Stepping With The Times

By: Charles H.E. Campbell

Over the last eight months, the re-emergence of Third World, Toots Hibbert and Jimmy Cliff on the local entertainment circuit is a significant occurrence that many people may not have psycho-analyzed, yet there is a subtle, common strand in this development.

Third World performed at the new national indoor sports complex at the National Stadium on August 10, 2004. The attendees, which featured full family groups, showered such an overwhelming response to their performance, they have done a number of local shows. This appeal is yet to wane.

Jimmy Cliff’s performances at Rebel Salute 2005 (January 12) and at the University of the West Indies’ ‘Evening Of Black Magic’ (February 4, 2005) garnered a reaction that was simply awesome. Yet, the events featured two distinctly disparate audiences, both class-wise and age-wise and each had drawn attendees with varied cultural orientations.

Meanwhile, Toots demonstrated such stage energy and showmanship at the recent Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, that he outshone everyone else that had performed at the festival and had the audience, which included many 20 and 30 somethings who had come mainly to see young jazz/blues sensation, Norah Jones, in a frenzy. Then he won his first Grammy for his most recent effort, True Love.

Could it be that a generation has passed, and we are now seeing the elevation of these artistes to the deserved status of preeminence in our cultural expression? Are their collective works appreciated as much for their creativity as their longevity? Could it be because these musicians continually recreate themselves by keeping current with the various streams of music while remaining true to their own unique styles?

This is exactly the key to the success of Ray Charles in his musical career, which spanned nearly fifty years. Ray was the progenitor of soul music. Essentially, he fused traditional Black gospel music with an R&B sound and composed romantic songs. Later, he used this same ingenuity and with his breakthrough, Georgia (On My Mind) expanded country music to a pop and Black audience.

On a momentary digression, the similarities between our own Dennis Brown and Ray Charles are very striking. From the individuality of their styles, (check Dennis’ Old Man River, Wichita Line Man and Little Green Apples), to their spiritual aura, their sex appeal and drug usage.

Jimmy Cliff came to the fore in 1962 and on a close examination of his catalogue, one discerns the various global influences on his work- R&B, African, Latin/South American, pop, indigenous Afro-Jamaican spirituals. Toots who came along in 1964 and has consistently relied on blues, gospel, soul and country and western influences to create his music, consequently producing and maintaining a sizeable boy of hits. While Third World, who burst on the scene in 1973, throughout their career, have been inspired by jazz, R&B, Latin, African and even classical music.

These artistes all grew up in a time when Jamaican radio broadcasted a wider array of music forms and styles. The local music and entertainment scene itself was more dynamic. In many communities, you could experience the military/uniform band, the church choir, the revivalist /Pocomania gatherings, a Wake (Nine Night), Mento band, as well as a Jonkunno parade. The cross-fertilisation and distillation of these influences was inevitable, as it mirrored our cosmopolitan culture.

As someone who endorsed the idea initially, it now makes me wonder about the straight-jacketing impact of the trend towards an all Jamaican music format on radio, which occurred over the time span of a generation- and whether we should not seek to emphasise music appreciation in our schools as a regular aspect of the curriculum. Currently, VH -1’s ‘Save The Music’ campaign seeks not only to actively promote music and music appreciation in public schools throughout the US, but garners substantial and physical involvement from musicians and corporate entities alike . Pupils are afforded the opportunity of exposure to a wide array of musical instruments, styles and genres and to even meet and play music with some of their very own musical idols. In many ways, this program posits itself as a good model upon which we could develop.

Recently, Dancehall musicians and producers have increasingly used rhythms from Mento, Revival, Nyahbinghi and Folk/work songs in their music. Can you imagine just how much more potent they would be had they been exposed to a similarly diverse musical experience from which Jimmy, Third World, Toots and so many of our other great musicians benefited early in their life?

Jimmy Cliff has been doing collaborations with now-generation Dancehall acts like Capleton and Bounty Killer. Third World featured a song with Bounty Killer and Shaggy on their Grammy- winning Generation Coming (1999). Toots has done a remake of Bam Bam with Shaggy, which is featured on True Love and even featured Gramps of Morgan Heritage in his performance at Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues. These musicians have not only merged two separate musical generations, but bypassed one in between. Might I say that these are profound developments towards a positive trend.

© 2005 CHE Campbell.