The Schism Between Bob Marley and Mavado

In his article titled From Bob Marley To Mavado in the In Focus segment of the Sunday Gleaner, February 17, 2008, Ian Boyne certainly threw down the gauntlet to the dancehall academia when he stated that "we need to bring a serious social scientific analysis to the music, rather than the emotionalism and glandular reflexive defence of dancehall against its supposed middle-class despisers". I endorse this call and agree with a lot of what he said in his article concerning dancehall music.

Boyne's essential point is that unlike reggae, dancehall has "lost its revolutionary and transformative force and has become reactionary". Boyne further states that "nobody has the guts to deal with these issues", so during Reggae Month, "we are busy holding concerts, exhibitions and talk shops, without seriously engaging the issue of our music and its impact on socio-economic phenomena".

While this may be true, in regards to dancehall academics - and I have no proof - Ian can rest assured that in some sections of the reggae fraternity, this is a very sore point' a subject discussed ad nauseam. The problem is that these discussions do not filter down to the average citizen. As for dancehall's practitioners and fans, they are largely totally oblivious to the debate.

I know, for instance, that the leadership of both the Jamaica Federation of Musicians (JFM) and the Jamaica Association of Vintage Artistes and Affiliates (JAVAA) are very concerned, do not support and agonise constantly about the violent lyrics and bigotry of dancehall, which aid to brand Jamaica as a crime-infested and sadistic society. Also, if you speak with the more successful tour managers, or the artistes who regularly tour, they will tell you, without any prompting, the negative impact the unsavoury content of dancehall is having on their careers, as well as the medium term prospects of the industry.

But let us be clear on what is the real source of our problems, for fear we shoot the messenger. Ian himself alluded to this when he proffered that "Dancehall is a reflection of the society - both downtown and uptown. An uptown devoid of any ideology outside of hedonism and atomism; an uptown driven by crude commercial and market-driven interests, sold downtown the ideology of materialism and hedonism."

Surely this column cannot be accused of not having "the guts to deal with these issues". Interestingly, I assumed that by now, my own views on the matter were nothing short of reiterant and point to two of my more recent articles in support. In an edition of this column titled Neo-Liberalism's Gift To Dancehall (Sunday Observer, April 1, 2007), I advanced a similar, yet deeper polemic, "Existence in Jamaica, for the majority of our people today is nothing short of brutal. By the 1980's neo-liberalism was embraced as the world's new doctrine and religion. Henceforth, the credo was "money talks and bullshit walks".

Talk of Blackness, Africa, Nkrumah, Garvey and fashions like the dashiki and Nubian knots were taboo- except where it was on conspicuous display in our quaint tourist capitals. The new approach to government was minimalist and public funding of social organisations was either severely slashed or completely withdrawn. Since the 1990s, we have reaped the whirlwind. The vacuum in our community life left social space only for sex, drugs, violence and the tagline 'the almighty dollar rules', all mirrored by our music". a by-product of poor education and deficient socialisation.

In A Longing For Self-Worth (Sunday Observer, May 27, 2007), my fundamental analysis was, "in order to change the lyrics and orientation of the Dancehall artistes, the society has to begin to repair the oppressive, brutal underlying, social conditions and stimuli which [de]motivates and inspires their work." This, while bearing in mind that by the time they are six years old, 30 per cent of our children residing in the inner cities of Kingston and St. Andrew, have witnessed a death by violent means.

Further, "forty years of minimum economic growth in the formal sector of the economy, contraction of agriculture and the consequent erosion of rural economies and communities, injustice, unemployment, social displacement, the lack of [social] infrastructure which facilitates integration, the destruction of quality family life, urban squalor and continuous political and gang violence have left psychological scars on our youth population tantamount to ictus."

I also made the point in Neo-Liberalism's Gift To Dancehall that similarly, "as a consequence of the same pervading social conditions across the American continent, we have witnessed the birth of Reggaeton - influenced by Hip Hop and Dancehall and even more degenerate, violent and sexually explicit - in the barrios of Panama, Puerto Rico and other Central and South American countries." Thus, the albatross that is dancehall is not necessarily a unique phenomenon.

In developing strategies to address this schism, I suggested that "the best way to counter the decadence and derogation promoted in some aspects and music of the dancehall is not censorship but the deliberate projection of quality works of artistes who seek to carry on in the vein of the musical style and positive - even in protest - messages of self-worth of the founders like Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff, Toots Hibbert, Burning Spear and Culture." [A Longing For Self-Worth] "There is a very strong counterculture seeking to be heard however, and those of us interested in 'reviving' dancehall must do more to promote this trend, even if sometimes, the images it portrays are foreboding." [Neo-Liberalism's Gift To Dancehall]

"I am referring to recording artistes/performers who have successfully adapted the Reggae form and messages to make it appealing to this generation and get good responses in the Dancehall sphere when their songs are played. Let us remember that there was a time in the 90's when roots music and artistes were relegated to the back burner. Their songs were not promoted on radio, their records did not sell and even when these artistes appeared on stage shows, patrons barely tolerated them- impatient for the appearance of the more raunchy acts." [A Longing For Self-Worth]

So in my view, there are positive signs, this progressive counter-intuitive stream that has forcibly injected itself into Dancehall is the right medicine; and a good seed that needs nourishing for a renewal of dancehall music.

Reggae Month Reprise

In my commentary on January 13, 2008, I lauded the new Ministry of Culture's instrumental and innovative move to institute the official celebration of February as Reggae Month.

This comes after years of vacillation on the part of any Jamaican government to wholeheartedly recognise and commemorate the achievements and contribution of Reggae music and its practitioners to Jamaica and the world at large.

One of the ironies of Jamaican social life is the fact that most of our post-colonial politicians derive from and represent the interests of the middle class. This class happens to be the most conservative of all the local classes and in the main is hostile to Reggae because of prejudices against its creators who are largely from the urban working class and peasantry. Furthermore, Reggae and Rasta are so closely associated that it compounds this backward neo-colonial instinct.

Now that the government has taken this progressive initiative, hopefully it will propel the crumbling of psychological barriers inhibiting the acceptance and further development of Reggae among the Jamaican middle classes.

Recognising the obviously short planning and organisational timeframe leading up to the announcement, I still must express my hope that from next year and going forward, the events commemorating the month will be more multi-dimensional than the current activities. Whereas Bob Marley is undoubtedly the king of Reggae and deserves all the accolades being bestowed on him, to the average onlooker it would seem that the focus is almost exclusively on Bob. To the cynics at large, it gives the distinct impression that the Ministry of Culture simply adopted the usual programme of activities normally organised by the Bob Marley and Rita Marley Foundations.

Furthermore, the Global Reggae Conference, organised by the University of the West Indies' Reggae Studies Unit, as well as the Reggae Academy Awards, established by the Recording Industry Association of Jamaica (RIAJam) while giving the month of activities more depth, these events were planned long in advance of Minister Grange's announcement. Therefore, the Ministry has really not given us anything new or substantial which would give practical effect to its own initiative. This gives rise to the suspicion that the sudden announcement was inspired solely by the intent to enhance the Marley Foundations' Africa Unite and Smile Jamaica 2008 efforts.

One of the things we are very good at in Jamaica is using a broad brush to gloss over the need for comprehensive research and analysis which should inform the planning and development of national programmes and agendas of this nature. From time to time this has allowed the general population to be manipulated under the banner of a good cause or national interest. We must aggressively guard against that happening in this particular instance.

In truth, I expected more emphasis on other artistes and other aspects of Reggae. For instance, a most obvious oversight and a simple way of broadening the focus would have been to recognise the works of artistes whose birthdays fall within the month of February. This would have included the works of notably, Dennis Brown and Pam Hall, who were born on February 1 and Horace Andy, born on February 19. Then, has it dawned on any one involved in the planning of this year's celebration of Reggae Month, that Derrick Harriott, Bunny Rugs of Third World and Marley all share the same birth day? These are all artistes who richly deserve their fair share of the lime light during Reggae Month.

While I do not want to be too quick to judge, nor do I want to see Reggae Month being celebrated superficially in Jamaica simply to advance a political agenda or singular interest within the industry, as I have said repeatedly, Reggae is the patrimony of all Jamaicans, even those who do not ascribe to its ingenuity.