I won a ruler, a pack of books, a pack of pencils and a pack of crayons. And I remember winning my first competition. So one night I was allowed to sing one tune and everybody said that I gotta keep on singing! Ya know, I remember singing back in Dominica, back in school talent shows and church choirs. I’ve always wanted them to listen to mine. So I was learning Reggae then, but I never really like to listen to other people’s music. See, every man has work to do and every man must find a way to fulfill his work, to benefit mankind. “So I left, and in 1981 Rastafari became a part of me. I didn’t really want to ’cause I was the last kid, ya know? Home was my haven, but Mommy said ‘yeah, you should go and see what’s happening. My brothers and sisters had been inviting me to come all the time. Maarten is like an hour and one half flight away from Dominica. In 1981, Nasio made a decision which would alter his life forever. Not on material things, but on the true essence of life.” I had a very humble upbringing and that was the greatest part of my life, because it set me into that zone where I was properly brought up. See, we were brought up in a country with no electricity and no bathrooms and no running water and we had to use kerosene lamps and do homework by candlelight. We had a little Phillips radio about one foot long and six inches high and that used to be the pride of the family. Like Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye and others. I grew up listening to Calypso and to Soul.
And growing up I never really listened to Reggae. I’ve always felt like music was the only vehicle that would be available to me. Ya see, that vibe was always inside of me, and I’ve always wanted to express it. I would even get beat at school by teachers because I was always pounding on my desks. Those milk tins, ya know, milk pans, and my sisters would hide them but I’d always get them back. “Well, anyone from the Village would tell you that I started making noise very young,” said Nasio. Nasio continued by telling of his musical influences and when he originally got into music. We’d then be farming with our parents so that we could feed the family, y’understand?” So when we were 14 we had to leave school because there was just no other way. We went to school from the age of five, but we never had the opportunity to go to so called secondary or high school.
I am the last of seven children – three sons and four daughters.
I look at myself as old as yesterday and as young as tomorrow. “I was brought up in a little old country house, a little one room country shack. Their strength and love has been with me throughout my life and I love them”. I ‘n I was raised by a Carib mother and an African-descent father who are my mentors, they have grown me into who I ‘n I am today. The island was named by the Caribs Whittikibuli, that is the original name for the island, until Chris-thief a Crumble-us came and named it Dominica.
“I was born in Bagatelle/Carte-Bois, a little village on the South-eastern coast of Dominica. Discover Nasio Fontaine’s biography in his own words! The following is an extract of Nasio’s interview that ran in The Beat in the December 2003 issue.