Abdul Baki believes music is much more than a few notes strung together. He sees it as the foundation of language, a deeper level than speech — and the “mother” of that foundation is the heartbeat.
“If you listen to your heartbeat, you hear a pattern,” the musician and songwriter says from his home in Charlemont. “That beat becomes the music. When people listen to music and dance together their heartbeats sync and their thoughts hook up rhythmically. It’s like rap inside you.”
Baki, who wears long and gray dreadlocks, was raised on the Sulu Archipelago, a chain of islands in southwestern Philippines in the Pacific Ocean.
“Sulu is known for its pearls,” he says with pride in his voice. “We moved to the U.S., though, and I went to school in the Midwest United States outside of Detroit. I heard a lot of great music growing up, from Smokey Robinson to The Temptations to the Supremes.”
Though Motown influenced his musical style, it was after he moved to Jamaica that he really came to know himself and that style.
“I got very involved in Jamaican music,” Baki says. “I was taught by an elder there. He taught me that music was the ‘mother’ tongue of all of us.
“That’s how we communicate,” he continues. “Music itself, no matter what kind, is a language all its own.”
Baki says most people don’t think of music as the foundation of language, but instead, it’s just something they listen to. He sees it as much more significant in people’s lives than they realize. His musical style has a very Jamaican feel and influence.
And his influence on the local music scene has been profound.
“I first saw Abdul Baki perform when I was a teenager,” said Philippe Guy Simon, a local filmmaker who works for Greenfield Community Television and a musician himself. “I soon became involved in the Boston and Cambridge reggae scene as a drummer and wound up in many bands with him. His smooth style and deep reggae groove are essential to great performance and recording. He mentored me, in part, and I’m grateful for his influence in creating authentic reggae music.”
In recognition of Baki’s work, has released a short film of Baki’s new music and interviews with the local musician. The film can be viewed at youtu.be/5buEQi50GVk.
The man who has played an integral part in the Charlemont Reggae Festival — he’s been an organizer since 1995 — says he sees his music as something that has the ability to touch anyone who listens to it, and he hopes they feel a connection to him and the people around them because of it.
“When I was in Jamaica, an elder told me if I wanted to understand music, I should put my ear to the ground and listen. Then, I’d understand.”
Baki lay on the ground and put his ear against the earth. He lay there for a “very long time” and finally started hearing a “thumping” sound.
“I thought someone was walking toward me,” he says. “I looked around and there was no one there. I finally realized it was my heartbeat I was hearing. It was really loud. I had relaxed, so it actually startled me.”
Baki continued to listen and realized his breath was in sync with his heartbeat.
“My heart would make a sound, then my breathing would make a sound,” he says. “The pattern of my heartbeat, breath and thoughts became music. When that happens, you are no longer listening to music, you are the music. Crickets, birds, sirens going by … everything you hear is music and they all have a beat.
“Did you know that 10 deep breaths slows the heart?” he asks. “It really does. There’s so much your breathing can do, besides keeping you alive. Your heart, too. They can make music.”
Baki says he pays attention to his heart and breath when he’s writing a song, creating music. He says all of his music is based on his heartbeat.
“Music is deeper than a conversation,” he says. “In Jamaica, people dance in the shadows and every so often someone will come into the light, do a little dance move and then return to the shadows. Then, someone responds. Isn’t that what listening to music feels like? I’ll bet if you went into a clock store and wound all of them, eventually they’d begin to tick on the same beat. That’s what I hope my music does.”
He said music can be an “incredible experience” if you allow it to be. He believes if you study music, a particular piece, and peel away each aspect — the melody, lyrics, etc — you are left with your own thoughts.
“Your thoughts might be there in the lyrics,” he says. “Someone else’s might be found in the melody. We all become the music in some way.”
He says if you look deep enough, you’ll find music in the roots of your culture and history of that culture.
“Music is not just some sort of rhythm,” he says. “It’s handed down from generation to generation. Much of it has to do with experiences as a human race. It will grab you, and sometimes you don’t even understand why.”
Baki describes the experiences he has had with music as “profound.” He says he has performed for adults and children and gets much the same reaction: “movement.”
“People can’t help themselves,” he says. “The beat draws them in, no matter their age, and they might not even understand why they have the urge to move.
“I understand it. It’s inside you. You hear it, feel it, move to it, no matter who you are, you can’t help it.”
Baki likes to paint a “lyrical picture” when he creates music. He writes about love, relationships, giving thanks, peace, existence, good and evil and most recently, the departure of Trump: “The hand of justice is coming for you. You’ll never get away” are some of the lyrics. “And one day you’ll fall to your knees,” he sings.
In “Moonlight Dance,” with its much lighter lyrics, Baki sings, “… waiting for someone to love me the way that I love you … You are my soul and my inspiration …” He says it’s a song for his queen: his wife Anne.
“I’m very emotionally involved when I create,” he says. “It’s all very meaningful for me. It’s why I get up in the morning.”
As Baki creates, he’s searching for a place where children can be safe and secure, where adults can be happy and fulfilled, where there is justice for all.
“I think they way to such a place is through music, heartbeats,” he says. “I hope my music is the bridge to that type of world.”
He says his songs speak to the struggles in life, cold and warm hearts, social consciousness.
“The world is of love and hate,” he says. “My music reflects that. People will hurt you and it becomes part of who you are and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
He says he looks for the conversations that inspire him. He “always” wants to see more clearly, and when he is inspired, he puts it in music.
“We need to solve our problems,” he says. “In these times, it’s no time to sit and wait. We have to take action, whether its through our actions or making music. I don’t always write the prettiest love songs, but they’re real.”
He says he makes choices about his music every day. He sings about having to make choices every day, each of us, in his new song “Choose.” He sings “… each and every day you’ve got to choose …” He says everyone should choose to look deeper to see the ‘I’ in you.” He says people’s hands and hearts have to be clean.
“I try things, make mistakes, learn from my experiences,” he says. “My music reflects that, I hope.”
Baki says he has played for “tons of bands,” but is happy in Charlemont writing his songs and performing from his home virtually during the pandemic. He says his wife, Ann, has been his love and inspiration. He says he is in the process of creating another album.
“I’ve been posting some songs on YouTube, Instagram and Twitter,” he says. “I was putting the new ones out there one at a time and getting feedback on each one. I’ll see where all of this is going as I hear the responses.
In one of Baki’s songs he sings, “Live some life before you’re through,” and that’s exactly what he’s doing.
“The one constant is that I’ll continue listening to my heartbeat and go where it leads me.”
Baki is compiling and chronicling his original music and life’s work and will soon be releasing them. Simon’s film, a tribute to Baki’s process, can be found at bit.ly/3906SYN. To hear Baki’s music and for any updates on his upcoming release, follow him on Twitter (@AbdulBakiMusic) at bit.ly/3nQSNBb.
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.