His Stage Is The Square

For several days each week, Luko Adjaffi, self proclaimed "international singer/songwriter," broadcasts his message from "the pit" near Out-of-Town News.

The 27-year-old performer--sporting trademark black spandex pants and dreadlocks--breathes new life into Bob Marley tunes, often hopping up and down as he sings and plays his guitar.

But Adjaffi is no ordinary street musician. He typically attracts some of the largest audiences of any act in the Square.

He has a manager, a business card, and a toll-free number (1-800-666-LUKO). In December, he will release his second solo C.D., "Passion." And he's all set to begin work on his autobiography.

Adjaffi plays the Square with the hope of one day making it big, but he says he doesn't care about earning a lot of money. The son of wealthy Haitian nationals, he's already been rich. Instead, Adjaffi says, he hopes to leave his audiences with a message about peace.

"Let's get together and feel alright," he sings. And Adjaffi means it.

"I am trying to get people together," he says in a heavy Carribean accent. "Wake up! Let's get together. Do not blame people, let's move on."

Adjaffi describes himself as a solitary man who likes to take long walks by the Charles River in order to get away from the city.

"I've been through so much in my life," he says, "I feel like a 60-year-old man inside."

The musician began singing in a Haitian church when he was five years old. His parents emigrated to Europe in 1978 to escape political turmoil. After several years in Belgium, France and Germany, Adjaffi came to Cambridge in 1986.

After the musician spent two years and a record release with the reggae band Infinite Roots, Adjaffi's manager coaxed him into pursuing a solo career.

Adjaffi has played the Park Street T station and several local clubs for two years, but he says the Square will always be closest to his heart. "Harvard Square is not like the street for me, it's like a stage," he says.

Adjaffi says he plans to shoot parts of his first music video in the Square. He hopes to make enough money to open a school for Cambridge street musicians.

Despite his own wealthy past, Adjaffi says Harvard students, "Live in a sort of fantasy reality."

"When you reach $300,000 in the bank and your parents give you a BMW and you are in Harvard and you are healthy, I don't think you have to worry," he says.

Still, Adjaffi says he is very grateful to Harvard students for supporting his music.

"Harvard students, they are my friends,"