Former Radio 3 DJ Matinde recalls chat with Jimmy Cliff

Sifelani Tsiko

Fact Check Editor

Veteran radio and television personality John Matinde has fondly recalled his interview with Jimmy Cliff, one of the most prominent and beloved proponents of reggae music who died recently aged 81.

During the interview in the late 1970s, Matinde, popularly known as John the Boss, experienced the hilarity of language barriers.

In an interview with Zimpapers, Matinde went down memory lane about the day he interviewed Cliff who spoke with skilful lyricism and the unmistakable tones of Patois -a distinct Jamaican language, which at the time, was never easy for a person used to the so-called ‘standard’ English.

Matinde, said he was uncharacteristically nervous about Patwa when Cliff granted him a rare interview.

“We were at Tony’s Studio, living it well, extra-larging it, so to speak, you know. Just having fun at their home studio. And James (Makamba JCJ) and I were bantering about all sorts of things. I said JCJ, you know, there was an incident I actually mentioned that, oh, you know, you know, I actually interviewed Jimmy Cliff. I don’t know how that came about,” he said.

“We were reminiscing about stuff, but I said it live on camera and said, you know, many, many years ago, I met Jimmy Cliff before Bob Marley.

“So around those years, I don’t know, late seventies or thereabouts. I can’t remember. Anyway, I was saying Jimmy Cliff spent the entire interview for television, speaking in Patois, which I do not understand, for Sounds on Saturday.

“And his producer, you know, did his best to translate every single word. I couldn’t understand what Cliff was saying and the translator saved me.”

The former Radio 3 DJ said Patwa was confusing and complicated even though the interview was hilarious.

“It was such a hilarious interview. And Jimmy Cliff was like that, you know, it was just being, it felt like being Jimmy Cliff and he could be very strong-willed or headed, if you like, in a kind of nice, jocular way,” he said.

“But yeah, that’s what my overriding memory of Jimmy Cliff was. And, you know, the spooky thing is because we had connectivity issues and all that. I was in the middle of an interview with JCJ at Tony’s Studio when we heard news that Jimmy Cliff had gone.

“And, I actually said on the clip, you know, I said —Jimmy Cliff, —born James Chambers, in case you didn’t know: ‘Jimmy Cliff, in case you are watching this, you owe me one.”

Jimmy Cliff visited Zimbabwe twice, in 1982 when he came for a week to organise a tour and in 1983 when he performed in Bulawayo and Harare.

He arrived two years after the historic performance by reggae icon Bob Marley at the country’s 1980 independence celebrations.

Patois also known as Patwa is a Jamaican accent and distinct hybrid language formed as a result of European and West African contact due to the transatlantic slave trade.

It combines English and features from various African languages, with later influence from Spanish, Hindi, and Chinese.

Dancehall and reggae music helped popularise Patois in many parts of the world.

Even though Patwa was shunned in official settings in the past it has grown to be accepted across the world.

Late greats Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff and many other artists have long been credited with planting the seeds of reggae music on African soil more than 50 years ago.