Larry McDonald Jamaican percussionist talks about his music and Gil Scott Heron

Larry McDonald is a Jamaican percussionist, born in Port Maria in Jamaica in 1939. Larry first started to play congas with #Carlos Malcolm band in the 1960s and also with Toots Hibbert of the Grammy Award winning band Toots and the Maytals as well as the Count Ossie Band. He plays a wide variety of traditional percussion instruments.McDonald has a nearly 50 year history of recording and performing with a wide variety of artists, such as #GilScott-Heron, and Taj Mahal.

In 2009, McDonald released his first solo album "Drumquestra" on which he united many of his former band mates from across his career, in an orchestra of drummers, including Sly DunbarUziah Thompson a.k.a. "Sticky" of Bob Marley and the Wailers and the former Count Ossie drummers under their later mantle "Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari" drummers.

Drumquestra also featured former frontmen from bands Larry performed and recorded with, including Toots Hibbert, Bob Andy, #Mutabaruka, Stranger Cole and Dollarman. The album was recorded at a live session at Harry J Studios in Kingston Jamaica by Steel Pulse producer Sidney Mills for Malik Al Nasir's MCPR label in the UAE, who released the album in 2009. MCRP also released two singles off the album the same year, "Head Over Heels" Featuring Dollarman and Sly Dunbar and "Set The Children Free" Featuring Toots Hibbert, the latter of which was subsequently re-mixed for dance-floors by Lenny B.

Shortly after the album was released, Larry was honoured in July 2011, at the 14th annual 'Tributes to the Greats' award ceremony in Jamaica, with a lifetime achievement award for his 50 year contribution to Jamaican music.

On Friday 22 March 2013 Larry took to the stage at The UN General Assembly in NYC with Steel Pulse as part of the UNESCO's International Slavery