Lutan Fyah

While it’s rare to encounter an artist, in reggae or in music at large, who has been as prolific as Lutan Fyah while remaining consistently inventive, it’s rarer still to meet a person with such exceptional ability in so many areas of the brain. Born Anthony Martin in Spanish Town, Jamaica, in 1975, Fyah was trained as an architect and played professional football before deciding to pursue music full-time. Once he did, there were, perhaps predictably, no half measures. Beginning with his 2004 full-length debut, Dem No Know Demself—but especially since 2006’s constantly evolving, deeply evocative Phantom War—Fyah’s catalogue has revealed itself as one of the richest and most nuanced to emerge from Jamaica in the 21st century. With a distinct but pliable voice that communicates pain and joy with similar ease, Fyah continues to blaze ahead with daring songs that see introspection and celebration as mirror images of one another.