Dancehall needs self-examination - JamaicaObserver.com

Saturday, November 07, 2009 7:24 AM

Editorials

Dancehall needs self-examination

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

It was expected that once the Broadcasting Commission decided to ban from public radio dancehall music with sexually explicit lyrics, the charge of hypocrisy would be levelled at the regulatory authority, using soca music as a benchmark.

This is an age-old debate that resurfaces whenever the proponents of dancehall feel that that genre is under attack. Unfortunately, each time this issue is raised, people who really know better, and from whom we expect better, use race to cloud the discussion, thus leaving the debate devoid of substance and a realistic examination of the points raised.

While a significant number of what is produced by some dancehall and soca artistes cannot realistically be described as music, we acknowledge that both genres have a place, and play a role, in the social fabric of our society.

We would not venture to tell people what they should or should not be listening to. This, afterall, is a democracy.
However, we will continue to exercise our right to describe as absolute trash, a lot of what is peddled for music these days, particularly by people involved in dancehall and who mistakenly refer to themselves as 'artistes'.

Glorifying the boring of people's skull - in other words, the shooting of someone in the head - or relating sexual prowess in the crudest language do not, to us, qualify as music, and quite frankly, are not the kinds of messages we should be sending to our children.

In fact, these expressions, we believe, help to fuel a lot of the violence and sexual deviancy that have created such a huge problem, especially among young people, in our country today.

If we were to be honest, we would admit that this kind of expression has its genesis in an incapacity to understand and use the English language.

Unlike our neighbours in the Eastern Caribbean, the use of double entendre has never been a common feature of Jamaican music. The lyrics used by our artistes have tended to be very direct. But even during the Rock Steady era and the early days of Reggae when many Jamaicans artistes delivered biting social commentary or expressed their need for sexual fulfilment, they did so rarely with the use of foul or violent language.

That, however, changed with the coarsening of the society in the 1980s through to the 1990s to now.

It was therefore not surprising to learn that among the strong advocates of a cleansing of the lyrics in today's so-called music were some of our more seasoned and respected artistes - people like Mutabaruka, Tony Rebel, Freddie McGregor, et al.

These artistes clearly understand the power of words and fully well know that as communicators they can speak their truths with clever use of the language and without offending people's sensibilities. And if there's anyone who doubts that, just give a listen to Queen Ifrica's Keep It To Yourself, a masterful display of hard-hitting social commentary against crime and a lifestyle that many Jamaicans loathe and refuse to accept.

Instead of using soca as a smokescreen, the proponents of dancehall should examine and accept the fact that there are some among them who have smeared the image of this cultural expression with filth, thus limiting its growth.

They should also be concerned that the minds of their children are being poisoned by the rot spewing from the mouths of these impostors; and they should use their influence to stop the decay.

If you were to grade Derick Latibeaudiere's performance over his 13 years as Bank of Jamaica governor, what grade would he get?
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