Poet named Egzooma (?)?

Question

Has anyone ever heard of a poet named Egzooma? I don't know if I spelled it right but that's the way it's pronounced. He performs a very dark type of poetry.

I've googled, yahooed, and comcasted and I still find nothing.

Answer 1

McFarlane Anthony McKay, who recorded as Exuma, was born in the early 1940s on Cat Island in the Bahamas and died in Nassau in the Bahamas on January 25, 1997.

Exuma was known for his almost unclassifiable music in which he recorded several albums starting with Exuma in 1970 and ending with Rude Boy in 1986. His songs envoke influences from reggae, African and folk music with his lyrics dealing heavily with Voodoo mysticism. His backing band known only as the Junk Band have included names such as Mildred Vaney, Frankie Gearing, Diana Claudia Bunea, Sally O'Brien and his good friend Peppy Castro.


[edit] Life and recordings
After growing up on Cat Island, Tony McKay moved to New York City at age 17 to study architecture. However he did not complete his studies and soon entered the music industry in a group called Tony McKay and the Islanders. In New York's 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene McKay often found himself performing with such greats as Bob Dylan, Richie Havens, Jimi Hendrix and Barbra Streisand among others.

He soon gained the attention of Blues Magoos manager Bob Wyld. Wyld brought MacKay to Mercury Records and convinced them to sign him. In 1970 McKay, now redubbed Exuma, released the albums Exuma and Exuma II. From those albums he released the singles "Exuma, The Obeah Man", "Junkanoo", "Damn Fool", and "Zandoo". Exuma also garnered recognition for his song "You Don't Know What's Going On" which was featured on the soundtrack to John G. Avilsen's 1970 film Joe starring Peter Boyle, Susan Sarandon and Dennis Patrick.

Exuma left Mercury in 1971 to sign with the Kama Sutra label, where he released the albums Do Wah Nanny (1971), Snake (1972), Reincarnation (1972) and Life (1973). From these albums he released the singles "Do Wah Nanny", "The Bowery", "Brown Girl", "Rushing Through the Crowd", and a cover of Paul McCartney's "Monkberry Moon Delight". After low sales and seeking the freedom of independence, Exuma was no longer featured on a major record label for the rest of his career. He released Penny Sausage, Going to Cat Island, Universal Exuma and Street Life in the early 1980s, but none of these albums received much exposure. In 1986 under the ROIR label, Exuma released Rude Boy, which garnered slightly more attention and featured songs from some of his previous 1980s releases.

Over the years Exuma has played and/or toured with Patti LaBelle, Curtis Mayfield, Rita Marley, Peter Tosh, Toots and the Maytals, Sly and the Family Stone, Steppenwolf, Black Flag and the Neville Brothers. Exuma was even recognised by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1978 when she awarded him the British Empire Medal for his contributions to Bahamian culture.

In the late 80s, Exuma suffered a mild heart attack, and thus devoted much more of his time to painting, his other great talent. His paintings have been exhibited several times and collected by many art lovers. Away from the Bahamas he spent much time in Florida living a life without luxury. He died in his sleep in the late nineties just as he was shopping around for a label to release a supposed new album. Perhaps Alfred M. Sears said it best when stated that Exuma was, "A Bahamian visionary, humanistic philosopher and people's poet. Exuma gives expression to the beauty and power of the cultural life of the Bahamas - the people's every day experiences, folklore, myths, stories, junkanoo, rake and scrape, pain, joy, struggle and survival. His life and art reflect the wonderful cultural heritage and personality of Bahamians, drawing on the roots of Africa and the branches of the Amerindians, Europeans and Americans."[citation needed]


[edit] Discography
Exuma
Label: Mercury Records
Released: 1970
Track Listing:
1. Exuma, The Obeah Man (6:20)
2. Dambala (5:40)
3. Mama Loi, Papa Loi (4:36)
4. Junaknoo (3:24)
5. Seance In The Sixt Fret (7:15)
6. You Don't Know What's Going On (3:31)
7. The Vision (7:58)





Exuma II
Label: Mercury Records
Released: 1970
Track Listing:
1. Damn Fool (4:17)
2. Baal (6:37)
3. Paul Simon Nontooth (7:02)
4. Fire In The Hole (7:02)
5. A Place Called Earth (6:32)
6. We Got To Go (2:59)
7. African Rhythm (4:47)
8. Zandoo (4:49





Do Wah Nanny
Label: Kama Sutra Records
Released: 1971
Track Listing:
1. Do Wah Nanny (16:39)
2. Oh Silver Sleigh (6:27)
3. You Shouldn't Scheem (2:54)
4. Mine (3:35)
5. Roweena (4:45)
6. Salty Water (3:23)
7. 22nd Century (8:18)
8. Do Wah Nanny II (2:47)





Snake
Label: Kama Sutra Records
Released: 1972
Track Listing:
1. Obeah, Obeah, Obeah (3:49)
2. Snake (2:45)
3. Don't Let Go (2:32)
4. Attica Part 1 (6:58)
5. Thirteenth Sunday (3:26)
6. Subway Bound For Hell (3:39)
7. Happiness And Sunshine (5:52)
8. Summertime In New York (3:36)
9. Andros Is Atlantis Rising (3:37)
10. Exuma's Reincarnation (3:21)





Reincarnation
Label: Kama Sutra Records
Released: 1972
Track Listing:
1. Brown Girl (2:40)
2. Monkberry Moon Delight (3:28)
3. Metastophaliese (2:12)
4. Obeah Man Come Back (2:27)
5. Baby, Let Me In (2:18)
6. Pay Me What You Owe Me (2:21)
7. Empty Barrels (2:12)
8. Walking Home (2:50)
9. Rushing Through The Crowd (2:30)
10. Ballad For Sammy (2:57)
11. Exuma's Reincarnation (3:21)





Life
Label: Buddah Records
Released: 1973
Track Listing:
1. Can't Always Get What You Want (3:58)
2. Just Do It (2:59)
3. Love Is Strange (2:41)
4. My Grandma & Your Grandma (1:44)
5. Oh My Darling (1:57)
6. Painted Black (2:29)





Penny Sausage
Label: Inagua Records
Released: 1980
Track Listing:
1. Exuma The Obeah Man Returns (4:09)
2. Penny Sausage (5:05)
3. Africa (4:28)
4. Rasta (2:54)
5. Black Hawk (7:16)
6. Southern Comfort (4:20)
7. Soul Conga Line (4:20)
8. Joanna (3:00)
9. Pretty Woman (3:33)
10. Beware (2:57)
11. Armageddon (7:32)





Rude Boy
Label: ROIR Records
Released: 1986
Track Listing:
1. Rude Boy (4:10)
2. Clean On the Outside, Dirty On The Inside (4:31)
3. The Coming "Junkanoo" (4:00)
4. Shirlene (4:33)
5. Dready (3:56)
6. Fishing On The Rock (5:13)
7. Saint James Road Slim (5:50)
8. Soca 'Bite Me On My Belly (3:37)
9. Dream (4:14)
10. Bam Bam (2:43)
11. Armageddon (7:32)





In the early 1980s Exuma also released several very rare albums entitled Going to Cat Island, Universal Exuma and Street Life. Tracks from these albums were later included in ROIR's release of Exuma's Rude Boy Album.

Answer 2

Who was Exuma?
He was a spirit who came from a planet, now extinct, brought to us on a lightning bolt, who had communed with Charon, the ferryman of the River Styx and Vodun priests. When he informed the world of his travels and even warned of Armageddon, he left the Earth, perhaps tiring of the corporeal and moving to the ethereal.
He was born McFarlane Anthony McKay on Cat Island in the Bahamas in the early 1940's. He then relocated to New York, to study architecture at the age of 17. He ran out of money for his studies and in 1962, participated in folk music hootenannies. Gaining confidence, he started a group called Tony McKay and the Islanders. He also was in a show called A Little of This 'n' That in 1965, along with Richie Havens.
He was a marketing nightmare. Who knew how to peg him? Finding his records has never been an easy task. Often, through dint of color, he was placed in the Soul or R&B bin, even though his music, while soulful, does not belong in either. When his first album was released in 1970, there were sections for music of other countries, however, since he lived in New York and recorded for Mercury, it may have looked out of place there. His music was not Ska or Reggae. He was a contemporary of Bob Dylan's and Peter Paul and Mary, even playing the Café Wha? and the Bitter End in Greenwich Village, but his music wasn't quite from the same branch of Folk singing as Dylan, Woody Guthrie or Ramblin' Jack Elliott. His albums couldn't be placed in Rock; besides, who would get it if it was put there?

All of the above answers are, in varying degrees, "correct."

As the years passed, the '60's saw many streams of music presenting themselves, such as the now dubbed "garage" music and psychedelia. Folk music in its acoustic form had waned in popularity and had given way to Folk-Rock. Blues was enjoying a resurgence; in other words, by the close of the sixties, the popular musical palette had grown considerably varied.

Enter Dr. John, the Night Tripper. Session man Mac Rebennack invented the Dr. John persona for his first album, Gris-Gris which was a fascinating blend of Voodoo, Rhythm and Blues and psychedelia and garnered much critical and popular attention
on 1968.

One person who became most interested in Psychedelia was a gentleman named Bob Wyld, who along with Art Polhemus was managing the Blues Magoos. The Blues Magoos released several albums and had a hit single, "We Ain't Got Nothing Yet." Wyld located Exuma and convinced Mercury Records to sign him, in hopes of creating something in the Dr. John vein. Wyld
even participated in the project under the pseudonym "Daddy Ya-Ya."

Answer 3

I am going to shorten mine back down to 3 letters if that is ok. I have been using it on my personal work for some time, NIA works for me not hard to remember if it must be longer I shall make it so.