“Life that I chose” is a song by UK band Real Remedy. The philosophy underlying the song has a lot in common with the Aspecks ethos. So we felt compelled to make this video as a visual accompaniment. Check out the Real Remedy at their myspace www.myspace.com/realremedyuk
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I met Ras Don Manuel in 2007 in Cape Town, South Africa where I had occasion to do an internship with the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS). The first thing you must know is that Don Manuel has no shortage of things to say.  He’s an Angolan-born Spanish and Portuguese-speaking Rasta who makes Afro-Cuban reggae music inspired by his experience from growing up in Cuba.  He’s well travelled and is a Capoiera Master/Instructor.  Both being immigrants; we often found ourselves comparing our locality at the time to other places in the world with which we were familiar and discussing our ‘world views’.  It made for interesting conversation, which (along with other topics) inspired this interview.

In part I, Don Manuel introduces himself.

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During his lifetime, Bruce Lee formulated a complex personal philosophy that was a synthesis of Eastern and Western ideas that promoted the virtues of knowledge and total mastery of one’s self. A clear example of this can be shown from Bruce himself, whilst talking about his son.

“Brandon is being brought up in the midst of two cultures. There are good points in Chinese culture; there are good points in Occidental culture. He will be taught to take some principles from one, some from the other. Brandon will learn that Oriental culture and Occidental culture are not mutually exclusive, but mutually dependent. Neither would be remarkable were it not for the existence of the other.”
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