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by Paulet Biedermann |
“Reggae music has been around for a long, long time; in fact, about fifty years. During that time, a lot of pioneers have worked relentlessly to pave the way for the music to be respected as a genre that is positive, uplifting, socially conscious, warm and friendly.”
Toronto, Canada: Reggae music is approaching middle age and as such should be enjoying the perks, privileges and entitlements that are part and parcel of middle age status. Is this the case? Even if you are looking at the genre through rose colored glasses, it’s impossible to ignore the remnants of a terminally ill entity that is ravished by years and years of abuse, mistreatment and corruption. The slow, steady, inevitable decline and ultimate demise of a drug addict presents an interesting analogy of reggae’s untimely demise..
Reggae music has been around for a long, long time; in fact, about fifty years. During that time, a lot of pioneers have worked relentlessly to pave the way for the music to be respected as a genre that is positive, uplifting, socially conscious, warm and friendly. More and more it appears as if the music that was created from mento and ska is lost and has given way to a transitory semblance of what ‘authentic reggae’ is all about. This phantom genre is so injurious to the authentic reggae, that there is a good chance that the genre may never recover. Does this matter to us? Absolutely! The positive message that is usually the norm, is replaced with negative, self hating, violent and sexually explicit lyrics which is actually dangerous due to its subversive influence in our culture and to our society. Upon hearing these lyrics repeatedly, we are conditioned to believe what we hear. Our young children are particularly vulnerable. This is precisely the reason why so many dancehall artistes are banned from entering certain countries. So, if these lyrics are dangerous and immoral for other countries and cultures, why would it not be dangerous for Jamaica? Should we equate our current state to the evolution of humanity and society? Well with shady award shows, immoral lyrics…will reggae ultimately be obsolete? Only the master called time will tell.
~contributed~
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