Music like Exuma

Macfarlane Gregory Anthony Mackey (18 February 1942 – 25 January 1997), known professionally as Tony McKay and Exuma, was a Bahamian musician, artist, playwright, and author best known for his music that blends folk, carnival, junkanoo, calypso, reggae, and African music stylings.

His Exuma persona, as well as his lyrics, were influenced by the West African and Bahamian tradition of Obeah, a system of spiritual and healing practices developed among enslaved West Africans in the West Indies, practiced by many on the islands of The Bahamas. He himself was also a practitioner of herbal medicine. Reviewers have often identified McKay's music as containing or invoking voodoo-related imagery, and have compared his music to that of New Orleans-born musician Dr. John (and vice versa). However, McKay clarified against the association between the imagery of his music and the popular concept of voodoo as depicted in Hollywood-produced films, stressing that his music is instead based on the healing practices of Obeah: "It isn't voodoo or witchcraft [...] not in the way that the man goes home at night and makes a secret potion."