Buju Banton - Contributed

Recently I was revisiting one of my favourite albums ever, Daweh Congo's Militancy, playing the first track over and over again in the process.

It is well over four minutes of riveting roots reggae, Daweh Congo's voice dipping into near hoarseness at points, then lifting as he sings the words "physical redemption" in the chorus, which begins "travel east to Zion...".

It got me to thinking that the east is a pretty popular point on the compass for reggae. There is Willie Williams' Far East, on the rhythm that is synonymous with the song (other, later cuts on it are Shabba Ranks' Just Reality and Buju Banton's Murderer). In it Williams sings "some going to the west, some going to the north, some going to the south and even to the far east".

Burning Spear takes the east even further, as in his days of remaking his earlier hits Ol' Marcus Garvey was retitled Further East of Jack.

Buju Banton deejayed "I know the east is the best" in Til I'm Laid To Rest from the standout Til Shiloh album, while on the more uptempo side of the deejay coin Bounty Killer declared "so me saddle to de east, de mission in de wes' it is already complete".

And how could I forget the Skatalites' Eastern Standard Time?

However, it is not until recently that the eastern parish of St. Thomas has become known for entertainment, what with Morgan Heritage, Bushman, Natty King and Tarrus Riley connected with the parish. Then, of course, there is the Morgan family show 'East Fest', which makes a return after last year's rest year, as well as Bounty Killer hosting his 'Saddle to the East' there last year.

Of course, while the east and west are notable directions in Jamaica, it is not the same for north and south as, despite the 'north coast' and 'south coast', the relatively narrow width of the island means that we have been socialised into thinking more about east to west when it comes to distance.