Reggae gets a righteous new message: Herald
1998 article.
Reggae gets a righteous new
message
Gospel message blends with sound of
the streets
By FERNANDO
GONZALEZ
Herald Arts
Writer
The grooves and the words sound
familiar -- but not these grooves with quite these words.
Even the term -- reggae gospel --
sparks seemingly incongruous associations: Jamaican ghetto ne'er-do-wells at
Sunday morning service?
But reggae,
though often rooted in social and political issues, is also a music long
permeated by religious beliefs and devout attitudes -- and people are
listening.
Musically, reggae gospel is
the latest example of reggae's resilience and flexibility. This is a music that,
in less than 30 years since its emergence from Kingston's ghettos, has
continuously absorbed influences, sometimes across profound cultural divides,
retaining its essence while becoming a global language. The results are not only
evident in its evolving synthesis with rock, funk and jazz, but in the defining
role of dancehall, in which DJs speak over pre-existing reggae tracks, in the
creation of rap. Reggae's impact has been felt nearly everywhere, from Nigeria
and South Africa to Japan, Argentina and
Israel.
Reggae gospel's growing profile
is no doubt in part due to established Jamaican artists such as reggae singers
Judy Mowatt and Carlene Davis and popular, sharp-tongued DJs such as Ninjaman
(reborn as Brother Desmond), Papa San and Lt.
Stitchie.
But the reggae and gospel
traditions are intertwined musically. Reggae emerged out of the tough slums of
1960s Kingston, Jamaica, a mix of indigenous styles and Afro-American R&B,
the secular counterpart of gospel. (The connections are not only musical, but in
fact, many R&B stars were schooled in church choirs.) In a country as deeply
religious as Jamaica, the question then is not how reggae could blend with
gospel, but why it took so long.
"Most
gospel groups shied away from [reggae] because it was made popular by secular
groups," says Noel Willis, the founder and lone original member of the
27-year-old Jamaican gospel group The Grace Thrillers. "[But] as we see it, we
use the culture of the country to spread the
gospel."
For Papa San, who says he
turned to Christianity after years of living with violence, the emergence of
reggae gospel is simply "part of the Lord's
work."
"[God has] always used different
kinds of gospel styles: You have country and western gospel, hip-hop gospel,
R&B gospel, so why not reggae? It's just another way of delivering the good
news."
The Grace Thrillers and Papa
San, along with Judy Mowatt, appear at Reggae Night on Thursday, part of the
MIDEM Latin American & Caribbean Music Market convention in Miami Beach.
(The great South African singer Lucky Dube, a terrific exponent of African
reggae, and Third World from Jamaica, are also performing at MIDEM [a French
acronym for International Market of Record and Music Publishing]. For full
lineup of MIDEM showcases, see Page 3I.)
Gospel's changing
image
Reggae gospel arrives on the
musical scene at an intriguing
time.
Old, established notions of
Christian music have been exploded in recent years to include not only stirring
church choirs and earnest balladeers but speed metal and rap bands. Fueled in
part by these changes, gospel music's growth is reflected not only in ticket and
CD sales, but in serious investment by major music conglomerates and increasing
exposure on television and
radio.
Reggae has powerful ties to
Christianity. For much of its existence, it has been imbued by Rastafarianism, a
part religious, part black-consciousness movement with a strong biblical
foundation (see timeline at right).
Rasta theology is rooted in certain
verses of Scripture from both the Old and New Testament; in fact, some scholars
note that by the mid '50s Rastas used European church hymns at their meetings.
Also, Rastas, who see themselves as Israelites, espouse the idea of returning to
Africa, the true, lost home of the black
man.
Rastafarianism was particularly
popular with Jamaica's poor and disenfranchised; its religious and
sociopolitical overtones would infuse much of reggae's lyrics and
artists.
Father to
son
The continued presence of gospel in
reggae is perhaps best symbolized by the unbroken thread between the work of
reggae star Bob Marley, who, critics say, was influenced by his mother's gospel
singing, to that of his son Ky-Mani Marley, who recently recorded a
collaboration with The Grace Thrillers.
"The gospel has been part of
Rastafarian music from the beginning," says Clint O'Neil, host of 91.3 FM WLRN's
Public Radio Overnight and Sounds of the Caribbean. "If I play you one of Bob
Marley's early tracks, you will hear about the Gospel, love, politics."
Raphael "Rae" Barrett, CEO of Radobar,
the company that produces Reggae Sunsplash, the premiere reggae festival in
Jamaica, sees gospel as a natural extension of the reggae
tradition.
"Reggae is message music and
I don't care if the message is social, political or whatever," he says. "And
gospel music is about carrying a message. [Reggae gospel night at this year's
Sunsplash] was the liveliest audience of the entire four nights. We had over
10,000 people and the show ran over three hours. People wouldn't
leave.
"This music has been here for a
while," he says. Reggae gospel night "brought in the open the extent and depth
of what was there."
Datu Faison,
Billboard magazine chart manager for R&B, gospel and reggae, cautiously
calls reggae gospel "the beginning of a trend" and puts its emergence into a
larger social context.
"After so much
written about [music lyrics' focus on] guns and money, there is a movement in
reggae toward a certain righteousness in the lyrics," he says. "Even artists
like Buju Banton [a dancehall artist who has been chastised for his violent
lyrics] has been moving in that direction and getting a very good response."
O'Neil, too, speculates that the
pendulum in reggae may be swinging back because "maybe dancehall took it all too
far -- too violent, too much [about] drugs and sex and money -- and everybody
gave up on it."
O'Neil says the
interest in reggae gospel is tangible and that it may be only a matter of time
before it translates into sales numbers. Last week, six of his Top 10 hits,
which he compiles from the number of requests he receives and consultation with
local record stores, "could be considered gospel or gospel-related songs, and
that would not have happened a year ago."
Reaching a new
audience
Despite its current promise,
reggae gospel was not readily embraced. The Grace Thrillers, which began as a
conventional gospel ensemble, didn't start experimenting with reggae until 1983.
Its first album featuring reggae gospel, He's Alive, was released in
1987.
The move, Willis says, "was very
controversial."
"We had people in
church saying we were switching over [to the secular side], and we had a big
problem with the talk shows and newspapers," recalls Willis, who commutes
between a home in North Miami and Jamaica.
"But now [the church] realizes this
has taken the message to young people. You have to take the Gospel to where the
people are, and the people we are trying to reach are not coming to
church."
Barrett, of Sunsplash, recalls
that when he announced he was dedicating a night to reggae gospel, "The
Christian side was saying, 'Hold on a minute -- Reggae Sunsplash is associated
with Rastafarianism, Bob Marley. What are you doing?' Then you had Rastafarians
saying, 'You are polluting our music, bringing this kind of thing over.' "
In fact both reggae and gospel might
get yet a new audience.
Most credit
born-again, high-profile secular artists for raising reggae gospel's visibility.
Mowatt, who started her career as a
member of the I-Threes, Marley's backup vocal group, says she is "proud to have
been associated with [reggae] songs ... and the Rastafarian doctrine. But my
spirit yearned for something more."
She says that in 1994, after a series
of personal trials, including the jailing of a close family member, she became
involved with her local church.
"I was
not really embraced by the people I was expecting to help me in my time of
need," she says softly. "But members from the church rallied around me and were
there to see me through. I saw that as a
message."
Another
story
Papa San has a somewhat similar
story.
"I lost my brother in a
gunfight in 1994; I lost my cousin the year after; I myself got hurt by a
firearm; I lost my sister; it goes on and on and on," he says. "Then I realized
the gun won't help; money won't help. I had to find God."
For Mowatt, their experiences are
"part of a change."
"God has been
calling a number of reggae singers and players into gospel," she says. "We are
not going to change the style of music. It's going to be reggae, but it's going
to be different. We're not going to be exalting ourselves, but exalting Jesus
Christ."
With Marley, "we brought about
a consciousness revolution," she says. "But now it's time for a righteous
revolution."
ESSENTIAL
REGGAE
Reggae gospel is so new that
there aren't many CDs to sample. Try The Grace Thrillers' He's Alive and Judy
Mowatt's Love Is Overdue.
Classic
reggae albums, however, are plentiful. We asked Clint O'Neil, host of 91.3 FM
WLRN's Public Radio Overnight (2 a.m.-6 a.m. Tuesday and 12 a.m.-6 a.m.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) and Sounds of the Caribbean ( 2 a.m.-7 a.m.
Saturday and Sunday), for a list of essential recordings. Sitting at his console
and in between smoothly shuffling discs, answering calls, and cooing his
distinct "good morning" to his listeners, he rattled off his
favorites.
He conceded a distinct bias
upfront: "I love live records," he said. With that in mind and in no particular
order:
Bob Marley & The Wailers,
Babylon By Bus (Island)
Bob Marley
& The Wailers, Natural Mystic (Island)
Black Uhuru, Red
(Mango)
Aswad, Live and Direct
(Island)
Ziggy Marley & The Melody
Makers, Marley Magic (Tuff Gong)
Steel
Pulse, True Democracy (EMI)
Peter Tosh,
Equal Rights (Columbia)
Lucky Dube,
Prisoner (Shanachie)
Jimmy Cliff, The
Harder They Come (Mango)
Third World,
Soundtrack of Third World Movie (Mango)
Burning Spear, Marcus Garvey
(Mango)
Bunny Wailer, Retrospective
(Shanachie)
Herald arts writer Fernando
Gonzalez can be reached at
fgonzalez@herald.com
------------------
THE
ROOTS OF REGGAE
Reggae, descended from
the mento dance music of Jamaica's countryside and influenced by American
R&B, took root in Jamaica, then expanded to Europe, the United States,
Africa and South America. Its many permutations include ska, rocksteady, dub,
dancehall and ragga.
1930s:
Rastafarians, followers of Ras Tafari Makonnen (who would later be known as
Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia), emerge from the ghettos of Kingston with a
philosophy based on Jamaican history, Marcus Garvey's back-to-Africa movement
and the Bible.
1950s: Influenced by
R&B broadcasts from radio stations based in the southern United States,
Jamaican entrepreneurs like Coxsone Dodd, Duke Reid and Prince Buster take
amplified records to the streets in a sort of mobile dance party. By the late
1950s these and others started to produce their own
recordings.
1960: Oh Carolina, by
Rastafarian elder Count Ossie, is cut at Prince Buster's first-ever recording
session at radio station RJR's studios in
Kingston.
1962: Jamaica becomes an
independent nation belonging to the Commonwealth of Nations -- some say the ska
dance music craze is born of independence. Ska is heavy on drums and bass,
rhythm guitar, horns and sometimes farfisa, or
organ.
Toots and the Maytals begin
recording at Coxsone Dodd's Studio One
organization.
Chris Blackwell
establishes Island Records in
London.
1963: The Wailers form, with
core members Bob (Robert Nesta) Marley, Peter Tosh (Winston Hubert McIntosh) and
Bunny Wailer (Neville O'Reilly
Livingston).
1964: Millie (Millicent
Small) records My Boy Lollipop for Chris Blackwell. Considered the first
crossover Jamaican record, it sells seven million records
worldwide.
Produced by Coxsone Dodd,
The Wailers' first single, Simmer Down, is a Jamaican
hit.
1966: Ethiopian Emperor Haile
Selassie visits Jamaica. Considered messianic and divine by Rastafarians, he is
believed to be descended from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. His visit has
a profound impact on Rastafarians, Jamaican politics and
artists.
1967: Rocksteady is ska's
smoother, more soulful permutation, with a greater emphasis on lyrics; it
acknowledges young people's loss of optimism, the lack of
jobs.
1968: Reggae, with a rhythm that
is faster, tighter and heavier on the funk, takes
form.
Israelites!, by Desmond Dekker
and the Aces, is a club hit, and often credited for introducing reggae to
American audiences.
Jimmy Cliff
represents Jamaica in the International Song Festival in Brazil; his song
Waterfall earns him a large following in South America -- which endures
today.
1969: Jimmy Cliff records
Vietnam, which Bob Dylan called the "best protest song ever
written."
Burning Spear's (Winston
Rodney) career takes off after Marley arranges an audition with Coxsone
Dodd.
1969-71: By now committed to
Rastafarianism, the Wailers begin work with producer Lee Perry on their newly
created label Tuff Gong.
1971: Perry
Henzell makes the seminal and gritty movie, The Harder They Come. Released in
the states in 1973, it stars Jimmy Cliff and tells the story of a reggae singer
from the country who is destroyed by urban Kingston in his quest to succeed in
the music business. The film's musical score fuels international interest in
reggae.
1972: Blackwell signs the
Wailers to Island.
1973: Island, with
global distribution, releases the album Catch a Fire, propelling the Wailers to
international fame.
1974: Tosh and
Wailer leave the Wailers to start solo careers. The band is renamed Bob Marley
and the Wailers.
Eric Clapton turns Bob
Marley's I Shot the Sheriff into a top rock
hit.
Dub becomes the popular form of
reggae; the melody is stripped down, leaving drum and bass music with hints of
other instruments, often with layers of
echo.
1975: Marley replaces the missing
harmonies of Wailer and Tosh with the female trio of the I-Threes, made up of
his wife Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt and Marcia
Griffiths.
Steel Pulse forms in
Birmingham, England.
1976: Marley's
Rastaman Vibration becomes the first reggae album to reach the Top 10 on the
American pop charts.
Underscoring
Marley's increasing relevance in Jamaican politics, an assassination attempt is
made on his life at his compound. His wife Rita and several others are wounded
by gunfire. Marley escapes with a flesh
wound.
1978: Marley unites Prime
Minister Michael Manley and opposition leader Edward Seaga onstage at the "One
Love, One Peace" concert in Jamaica -- this in a time of bloody street fighting
between supporters of the two.
1980:
Bob Marley and the Wailers, at the official government's invitation, play on
Independence Day in the newly liberated republic Zimbabwe (the former
Rhodesia).
Black Uhuru joins with the
legendary rhythm section of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare on their Taxi
label.
Rockers, a highly rated film
about a rasta drummer who becomes a record distributor and encounters
complications from the criminal element, showcases just about everyone who is
anyone in reggae (except Marley).
1981:
The group Blondie has an international hit with The Tide is High, the remake of
the 1966 hit of the classic reggae vocal group the
Paragons.
May 11, 1981: Robert Nesta
Marley dies of cancer at 36 at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in
Miami.
1982: Acts like Yellowman and
Barrington Levy emerge performing dancehall, a form of reggae in which a DJ
plays a previously recorded tune and talks or sings over it. Dancehall lyrics
and messages would become cruder; some consider it the precursor to
rap.
1986-89: The early years of ragga
(or raggamuffin) distinguishes itself from the similar dancehall with an amalgam
of rapping, hip-hop and electronic beat. Reggae's "digital" era
begins.
1987: Peter Tosh is murdered,
shot in the back of the head by gunmen demanding money as he lay on the floor of
his home in Kingston.
1989: Chris
Blackwell sells Island Records to Polygram for a reported $300
million.
1993: DJ reggae star Shabba
Ranks' album X-tra Naked wins a Grammy, making him the first DJ artist to win
two consecutive Grammy awards (he won in '92 for As Raw As
Ever).
Researched and written by Herald
Researcher Gay Nemeti
Posted: Fri - February 7, 2003 at 01:27 PM