Jah Cure: scheduled to perform at Reggae On The Hill.

by MICHELLE SPRINGER

The time is here

The Cure is here . . . .

NO LONGER "behind prison walls spending restless nights", Siccaturie Alcock, known by his fans as Jah Cure, is exploring a new beginning in the free world and, in the process, "visioning" faces that cry out with sheer delight at his performances.

He sat and shared some "true reflections" with the SUNDAY SUN on a recent trip to Barbados.

"Life is good. As long as you nah feel nuh pain, yuh feel yuh hand, yuh toes and yuh hand. Yuh give thanks 'cause life is good," he smiled shyly.

Since his July 28 release last year in Jamaica from Town Street Adult Correctional Centre, Kingston's maximum security penal institution, where he spent seven years on rape, robbery and gun possession charges, he has been adjusting to his new life.

"I've been busier than busy . . . everything going good so far. All of my shows dem work out nice, sold off and ting," he beamed.

From globetrotting, to studio recordings, social networking websites and performing to jampacked stage-shows in his own island, Jah Cure is cultivating the career he said he carefully sowed and nurtured while in prison. From there he maintained an aural rapport with fans, with hits such as Long For, True Reflections and Love Is.

During the time he spent on the inside, Jah Cure invested heavily in his career.

"When I was locked up I decide not to just sit down and waste time. Me and the other inmates tried to perfect-up. Whatever they do best, we had all the time . . . . I said to myself I could do some good with all this time. So, I just use the time to 'perfect-up' my sound and keep my music up and going, so when I'm out it won't be hard.

"I sing about three albums and that is a lot of song. Three albums can speak for me."

Those albums – Free Jah Cure (2000), Ghetto Life (2003) and Freedom Blues (2005) – were released while in prison. They totalled 44 tracks of which saw collaboration with the likes of Sizzla, Morgan Heritage, Beres Hammond, Jah Mason and Phillip Fattis Burrell, arguably some heavyweights in the industry.

And today, Jah Cure is keeping positive about his future. He told the SUNDAY SUN he was able to transform his experience into an uplifting and enriching one.

"I've been doing that before I was out and for the rest of my life that is what I'll be doing. And if any other negative comes I'll just use the positive and turn it around. Take the negative and get positive. That's what I do and it works for me. This is the free world."

His fourth album, True Reflections – A New Beginning, is also testimony of this.

Mikey Bennett, director of Grafton Studio in Kingston, where the album was recorded, spoke highly of the quality of Jah Cure's music, stating that even though recording under the prison situation was not ideal, his appeal was indistinguishable.

"He have something real special in his voice, still," he said during a telephone interview.

Local reggae and groovy soca artist Geoffrey Biggie Irie Cordle agreed.

"He is a great singer. Some people say he can't perform. I don't agree, he doesn't have to jump and dance around the stage. He just lets his voice work for him," he said, speaking from Jamaica where he was scheduled to perform at that island's carnival.

Responding to queries on lessons he learnt while in jail, he was unequivocally clear on his long-standing, spiritual integrity.

"There wasn't much to learn. I was always conscious," he said.

Unlike in previous interviews he didn't promote any notion of innocence. Instead, he chose silence on the issue, suggesting only he had already "paid his pound of flesh".

"That's too much pain for me. I've come out of it and I'm in the free world. I can't take up so much pain in my life. I don't intend to carry that cross all my life. I gotta leave it somewhere," he said

Jah Cure is slated to perform in Barbados at the upcoming Reggae On The Hill concert taking place at the Farley Hill National Park.