Vaughn Benjamin the Akae Beka and I Grade with New Roots Project

“Life changes, convictions, and revelations compel in this new name the Akae Beka. “  Those words officially issued on AkaeBeka.com heralded the change as acclaimed reggae singer Vaughn Benjamin (Midnite) assumed the mantle of Akae Beka, the sacred oath named in the Book of Enoch, for his new roots project. With the name comes responsibility, a promise to keep. On Portals (released April 1, 2016, on I Grade Records) Akae Beka has deep, urgent truths to impart.

It’s the second CD under the name, after last year’s Homage to the Land, and delves deeper into the sounds that Akae Beka has already begun to explore. Musically, it’s a very different take on roots reggae, still with Benjamin’s Rastafari rawness, but dominated by the heavily-textured guitar work of Padraic Coursey, a collaboration between the two artists that’s been growing for the last couple of years.

Portals offers a new direction for an internationally lauded artist who began his musical career in the late 1980s, when Vaughn Benjamin founded Midnite with his brother Ron Benjamin at their home on the Caribbean island of St. Croix. From the band’s beginning they kept to the spiritual side of roots reggae, using the Rastafari “chant and call” style of vocals that also remain the foundation of Akae Beka. With conscious lyrics that emphasize the possibility of redemption through Jah, the band’s audience grew all over the world as people heard the music and took the message to their hearts.

Akae Beka is not Midnite reborn. Rather, it’s a continuation of Benjamin’s journey, taking it down a new path of devotion and spirituality. But songs like “Love Is The Mainstay” and “By All For All” show that the commitment to justice, to love, are every bit as powerful as ever. But for Benjamin, that subject matter is second nature.

“I think because I study and I’m very introspective away from studio, when I get there maybe it’s already waiting – I don’t know,” Benjamin told Reggaeville.com in 2014. With Portals he offers the listener the openings to that other, spiritual side. It music that’s intended to provoke thought, to raise challenges and question, and his unique delivery, mixed with Coursey’s guitar work, Tippy Alfred and I Grade Records, and the Zion I Kings production team on St. Croix make the music instantly memorable.  It’s music to nourish the soul and the heart.

It’s not an easy road to travel for any artist, but to Benjamin, what Akae Beka can achieve makes it all worthwhile.

“Use the time wisely and make it be profitable and lucrative for the least amount of give and that’s the world today,” Benjamin explained to journalist Angus Taylor. “But I know that things of spirit and matters of spirit are not that simple”.

The Book of Enoch, Chapter 68, states: “He spoke to holy Michael to discover to them the sacred name…This is the power of that oath; for powerful it is, and strong. And he established this oath of Akae by the instrumentality of the holy Michael. These are the secrets of this oath, and by it were they confirmed.”

On Portals, the oath of Akae Beka is kept, and the glimmerings of truth revealed.