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Band · Montego Bay, Jamaica · since 2022 · rising

Ironside Ras & the Burning Drums

A late-blooming roots band built around a grey-bearded elder and a circle of hand drummers. Their songs are slow, serious and spiritual, made for the quiet before the day starts.

Played on Roots & Riddim Breakfast with Winston "Winnie" Blake

Their story

After decades as a fisherman and drum-circle elder around Montego Bay, Ironside Ras formed the Burning Drums in 2022 with younger players from his village. Their 2023 debut "Fire Keepers" was recorded in a single night by the shore, and the 2025 follow-up "Grounation Morning" brought them a wider audience. They are late arrivals to recording with a lifetime of songs behind them.

The band

  • Ironside Ras (Winston Barrett) lead vocals, chants
  • Kofi Anderson funde and repeater drums
  • Zadie Powell akete drum, percussion
  • Leroy Whyte bass
  • Hope Dacosta guitar, backing vocals

Influences: Nyabinghi drum gatherings, roots reggae of the mid-seventies, Pocomania church chanting, hillside storytelling

Most liked

  1. Keep the Vigil, Dawn Will Come4:27
  2. Promise Kept Before the Sun, Hold the Line3:26
  3. Typhoon Night Vigil, Drums Keep the Watch3:42

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