This exhibit offers a comprehensive view of Jamaican history proposed to us by Ikahl as a tribute to his brother, Johnny “Dizzy” Moore. Ikahl and Dizzy were very close. The passing of Dizzy August 18, 2008, at age 68 from cancer inspired Ikahl to steep himself in an artistic journey to portray Jamaica through Dizzy’s story.

Dizzy was a Rastafarian and founding trumpetist of the Skatalites, the band that gave birth to an infectious new genre of music that would become known as Ska. Ska fused Boogie-Woogie Blues, R&B, Jazz, Mento, Calypso and African rhythms. The popularity of Ska was propelled with the excitement over the island's independence in 1962. Its lyrics conjured a sense of national pride and elevated the social consciousness of the common man. Ska became the first truly Jamaican music. Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Toots and the Maytals, and Jimmy Cliff are just a few musicians to record their songs to the beat of Ska. Ska evolved into rock steady, reggae, dub, and punk, an evolution that also coincides with the expanding influence of the Rastafarian movement globally. Ska embodies the story of Jamaica’s people and the philosophies of the Rastafarian movement.

Ikahl is a Jamaican-born full time artist, a Rastafarian, and Reggae musician and lives in Bronx, NY. Ikahl is uniquely positioned to artistically unveil Jamaica’s story and Ska’s history through the life of his brother.

The exhibit features 25 works, most oil on canvas. Ikahl is known for his kaleidoscopic use of color to represent issues he considers of consequence. Works include an abstract expressive portrait of Dizzy, words of Haile Selassie, and images influenced by popular Ska song titles like Rockford Rock and Swing slow. Ikahl captures scenes of rural urban migration, the rude boys, the indigenous Arawak Indians and a whole lot more to invoke a sense of nostalgia to the Jamaican viewer and sense of life on the island for the general viewer.

Ikahl was the first artist to accept our invitation to show at the Baobab in 2005. We have featured Ikahl’s paintings twice. Ikahl, like many ethnic minority artists we feature, considers The Baobab as the space to fully express his talent and culture.

This exhibit is made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.