If truly music was food for the soul, then Jamail Carlton would nourish multitudes across nations. And, if the reggae tune was really the balm of hurt minds, then Carlton would not only reconstitute the bond that hitherto yoked humanity, but would also restore lost hopes, illuminate somber paths and cause perfect changes across continents. With his latest album “one heart, one soul”, the Jah boy is rekindling the hopes in cabarets, night clubs and wanton households in Bamenda. Carlton’s tunes and lyrics seem to ruffle just everyone, exerting special effects on those deprived of the smiles of fortune, stars that rust unburnished and even those that roll from grace to grass.

“Troubles come, not to weaken, but to strengthen. For, when the soul is in pain, the harder you become, the more you overcome, though it may seem a journey of a thousand miles. You got feet to cross the sea; you got wings to fly; with one heart, one soul, you gonna make it again, you gonna make it someday, if you just believe” Carlton postulates.

Surely, when Jamail Carlton wrote “one heart, one soul”, he had some vivid pictures in his mind: the oppressed faces of the African child-soldiers, the desperados that walk the streets of Rwanda, Darfur and the Democratic Republic of Congo and the have-nots and down-trodden of Sub Sahara Africa. To Carlton, suffering is not the end-all, but temporal setbacks, an urge to conquest and the opium of victory. The musician also obviously drew inspiration from his humble background, punctuated with scenes of social turbulence and stress. Carlton was born to an ordinary family in Manyu Division in the South West province, where he spent his teenage admiring the reggae legendry of Bob Marley, Alpha Blondy and Jimmy Cliff. To develop similar talents, Carlton mounted the rostrums of cabarets, night clubs and catholic choirs, enriching his thoughts and voice. Carlton realized his first album in 2003 and the second in 2007.

However, like most Cameroonian music up-shoots, Jamail Carlton is still trapped in the wings of poverty. He is in dire need of a promoter in order to meet up with the growing demands of his fans.

CT