Gentleman

When Gentleman first left for Jamaica ten years ago, he didn’t know anybody there. In those days, the man whose given name is Tilmann Otto was a reggae-novice who owned but a couple of reggae records, most of which he had found in his brother’s record collection. On the island, he got to know the rough country life where the living standard is more than poor when you compare it to western countries. A few years later, Europe’s culture television channel Arte showed a programme on reggae in its ‚Lost In Music‘-series, with Gentleman featuring as one of the outstanding connoisseurs of reggae music. Jamaica has become a second home to the now 27-year old, and it is here that he found the elixir for his art. Gentleman is the prototype of a restless wanderer between two worlds. The many journeys to Jamaica have become a dear habit to Germany's only reggae star with international format and they have left a deep impact on him. Two hearts beat in the breast of the traveller between Cologne and Kingston, but they both definitely beat in the rhythm of reggae. The early enthusiasm for reggae in all its colourful variety has grown to a natural self-sufficiency and expanded consciousness which surpasses a simple knowledge of styles and sounds.