Cleanliness is next
to godliness, so you better
keep your neighborhood
clean, my friend.
Cleanliness is next
to godliness, so you better
keep your neighborhood
clean my friend.
Halo again,
beloved viewers.
Welcome back as
we continue our interview
with reggae star
Rocky Dawuni,
the musical golden heart
of Ghana.
Today,
the noble artist shares
about his commitment
to an array of social
and constructive causes.
The change that I feel
is coming is all about
how fast we can really
polarize ourselves.
So if we polarize
ourselves positively, by
really starting to go forth
and do good works,
toward good energy,
starting to heal,
where there’s war,
we find peace.
Wherever there is greed,
we go there and we find
equitability, or equality;
wherever there is injustice,
we bring justice;
wherever there is pain
and suffering, we bring
peace and happiness.
Wherever
we heal all these strifes,
we keep on polarizing
this change towards
being a positive change.
Rocky Dawuni
has partnered with such
noteworthy organizations
as the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF),
the US-based Carter Center,
and the European Union.
He is dedicated
to raising awareness
on important health
and humanitarian issues
in and out of Africa.
My mission as a musician
was to really utilize
this music as a means
to really create
very important
and sustainable changes
in people’s lives, be able
to influence people’s lives.
So I saw the charity work
of using my platform
and my celebrity
in turning that light into
focusing on the issues.
And in so focusing
on the issue, that issue
is discussed, and then
the right solutions,
sustainable solutions,
are found.
So that has led me
into advocacy work
from water, malaria
awareness, AIDS,
girl/child education.
Everything that I feel
that is really important
to uplift our communities
in Africa, and at the same
time, the communities
outside of Africa,
I feel like it’s my mission
as much as humanly
possible for me to do.
For Rocky, helping a cause
isn’t just about lending
his image and name, but
he also rolls up his sleeves
and gets involved
in the discussions and
coordination needed until
communities are assisted.
We take an issue, and
we go, we bring press,
we bring NGOs who
focus on this issue, and
then we go to the village,
meet the communities,
meet the people,
meet the leaders.
And then we try
to find solutions through
a Town Hall like
meeting set, throw ideas
until we find ideas that
we feel are going to work.
And then we find the NGOs
who are doing work
in relation to these
and how they can solve it;
and how the solution, too,
can be sustainable.
Holding water as sacred,
keeping it clean and pure
is an African tradition,
but today, with the impacts
of industrializing
and climate change,
water has become polluted
and increasingly scarce.
This has resulted in
the suffering of millions
of people in Africa.
In 2007, Rocky went on
a humanitarian mission
to Ghana coinciding
with UNICEF’s
World Water Day to see
the situation for himself.
Rocky’s field trip
to the north with UNICEF
was a three-day visit
and he went
to three communities
in the northern region
of Ghana, which is the
most impoverished region
in the country.
On the trip North,
I felt it would be great
to write a song that will
inspire people to action.
Cleanliness is next
to godliness, so you better
keep your neighborhood
clean, my friend.
Cleanliness is next
to godliness, so you better
keep your neighborhood
clean, my friend.
We went
to Tolon-Kumbungu,
Yendi and Gunbonayele.
We will go to the villages
and meet the traditional
chiefs, the government
representatives,
and the people.
We were able to hear
the problems from the
developmental partners,
UNICEF
and the Carter Center.
They brought us
up-to-date with
their public health efforts.
Finally,
we exchanged ideas
on how we could help
get their messages
to the public because
we all share the dream
of clean water for Ghana.
Rocky Dawuni
is also originally
from northern Ghana.
Through this mission,
he had a chance to
reconnect with his roots
and express his feelings
about his experience.
This is such
an incredible time for me.
This is my people,
my village, where
I'm from, my roots.
This is where my
ancestors all came from.
So being back here,
it's just, it's indescribable.
I can't even
speak it in words.
It's really amazing.
And since my dad passed,
my daddy was there,
the chief,
the king of this place
and since he passed,
this is the first time,
I've come home.
Clean water.
Everybody
must know the truth.
Clean water.
Everybody
must know the truth.
Clean water.
You cannot deny the fact,
Cleanliness is next
to godliness, so you better
keep your neighborhood
clean, my friend.
Clean water.
Okay! Clean water.
Our interview
with Ghanaian artist and
humanitarian continues,
when we return.
Please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television.
Lord you have to save us all
Save us all
Lord you have to save us all
Save us all
Some are saying
it’s the final call
Save us all
Lord you have to
right the wrong
Stop them all
On March 6, 1957, Ghana
became the first country
in sub-Saharan Africa
to establish her freedom.
During his speech
declaring independence,
Ghana’s first
Prime Minister Osagyefo
Dr Kwame Nkrumah
expressed his wish
that all of Africa
would too be liberated.
This same philosophy
of a strong and
vibrant Africa also resides
within Mr. Dawuni as
he encourages his fellow
citizens through song.
Africans we have to learn
Africa has to learn
(We all will be one)
Rocky has teamed up
with Australian supermodel
Elle Macpherson to raise
awareness on AIDS.
He was also invited
to collaborate on
the “Playing for Change”
peace project
and had his music
featured on primetime
American television.
To further
his humanitarian efforts,
Rocky Dawuni founded
“Africa Live!”
It’s
a non-profit organization
established to promote
a resurgence of Ghana’s
rich musical history and
restore pride in the people.
In addition, he has been
awarded “Ghana’s
Cultural Ambassador”
and his song “In Ghana”
was voted Reggae
Song of the Year in 2000.
Time now for jubilation.
O God
I wish I had an answer.
‘Cause in sweet love,
our spirits will grow.
In 2001, Dawuni
created his first annual
“Independence Splash”
concert in Accra, Ghana,
to honor and celebrate
his country’s freedom.
The British Broadcasting
Company (BBC) said,
“The Independence Splash
was a first-rate example
of how music
and development
can work together for
the unity and advancement
of the people.”
For Ghana’s
50th Anniversary
in 2007, Rocky’s
“Independence Splash,”
brought together tens of
thousands of people and
was broadcast to millions.
“My Independence Splash”
started in 1999 when
my song, “In Ghana”
jumped off the charts
all across the country.
It became like
a new national anthem.
Oppressor man running
(running),
while we jumping (jumping)
We’ll be jamming today.
So say it’s love
from Rasta. In Ghana.
We’re stopping
all the suffering. (Alright!)
In Ghana.
We’re stopping
all the suffering.
In Ghana. In Ghana.
In Ghana,
I’ll say it’s love
from Africa, in Ghana.
So say it’s love
from Rasta. In Ghana.
We’re stopping
all the suffering.
In Ghana.
I’ll say it’s love
from Africa. In Ghana.
Jah seals and signs
and delivers.
Yes, he seals and signs
and delivers.
Right on top of Mount Zion
With gladness
I wipe my tears.
Lord raise my flag,
red gold and green
So I can sing a song
for Africa with honesty
The peoples you know
I believe music,
it’s the beat of life,
you know what I mean?
The day that music dies
is the day life stops too.
So you always
need the music.
That’s why in Africa,
when there’s birth
there’s music,
when there’s marriage
there’s music,
when there’s celebration,
every kind of celebration,
there’s music,
when even there’s death
there’s music, because
it encompasses life.
It is the common man’s
time now to make it.
O Mama, O Papa,
come let’s face reality.
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna hide?
Where you gonna hide?
Where you gonna go?
When this music comes
for you.
With the growing number
of climate change problems
affecting countries
around the world,
we asked Rocky
about his thoughts
on global warming
and possible solutions.
Every problem on Earth,
if it’s a physical problem,
there’s
a spiritual component to it.
We are spiritual beings
living in a physical world.
That’s why when
somebody passes away
you can see the body, but
you can’t see the spirit.
What makes the person
the person, is not there.
So we have to
approach everything
to that way.
Global warming, is
a culmination of certain
misguided directions
that humanity collectively,
all of us, have taken.
Our material evolution
has been great,
it’s led us through
into so many things,
it’s made us grow
in leaps and bounds.
But what we lost through
this material evolution
was that, it lacked
the spiritual dimension
to compliment it.
We consume without care
for the environment.
We plunder like we are
the last generation
on Earth.
And we pollute the oceans
with no thinking of that
the ocean has the largest
mammals from Earth, the
whales are in the ocean.
So if you look at
all these repercussions
of all these actions
that we’re taking
because of our march,
or should I say
our run toward progress,
our march to progress,
that we are not
taking care of these things,
obviously there’s going
to be blowback,
because to every action
there is an equal
and opposite reaction.
We need to change
right from here!
People need
to start changing,
and we need to bring
that consciousness down
and know that, okay,
I need to do this, I need
to take care of the Earth
because if the Earth
stops taking care of us,
there will be no us.
So we can’t dispute that.
We can’t
dispute the fact that
if the oceans are polluted,
or the rivers are polluted,
that we are going to,
in the end,
drink that polluted water.
So it’s all about a matter
of really an expansion
of our consciousness, that
we need to confront this,
but we have to
first start from us.
Because if we can
change ourselves,
it will permeate
the whole universe,
it will be a domino effect.
This global warming
wouldn’t
even be a big problem
if we can really focus
to really make a change
within ourselves.
O Mama, O Papa,
come let’s face reality.
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna hide?
Where you gonna go?
When this music comes
for you
Hey! You youth of Congo
(Catch it! Catch it!)
Hey! You youth of Liberia
(Africa!)
Hey!
You youth of Cote D’Ivoire
(Catch it! Catch it!)
Hey!
You youth of South Africa
(Africa!)
Hey!
You youth of Zimbabwe
(Catch it! Catch it!)
Hey! You youth of Ethiopia
(Africa!)
Hey! You youth of Africa
(Catch it! Catch it!)
Hey!
You youth of Ghana too
(Africa!)
Thank you
Mr. Rocky Dawuni
for your enchanting
reggae-roots music
and courageous
love-filled messages.
With wishes for
your continued success,
may our shared vision
for an elevated future
come true.
To find out more
about Rocky Dawuni,
please visit:
Lovely viewers,
thanks for being with us
on today’s
Enlightening Entertainment.
Please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television
for Words of Wisdom,
up next after
Noteworthy News.
May you be immersed in
celestial light and melody.
Dr. Mario Beauregard
of Canada has received
international recognition
for his pioneering work
on the neurobiology
of mystical experience,
particularly
for an experiment
where his team measured
the brain activity of nuns
in deep prayer
or contemplation
This experiment
was the first one done
in neuroscience to
understand the neural
basis of spiritual states.
The nuns reported
the impression
of being absorbed by
something much greater
than themselves.
Please watch
“Searching for God
in the Brain:
Canadian Neuroscientist
Dr. Mario Beauregard”
Monday, January 18, on
Science and Spirituality.