Building A Consensus Of Indignation - Bruce Golding

Groundins

By: Charles H.E.Campbell

Without taking too many tales out of school, in organising the Prime Minister's reception for the Reggae fraternity on Sunday, February 8, Junior Lincoln and I- forever the insurgents - brought off a coupe.
Mutabaruka made a passionate plea for immediate government action to tackle the moral crisis facing the Reggae industry and society at large.

There was some initial consternation to the suggestion that Mutabaruka be asked to give the address on behalf of the Reggae fraternity, welcoming the birth of the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JARIA) - a non-aligned, independent umbrella body established to formalise and regulate the Reggae industry, with the primary aim of influencing policies, laws and legislation related to or impacting the industry and lobbying in both the public and private sector as one strong voice.

At the reception, however, Muta's passionate plea for immediate government action to tackle an urgent issue- that of the moral crisis facing the Reggae industry and society at large - arrested the PM's attention. It came on the heels of a directive from the Broadcasting Commission, two days prior, to programme managers and station owners instructing that they take immediate steps to prevent transmission of any recorded material relating to "daggering" or which fall into the category of edited musical content using techniques of 'bleeping''.

Against the background of the national debate which has been raging since then, there seems to be an emerging national accord, aptly called "a consensus of indignation" by PM Golding, who took up Muta's challenge and called a meeting with the Reggae music industry for Friday, February 13. In the meeting between the PM and representatives of the industry, including Spice, RDX, producers Don Corleon and Donovan Germaine, Bob Andy, Tony Rebel, Copeland Forbes, Sharon Burke and Jerome Hamilton, the PM urged caution in how we approach the problem, pointing out that artistic expression and certainly the Reggae genre, should not be bridled, regulated or controlled by the government. In appealing for a coalition of values and recognising the powerful influence of the music on the population at large, and the youth in particular, PM Golding called for a greater sense of responsibility, since some of Dancehall's lyrics had gone beyond the bounds of public decency and were obviously "doing great damage to our psyche".

In presenting his position, Muta congratulated the Commission for finally taking some decisive action and went a step further than the PM in saying that the lyrics are actually "an instruction manual for the youth" and therefore needed to be cauterised at its source - that is, during the creative and production process. He emphasised that the campaign is not by any means aimed exclusively the Dancehall, but more specifically at obscenity in the public sphere and made the poignant parallel of 'daggering' with Turn it Around (The Plumber) by Square One.

As I am writing this, the set next door is playing Vybz Kartel aka Adi Di Teacha's lyrics, "gun shot inna yuh bl-dcl-t head. nuff gun deh pon di corner and when mi a buss shot from di gullyside, mi naw hide".

One of the recommendations made to the government is an updating of the public decency act, the obscene publications act and the strengthening of their enforcement. The industry players present were of the view that rather than ostracise and alienate the artistes or stifle their creativity, the approach should be to putting the focus on the producers and distributors and seek to have them regulate and rate the products being released.

In a commentary from my Groundings series, published in the Sunday Observer of June 12, 2005, I proposed that "it is high time that we become proactive and begin some sort of self-regulation, accept a modus operandi and enforce standards of the industry, rather than always being forced to resort to reactive measures - applying band aids and covering up in pretence that nothing has happened or is wrong." Patently however, this proposal seems to have fallen on deaf ears and since then, the situation has deteriorated to the point where one station manager claims that to fully implement the new directives of the Broadcast Commission would require the removal of 60% of their current songs in rotation.

In his column on Sunday, February 8, Clyde McKenzie has put more concrete form to this approach in suggesting the following; "I strongly doubt we will be able to secure the kind of regulatory control of the airwaves which some in our society might be seeking without the introduction of some system of prior restraint. This would mean that there might need to establish a body which would rate individual recordings and recommend them for the inclusion on the playlists of the media houses.

Such a role could be assumed by the Jamaica Federation of Musicians; RIAJAM or the newly established Reggae Industry Association of Jamaica. Under such a system all producers would have to submit their work for evaluation to this body which would be working in conjunction with the Broadcasting Commission as a condition for securing airplay. If this body does not certify a work then it would not be fit for airplay and a station would be in breach if it carries material that has not been approved. Every station would generate a playlist from this database of approved songs and presenters would have to generate music sheets from these approved playlists."

In my view, this would lead to enlightened public-private collaboration to stem the disintegration of our musical patrimony, while safeguarding the treasured human right of freedom of expression.

Email: che.campbell@gmail.com

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