already in existence and already had
these things in place, wanted to get rid of those
things, that put up some red flags. And when I thought
about it, I'm like, Christafari without live horns,
without dancehall chanting, which is half our sound, and
without dancing on stage and choreography, I said, ÔWell,
that sounds like a great idea, that sounds like a great
band, but it's not Christafari. It never has been, and
I'm not about ready to change in directions mid-stream.
And then I stated my vision, which was the vision that
at one time, we had all agreed to, as those partners,
and even before they came in. I said this is
Christafari, and it's not a pride issue, it's not me
against them issue, this is what our fans have been
buying 90,000 of each album, this is what has reached so
many people. The roots reaches one crowd, the dancehall
reaches another crowd, and I'm not about to eliminate
half our audience, because we want to make more money,
because our record company or our management company
thinks that we would be more accessible or acceptable. I
said, ÔThis is Christafari, it's staying the same, and
if you want to do that, I would encourage you to do so,
but it's not Christafari, so if you want to continue to
do Christafari, then stay in Christafari. If you want to
do those visions, then I would say leave and do them.
And may the peace of God be with you.' "
And that was that. With three days left before the next
gig, Mohr had the daunting task of assembling a new
backing band but it would be totally different than it
had been in the past. No more partners. Everytime they
had member changes in the past, rumors started flying
that they had broke up. Taking clues from such artists
as Prince and secular reggae artists, he set out to form
The SoulFire Crew. "What I did was look around at
all the different bands in reggae, you've got Buju
Banton, who is backed by The Shiloh Band, you have
Bennieman who is backed by The Shocking Vibes Crew, you
have Bounty Killer and all these different people are
backed by all these crews they've started and by these
different bands. It's very, very common to see that
happen. I started the Soul Fire Crew, which is now my
backing band and found the best musicians that I could .
In that, now if one of them leaves or if it's in the
beginning of a touring season I say I want to readjust
the band or change it as some of the other artists have
done, like Prince, and other people like that, I can do
that without people saying Christafari broke up. That is
what has happened every time in the past."
But this was only part of the break. With Temple Yard
now on their own, Gottee (Christafari's record label),
brought them into the studio and had them start
recording their own album. Not one phone call was made
to Mohr. This spurred Mohr to fulfill another vision
that he had - his own record label. "I came up with
the vision of [Lion of Zion] when I was in bible
college, in 1993. It has stayed the same, basically a
World music label. Something that reaches people. The
CCM market is very, very one-sided right now. It's very
white. When you turn the radio dial, you can tell when
you get to a Christian station before you even hear the
lyrics, by the production, by the sound and by the
songwriting. My goal is to inject some world culture
into this."
When all the legal entanglements were taken care of,
Christafari and The SoulFire Crew headed into the studio
in the fall of 1998 to record WordSound & Power. And
with a new record, a tour is naturally to follow. This
has been another difficult part of the split. While
touring after the split, and even now, people are
confused about Christafari. Booking shows has been a
problem when people think that they have booked
Christafari but have booked Temple Yard instead.
"When we go to book a show and they tell us that
they can't book Christafari, because they've already
booked Christafari. But then we realize that's not
Christafari, that's Temple Yard. Or when promoters come
up to you and say, Ôwe are so excited that you are
coming to town next month", and I say that we're
not, Ôoh, we've booked Christafari'. And then we find
out that it's Temple Yard. It's hard." A publicity
Ôblitz' has been started to try to correct some of the
misconceptions people have and to let everyone know that
Christafari is still among us and is going strong.
Music isn't the only thing that occupies Mohr's time. He
is an ordained pastor at Sanctuary, based in Mount
Juliet, Tennesee. His role there has changed as well. He
isn't there most of the time, with his band commitments,
so he tours as a youth pastor, speaking at rallys and
events. "It's really a choice of going to a place,
with a few people in it, that are already being reached,
or going to a place, where people really want you, and
speaking in front of hundreds or thousands, and really
making a difference. And that's what we have chosen to
do." More information about Sanctuary can be found
at www.gotosanctuary.org.
And, if that wasn't enough, Mohr also has the missions
focused Jamacia For Jesus. " The year after I
started Christafari, I went back to Jamaica for the
third time. This time, not on a vacation, but as a
missionary. Went there by myself, stayed there for a
month. [I] did backstage witnessing at reggae Sunsplash,
I did street evangelism and witnessing, vacation bible
schools, just all kinds of ministry opportunities. The
next year, I brought back some of my friends and band
members. The next year, I brought back more and more,
and so on and so forth. Now, it has gotten to the point
where we are taking between 50 and 75 missionaries,
fellow ÔChristafarians', people who believe in our
vision and our mission statement. People who not only
want to make a difference and reach people for Christ,
but people who are willing to be changed by another
culture, and are willing to let God change them by
giving them a global perspective, a world vision as to
missions and ministry. This summer, we are doing two
concerts, with ÔChange' in Montego Bay, Jamaica. We are
going to be visiting orphanages, childrens and mens
centers, feeding the homeless, giving people clothing,
street witnessing, [just] all kinds of different types
of ministry opportunities. We are really excited about
it. It's not a fan club tour, it's not a Christafari
event, it's a Jesus Christ event. Warriors for the
Kingdom coming together. Yes, Christafari is going to be
there, and many of the people who are going to be there,
I wouldn't say they are so much fans, as they are
friends of Christafari, but its much more than that, and
I'm really excited about it." For more information
about this mission trip, see the News section at www.christafari.com.
Author Mark Ragsdale
Source True Tunes News
truetunes.com
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