Iba Mahr

The man from Linstead is a humble reggae sensation and was able to survive the many dangers and harm of his volatile community through advocating love, peace, righteousness and spiritual consciousness.

Born as Mario Greaves on 21 January to Ms. Roselin Embden and Mr. Glendon Greaves. Embracing his african heritage he took the name african ‘Iba’, meaning Humble and Calm while ‘MaHr’ is really an acronym, meaning Mario of Harar, which is a small province in Ethiopia. Raised by his grandparents he would dance every Sunday evening to his grandfather’s stereogram, playing hits from the 70’s, while singing to each song.

In 2008, Max ‘Romeo’ Smith released his first song, “Had It & Lost It”.

he said "I take pleasure in doing love songs. Essentially, I am inspired to sing about real life occurrences, but in reality as artiste we create melodies then connect words to them to craft stories that reflect other people’s lives. The energy, mood and my emotion at times may affect how a song might turn out. Feelings, be the sombre, joyful or sorrow also play a part. I now see the music making a paradigm shift from roots and culture, not that it has died but just need to be played more. Regardless of what is being played, the people need redemption songs, especially in these times of division and world crisis. I can only say that Reggae music is a medium through which we connect and touch people in any situation, so I work to preserve its legacy"