LargeUp Interview: Rolling with Martei Korley

Words by Jesse Serwer, Photos by Jenny McLaughlin—

If you’ve followed reggae music over the last 15 years, you’ve seen the work of Martei Korley. The Kingston and NYC-based photographer has snapped cover images for albums by Beres Hammond, Busy Signal and I-Wayne, to name a few, and for magazines such as Trace. As LargeUp’s co-founder, creative director and chief photographer, he’s also responsible for the look of this site, taking many of the memorable images that have distinguished us as the web’s top destination for Caribbean music and culture.

Now, Martei is stepping out as a reggae singer himself, with the release of his Kingston Konfidential EP later this month. Today, for International Reggae Day, he unveiled his first music video, for “Couldn’t Be Wrong,” a tale of long-distance love shot between his two homes of NYC and JA. As Martei reminded us on a recent afternoon bike ride through Brooklyn, pedaling between his favorite NYC Caribbean food spots Glenda’s Restaurant and Long Life Vegetarian in Crown Heights, he’s no stranger to making music. He’s been singing since he was a child, and played bass for bands in his birthplace of Copenhagen, Denmark and NYC, well before starting his career in photography.

Read the interview here.

LargeUp: Why Glenda’s and Long Life Vegetarian?

Martei Korley: Glenda’s has the best roti skin around. Flaky and non-greasy. And it’s made by women with lots of years of experience in the art of, dare I say, the perfect roti. Long Life Vegetarian has fruit moss—Irish moss made without milk. Most Irish moss is made with dairy and it’s thick and desert-like. This is refreshing, non-cloying. Perfect for a vocalist.

LU: How long have you been singing?

MK: I have been singing since I was a child. Funny enough, I used to sing in church. Regular rehearsals, and Sunday performance, with a big choir. I started to write my own songs, and decided to record them as a way of me contributing to the music I love. Being that I used it so much, I felt like I had to. Reggae is always on my mind.

LU: You spent your early years in Denmark. How were you introduced to reggae?

MK: I first became aware of reggae by hearing Bob Marley. Something about the rhythm just resonated with me. I had been brought up listening to a lot of soul by my mother. And my environment had a lot of rock music. So reggae was a natural choice.

LU: How did you get involved with documenting reggae as a photographer?

MK: Before actually working as a photographer, I somehow managed to work hard enough at photography that I was able to kind of document live shows and those kind of things in a meaningful way. Sometimes, I would get the occasional gig out of it. I wanted to create more emotive images, because the music was emotive to me. Growing up in a very homogenous society, there were few positive black role models and I guess that even at that early stage, the royal appearance of Rastafari, which is in reality an expression of the West African kingship and social construct, had a profound influence and piqued my interest.

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LU: When did you decide that besides for documenting this music, you needed to also contribute to it as an artist?

MK: It’s another part of my creativity that’s sovereign, and I need to let it breathe, I need to share it. Besides, what I feel about music informs my photography in so many ways.

I think it’s been going hand in hand, always. Somehow, I got to get paid for my photography before my music, which was completely incidental. I decided that focusing on photography as a day job would keep me in a creative realm rather than to continue working in a more linear job, and I guess it kind of put me where I am. I’ve had the pleasure of working with a very large segment of the recording industry, especially the Jamaican recording industry. I feel deeply connected to it, and Jamaica. I have met some of the greatest talents, people I truly admire, and have been fortunate enough to receive mentorship from greats like Dean Fraser and Beres Hammond. It is always inspiring to be immersed in such a vital melting pot of creativity.

LU: Why is your EP called Kingston Konfidential?

MK: This is conceived from me spending a lot of time in Kingston, but this is not necessarily something people know about me. People don’t always know about my music career, as much as my photography. I have been fortunate enough that many of those people, who may be a bit surprised, elected to work with me on music.

LU: What is your “Couldn’t Be Wrong” video about?

MK: “Couldn’t Be Wrong” is about a long-distance relationship, and, in some ways, also about my relationship with Jamaica. The director tried to explore the concept by using travel footage to illustrate that personal space.