I’ll Always Be Your Brother is a 10-part mini-series podcast that explores the true story of the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church. An offshoot of the Rastafari faith based in Jamaica, the church, under the leadership of Niah (Nyah) Keith Gordon, uplifted the lives of Jamaican people financially, educationally and spiritually during the 1970s. Playing an important role in the spreading of Marcus Garvey and Pan-Africanist thought, the group rose to prominence due to their radical actions in transporting Ganja (marijuana) into the United States of America. Told through the eyes of Alan, a white American hippie who found himself in Jamaica and soon became a close confidant of Niah, this series strives to provide an accurate portrayal of the church’s history - dispelling the misleading and manipulative content produced by the mainstream American media at the time. Resulting in one of the first legal attempts at legalizing Ganja, this series promises to be an exciting, adventurous, spiritual, and informative story filled with historical facts and political insights. 

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• Production & post-production: Alan, Benji Anstey, Taylan Bulbul
• Theme Songs: Benji Anstey (guitar), Dan Boshoff (guitar), Dawud Petersen (bass), Nkanyezi Ngwenya (percussion), Conor Hugo (sound engineer), Joshua Riley (mixing and mastering)
• Visuals and website: Taylan Bulbul
• Reggae song: Lawd a Massi by Lou Ricard
• Font (ChemyRetro) by Jay Batch
• Original Photo of Niah

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“First Spliff” provides vital context into who Alan was before he stepped foot onto the island of Jamaica. From early childhood in 50s Detroit to his first spliff in 60s rural Iowa, we follow Alan’s journey of draft dodging and Berkeley hippie politics. The episode culminates with his pinnacle sojourn across the country, hitchhiking from Berkeley to Miami with $120 to his name and one goal in mind: get to Jamaica.

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• yourbrothercast.com/e1

• Production & post-production: Alan, Benji Anstey, Taylan Bulbul
• Theme Songs: Benji Anstey (guitar), Dan Boshoff (guitar), Dawud Petersen (bass), Nkanyezi Ngwenya (percussion), Conor Hugo (sound engineer), Joshua Riley (mixing and mastering)
• Visuals and website: Taylan Bulbul
• Reggae song: Lawd a Massi by Lou Ricard
• Font (ChemyRetro) by Jay Batch
• Photo in the cover art by Mark Susina

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Touching down in Kingston, Jamaica, on a warm 1972 night, the twenty-something-year-old Alan encounters a world foreign to him. Making his way to Brother Louv’s Rasta Camp, Alan is met with the revelation that his arrival was expected. Believing this is a great adventure, Alan decides to stay and learn more about this fledgling movement - the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church. Despite sickness, police raids and even deportation, he finds himself enthralled. The longer he stays, the more his thinking changes. Brother Niah Keith - the Jamaican leader of the Church - explains that their mission, inspired by the prophecies of Marcus Garvey, is to build a Black Kingdom. But how are these impoverished Rastas supposed to build such a kingdom? Well, see the title.

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• Production & post-production: Alan, Benji Anstey, Taylan Bulbul
• Theme Songs: Benji Anstey (guitar), Dan Boshoff (guitar), Dawud Petersen (bass), Nkanyezi Ngwenya (percussion), Conor Hugo (sound engineer), Joshua Riley (mixing and mastering)
• Visuals and website: Taylan Bulbul
• Reggae song: Lawd a Massi by Lou Ricard
• Font (ChemyRetro) by Jay Batch
• Photo in the cover art by Paul Von Baich - The old Kingston Road, Oxford University Press 1980

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How can a poor Rasta community, based in the most rural and mountainous parish of Jamaica, ever dream to build a "Kingdom"? Weaving together intense action and spiritual insight into the will of the human mind, Alan recounts the humble beginnings of the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church's mighty operation. Filled with ingenious solutions and strikingly frank honesty, Episode 3 explores the bold growth of the Church. Concluding with a profile of the warm and wise figure that was Brother Niah Keith, we aim to show how he inspired people with the actualisations of his teachings.

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• yourbrothercast.com/e3

• Production & post-production: Alan, Benji Anstey, Taylan Bulbul
• Theme Songs: Benji Anstey (guitar), Dan Boshoff (guitar), Dawud Petersen (bass), Nkanyezi Ngwenya (percussion), Conor Hugo (sound engineer), Joshua Riley (mixing and mastering)
• Visuals and website: Taylan Bulbul
• Reggae song: Lawd a Massi by Lou Ricard
• Font (ChemyRetro) by Jay Batch

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Jamaican Prime Minister and leader of the People's National Party, Michael Manley, came to power in 1972, he instituted a series of socialist socio-economic reforms. His domestic policy sent Jamaica’s middle and upper classes, whose wealth was widely accumulated during a Colonial age where the poor were exploited, into a panic. The Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church, sensing an opportunity to transfer the elite’s wealth into the poor’s hands, embarked on a campaign that would help the wealthy move their fortunes outside of the country whilst simultaneously investing that capital into the hands of farmers and workers. With the wealth of the Jamaican elite at their disposal, the church could support local businesses and promote self-reliance, in accordance with Marcus Garvey's principles.

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• yourbrothercast.com/e4

• Production & post-production: Alan, Benji Anstey, Taylan Bulbul
• Theme Songs: Benji Anstey (guitar), Dan Boshoff (guitar), Dawud Petersen (bass), Nkanyezi Ngwenya (percussion), Conor Hugo (sound engineer), Joshua Riley (mixing and mastering)
• Visuals and website: Taylan Bulbul
• Reggae song: Lawd a Massi by Lou Ricard
• Font (ChemyRetro) by Jay Batch

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With supplies of Ganja running low in Jamaica and a fruitful harvest months away, the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church journeyed to Colombia to bridge the gap in production. Despite the operation's success, the Church's elders soon realized that the Colombians' methods and motives did not align with their doctrine, and that the spreading of Rasta Doctrine was more important than a physical kingdom. Returning to Jamaica and cutting business ties with the Colombians, we follow the immense growth of the Church in this short 10-month window. Episode 5 rises to climax with the construction and subsequent opening celebration of the Church's new central temple headquarters in St. Thomas, Jamaica, the "Coptic Heights."

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• yourbrothercast.com/e5

• Production & post-production: Alan, Benji Anstey, Taylan Bulbul
• Theme Songs: Benji Anstey (guitar), Dan Boshoff (guitar), Dawud Petersen (bass), Nkanyezi Ngwenya (percussion), Conor Hugo (sound engineer), Joshua Riley (mixing and mastering)
• Visuals and website: Taylan Bulbul
• Reggae song: Lawd a Massi by Lou Ricard
• Font (ChemyRetro) by Jay Batch
• Coptic Heights photo from Egypt Migrations
• Notting Hill Recordings by Iben Ton

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When the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church's "embassy" in Miami is swamped by American media, one would be forgiven for believing the overzealous Jamaican church had finally flown too close to the sun. However, never inclined to conservatism or small thinking, the leadership of the church, under Brother Niah Keith, decide to be honest with the world. Designating the white brother, Thomas Riley, known to the media as Brother Louv, as the Church's PR man, Episode 6 follows the group's foray into the public lens. Detailing unfortunate busts, American law enforcement actions, American media bias and the church's open defence of Ganja as good and proper, the stakes rise ever higher in the latter half of this mini-series.

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• yourbrothercast.com/e6

• Production & post-production: Alan, Benji Anstey, Taylan Bulbul
• Theme Songs: Benji Anstey (guitar), Dan Boshoff (guitar), Dawud Petersen (bass), Nkanyezi Ngwenya (percussion), Conor Hugo (sound engineer), Joshua Riley (mixing and mastering)
• Visuals and website: Taylan Bulbul
• Reggae song: Lawd a Massi by Lou Ricard
• Font (ChemyRetro) by Jay Batch

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With Babylon breathing down their necks, the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church resolved to continue their transportation operation, regardless of the US government's attempts to halt them. Resorting to the use of aeroplanes to fly Ganja in and out of the Jamaican island, Episode 7 reveals thrilling anecdotes and reflections. New runways, new planes, new characters and new brush-ups with the government; will prove to make "Top Gun Maverick" an exciting consideration on a tumultuous period of Alan, and the Church's, life.

• yourbrothercast.com
• linktr.ee/yourbrothercast

• yourbrothercast.com/e7

• Production & post-production: Alan, Benji Anstey, Taylan Bulbul
• Theme Songs: Benji Anstey (guitar), Dan Boshoff (guitar), Dawud Petersen (bass), Nkanyezi Ngwenya (percussion), Conor Hugo (sound engineer), Joshua Riley (mixing and mastering)
• Visuals and website: Taylan Bulbul
• Reggae song: Lawd a Massi by Lou Ricard
• Font (ChemyRetro) by Jay Batch

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.