Biography
Exuma emerged during the 1970s as one of the decade's most distinctive and difficult-to-categorize performers, a one-of-a-kind voice whose sound fused the lively rhythms and storytelling traditions of Bahamian music with rock, country, and assorted American elements while threading in pointed satirical commentary on society.
Born McFarlane Anthony McKay on Cat Island in the Bahamas sometime in the early 1940s—the exact year never confirmed—he grew up steeped in local folk songs and the popular junkanoo style, a West African-rooted Bahamian counterpart to calypso or samba that takes its name from a Boxing Day celebration resembling Mardi Gras or Carnival. Despite that upbringing, McKay initially aimed to become an architect and only stumbled into performing by chance. He relocated to New York in the early 1960s to study architecture, yet soon faced the financial hardship typical of city students. Observing how Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence's recordings had caught on in the Greenwich Village folk circuit, McKay started appearing at spots such as The Bitter End and Cafe Wha?, first performing solo and then forming Tony McKay & the Islanders to share traditional Bahamian material with urban audiences.
Through the mid-1960s the group became a steady club attraction, supporting acts including Richie Havens and Peter, Paul and Mary. By the close of the decade McKay had begun a personal shift, taking cues from the Black power movement and sounds pioneered by the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Sly and the Family Stone. He channeled that political and musical energy through the customs of his homeland and resurfaced as Exuma, The Obeah Man. (Exuma refers both to one of the Bahamas' major islands and to a spirit bridging the living and the dead, while Obeah denotes an Afro-Caribbean practice of mysticism comparable to Santeria in Cuba or Vodou in Haiti.)
Mercury Records signed him in 1969, and he promptly issued the albums Exuma, The Obeah Man and Exuma II, both in 1970. These works combined potent Afro-Caribbean rhythms with Exuma's ritualistic vocals and richly Obeah-infused lyrics, echoing conceptually the innovations Nigeria's Fela Kuti was exploring at the same moment. Like Fela, however, Exuma received scant notice from American critics, broadcasters, and buyers, prompting Mercury to release him swiftly.
He soon landed on Kama Sutra, the bubblegum-focused subsidiary of Buddah Records that was then pivoting toward soul and early disco acts—an unlikely home that may have viewed him chiefly as a novelty akin to the Jimmy Castor Bunch, who later recorded a version of Exuma's "Bam Bam." His debut for the label, 1971's Do Wah Nanny, eased away from overt Obeah themes, incorporating a judicious horn section around Exuma's raw acoustic guitar work and yielding hypnotic, funky tracks such as the title song. The following year's Snake maintained that musical strength while sharpening Exuma's social observations further. Together the two stand as his strongest releases and the ideal introduction for newcomers.
Kama Sutra grew dissatisfied with his commercial results, however, and the next project, Reincarnation (also 1972), carries the clear imprint of label interference. The Bahamian character of the arrangements and production noticeably fades, and although Exuma had previously demonstrated an ear for pop, his take on Paul McCartney's "Monkberry Moon Delight" serves neither artist nor composition well. He shifted to parent label Buddah for 1973's Life, yet the effort continued the push toward mainstream appeal, smoothing his jagged Afro-Caribbean grooves into polished American R&B territory and draining the otherwise improved material of its vitality.
Exuma issued no further recordings throughout the remainder of the 1970s, and music itself became secondary for the rest of his days. He had long worked as a painter—many of his album covers display his own artwork—and growing institutional interest in so-called primitive artists enabled him to focus more fully on that pursuit. Even so, he continued performing, especially back home in the Bahamas where he enjoyed major-star status. In the 1980s he self-released three albums—Penny Sausage, Going to Cat Island, and Street Life (later reissued by ROIR as Rude Boy)—that more successfully folded rock and country material into his personal style, though they rarely matched the wild ambition of his initial six albums, all of which appeared on CD in the early 1990s. Exuma died in Nassau, Bahamas, on January 25, 1997.
Born McFarlane Anthony McKay on Cat Island in the Bahamas sometime in the early 1940s—the exact year never confirmed—he grew up steeped in local folk songs and the popular junkanoo style, a West African-rooted Bahamian counterpart to calypso or samba that takes its name from a Boxing Day celebration resembling Mardi Gras or Carnival. Despite that upbringing, McKay initially aimed to become an architect and only stumbled into performing by chance. He relocated to New York in the early 1960s to study architecture, yet soon faced the financial hardship typical of city students. Observing how Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence's recordings had caught on in the Greenwich Village folk circuit, McKay started appearing at spots such as The Bitter End and Cafe Wha?, first performing solo and then forming Tony McKay & the Islanders to share traditional Bahamian material with urban audiences.
Through the mid-1960s the group became a steady club attraction, supporting acts including Richie Havens and Peter, Paul and Mary. By the close of the decade McKay had begun a personal shift, taking cues from the Black power movement and sounds pioneered by the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Sly and the Family Stone. He channeled that political and musical energy through the customs of his homeland and resurfaced as Exuma, The Obeah Man. (Exuma refers both to one of the Bahamas' major islands and to a spirit bridging the living and the dead, while Obeah denotes an Afro-Caribbean practice of mysticism comparable to Santeria in Cuba or Vodou in Haiti.)
Mercury Records signed him in 1969, and he promptly issued the albums Exuma, The Obeah Man and Exuma II, both in 1970. These works combined potent Afro-Caribbean rhythms with Exuma's ritualistic vocals and richly Obeah-infused lyrics, echoing conceptually the innovations Nigeria's Fela Kuti was exploring at the same moment. Like Fela, however, Exuma received scant notice from American critics, broadcasters, and buyers, prompting Mercury to release him swiftly.
He soon landed on Kama Sutra, the bubblegum-focused subsidiary of Buddah Records that was then pivoting toward soul and early disco acts—an unlikely home that may have viewed him chiefly as a novelty akin to the Jimmy Castor Bunch, who later recorded a version of Exuma's "Bam Bam." His debut for the label, 1971's Do Wah Nanny, eased away from overt Obeah themes, incorporating a judicious horn section around Exuma's raw acoustic guitar work and yielding hypnotic, funky tracks such as the title song. The following year's Snake maintained that musical strength while sharpening Exuma's social observations further. Together the two stand as his strongest releases and the ideal introduction for newcomers.
Kama Sutra grew dissatisfied with his commercial results, however, and the next project, Reincarnation (also 1972), carries the clear imprint of label interference. The Bahamian character of the arrangements and production noticeably fades, and although Exuma had previously demonstrated an ear for pop, his take on Paul McCartney's "Monkberry Moon Delight" serves neither artist nor composition well. He shifted to parent label Buddah for 1973's Life, yet the effort continued the push toward mainstream appeal, smoothing his jagged Afro-Caribbean grooves into polished American R&B territory and draining the otherwise improved material of its vitality.
Exuma issued no further recordings throughout the remainder of the 1970s, and music itself became secondary for the rest of his days. He had long worked as a painter—many of his album covers display his own artwork—and growing institutional interest in so-called primitive artists enabled him to focus more fully on that pursuit. Even so, he continued performing, especially back home in the Bahamas where he enjoyed major-star status. In the 1980s he self-released three albums—Penny Sausage, Going to Cat Island, and Street Life (later reissued by ROIR as Rude Boy)—that more successfully folded rock and country material into his personal style, though they rarely matched the wild ambition of his initial six albums, all of which appeared on CD in the early 1990s. Exuma died in Nassau, Bahamas, on January 25, 1997.
Albums
Singles
