Can an artist’s home reveal his soul? Sometimes yes: Gabriele D’Annunzio certainly relocated himself to Vitoria, and on another level, a bit more humble, reggae musician Banky Banix did the same thing in his native Anguilla. Here, on a beach on this Caribbean island, Bunks designed and built, largely with his own hands, a small quarter, all made of wood, which he called “The Dune Preserve” and which housed his actual home. (advanced, he defines it as a “tree house”) and then a stage for concerts, an area to welcome his audience and a bar, and various annexes and from pure fantasy Connected, in an extravagant style, a bit Robinson Crusoe and a bit pirate Caribbean (many elements of the construction are fragments of old boats). In short: home, work and creativity in one package.
In making its haven, Banky Banks has also marked the Anguillan resort of Rendezvous Bay, giving it a decidedly hipster impression that other Anguilla beaches do not have: the islet attracts above all luxury tourism, and Even a resort at Rendezvous Bay is somewhat pretentious, but the sight of The Dune Preserve has encouraged the birth of a more “whimsical” bar not far away, and of the alternative tourist village known as the “Great House”, made up of houses built and furnished in Anguillan. Style, and even with tin roofs – albeit not lacking mandatory air conditioning.
Let’s broaden the discussion a bit to better identify Anguilla and Banksy Banques, as neither of them is at the height of infamy. The island of Anguilla, small as it is, has never been noticed; It is not among the destinations of mass tourism, if anything elite; It often hosts celebrities of cinema, music and sports such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Beyoncé, Michael Jordan, Robert DeNiro, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Sandra Bullock, Denzel Washington, Paul McCartney etc. But they all go there properly Because Anguilla is discreet and does not show its unwieldy presence, the islet remains semi-unknown to most.
Even Banky Banx, despite giving concerts in Rome and Milan, is not very well known here apart from reggae enthusiasts. Black like 99% of Anguillans, he is known as the Bob Dylan of the Caribbean, because he has given concerts with Dylan, despite practicing a different musical style, and the two have always known each other. When he was 18, Bancks’ life was thrown into disarray by an arrest in Barbados for possession of a joint; After that, despite not going to jail, he had a criminal record of 11 years, and he no longer had the opportunity to travel to the United States, United Kingdom and other countries where he was starting his career as a musician . In those 11 years he was forced to live “Stuck in Paradise”, as the title of one of his albums says, i.e. Stuck in Anguilla, and he made a virtue of necessity by building his home + concert hall here. He still talks about that arrest with a kind of controlled and well-intentioned rancor: “You can’t arrest an 18-year-old boy for a joint.” However, at age 69, Bancks is at peace with herself, and for a visitor who says “You’re a lucky fellow!” He replies “No, I’m happy!”.
Banky Banckx’s interview was complicated: He’s open and available, but distracted and disoriented by the chaos around him, so what we get isn’t the actual interview with the line-up’s questions and answers, but statements. There is a collage – flash like the two above. Regarding The Dune Preserve, Bancks defines himself as “my own architect” and explains that he built his home-concert hall by the sea, among trees and all wood, “to make sure The people coming here should not be distracted by nature”. He describes himself as a “vegetarian”, but (it must be imagined) not out of a desire for health, given that his lifestyle appears to be, among other things, free of excessive worries. Is; However, it must be acknowledged that he reached the age of 69 in the physical condition of a normal sixty-nine year old man, without any vows. In short, he was able to manage.
He has eleven children (“I’m so productive!”, he remarks with a laugh) and is reputed to collect women; However, the years have made him cautious, and to a visitor who asks him for a picture of the two of them sitting on the sand and embracing, he answers yes, but adds coldly: “Are you making up a love story?” are?”, where making means “are you making it?”. It takes nothing to find yourself on a site and find out that you have a boyfriend without your knowledge…