Entertainment
Jamaica losing its grip on Reggae — Culture Minister
By Basil Walters Observer staff reporter
Friday, February 19, 2010
In delivering the keynote address at the opening ceremony of the 2010 International Reggae Conference at the Mona Visitor's Lodge, UWI, on Wednesday afternoon, culture minister, Olivia Babsy Grange, noted that if steps are not taken immediately, Jamaica and Reggae could no longer be synonymous.
"In the current arena, Jamaica is losing its grip not only on the distribution, but also on the very production of the music. With each day more and more of the music is owned, created and distributed by non-Jamaicans outside of Jamaica. While the numerous festivals and reggae shows that take place across the globe is a tribute to the strength of the music, we must acknowledge that more of these shows can now take place with fewer Jamaican artistes on the roster."
Added Minister Grange, "In Europe, for example, there are Europe-based artistes who are singing conscious lyrics and are being used instead of Jamaicans. Many of these artistes have accrued large followings and earn far more than our Jamaican counterparts. At a time when much of the international music industry has become much more dependent on live performances, this is a worrying trend."
She called for creative initiatives which emphasise training for the development of a stronger infrastructure to support the music and to recognise the new paradigms that have emerged with the convergence of popular culture and digital technology.
"We must recognise that with the Internet, all audiences have become global audiences and we no longer have to rely solely on gate receipts for revenue. Indeed, while digital technology has flown the gate for the pirates, it has also created a power shift as creators can have a greater control over their content. No longer is there need for exclusive relationships. Traditional record companies are disappearing, like travel agencies, in favour of online arrangements and home-based studios," Minister Granged observed.
She explained to the audience the need to sustain the product at the forefront of the world's cultural treasures and ensure that our people attain sustainable prosperity from it. She said as a people we must wake up to certain realities and create the necessary waves to ensure that there is no erosion to the brand.
According to Minister Grange, our global mission must be to enhance this product for the greater glorification of our people. And it will require thoughts and actions that are fundamentally revolutionary.
Speaking under the theme, Current and Future Trends in Popular Music, the culture minister challenged the conference to come up with strategies to ensure that this quality of the music is sustained.
She noted that despite the international success of the music, many stakeholders were not prepared for the business of the music and called attention to the Creative Economy Report 2008 of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development which states that "Creativity is synonymous with Jamaica."
Also of significance is the following notation in the same UNCTAD Report:
"Creativity represents one of Jamaica's most distinguishable assets and competitive advantages as a country. Through its music, fashion, dance and cuisine, Jamaican culture continues to influence and impact global pop culture..... Jamaica's exploitation of this sector is vital if it is to realise development gains from international trade."
"In fact, this has historically been one of our greatest challenges: how to control the distribution channels in order to ensure that we reap the rewards of the fruits of our creativity."
"Ladies and gentlemen," Minister Grange opined, "we must never forget that a people's worth is often measured by what they have created or simply by what they own. A country that celebrates the two fastest men in the world will be respected. A country with a product of international reputation and renown will be revered. We are here today because we know and revere the international product we call Reggae.
"For this purpose, this University is hosting this International Reggae Conference; for this purpose many have gathered here from all parts of the world on a pilgrimage to the source, to have an authentic experience or to authenticate their experiences. For this reason we have proclaimed the month of February as Reggae Month."
 
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2/26/2010
This is an issue with some mitigating circumstances. I represent the only television media that features Jamaica's Reggae Artiste in Chicago for 15 years. (Mystic Vibes TV) and I see a systemic strategy that stifles Jamaican Artiste.
Television programmes depend on record labels to service us with current music videos. There are a few who are consistent. However, there are artiste who have independent labels who are eqiuped with PR and for whatever reason, requests to be serviced music videos are not followed up or even responded to. Some of these singers have appeared on the show and are given the proper credentials and contact info to Road Managers and or PR Office.
It does not make sense to me that money would be put in to make a music video, only to have it posted on the internet. To have a music video aired on television, a download video quality is not compatible for broadcast. I know the internet is the thing, continue to do so but television is a more intrusive strategy to capture an audience. No one who has never heard your name or music will not google your name.
With Television you channel surf or tune in looking for some reggae and you put down the remote and watch.
You are now have at least 4 mins. of your music video to hook a potential 1 million viewers. Then they are motivated to go on your website, and buy your CD.
It doesn't make sense for a Reggae Singer to be interviewed on Mystic Vibes TV and have no music video or promo cd to air in support of your project.
When it comes to Chicago, there are plenty of Reggae events during the year. However, no promoter will book you if he/she never heard of you and if you are an established artiste, you have to keep the public aware of you latest releases. You don't want to lose your fan base either.
My advice is when touring Chicago, it is wise to travel with a couple of music videos and promo CDs with you. Because while you are in transit touring the U.S., requests to be serviced is being ignored. Your home office back in New York, Miami or Jamaica needs to be much more expedient.
ONE FRONT MANY STRUGGLES! REMEMBER, TELEVISION IS AN AUXILIARY IN THE REGGAE INDUSTRY!
2/22/2010
Carlos Seales can you tell me what is there in Jamaica that is created by the Jamaican people? Everything positive I read about Jamaica, it’s always reported influenced by Africa. I believe Jamaicans are a creative people, if everything that Jamaicans does comes from Africa, why is it not the same in the Africa, North America, South America and the wider Caribbean.
I think this is all about selling Africa, but I believe Jamaicans should be given full and more credit for its achievements in the world. This will help also to motivate its people especially the young one, as they will realise that they are a gifted people who can do anything.
Reggae comes from the souls of people in the inner city who felt that they were being oppressed by government and treated unfairly. They had a story to tell and that is how they told their story. If Jamaicans has a luxurious life, I don’t think there would be a different kind of music.
2/22/2010
Don Rico to the Jamaica Observer Editor:
Until Jamaicans recognize, understand, and face the connection between the Observer’s own editorial lament about “The Demise of the Activist Scholar: Where is the UWI Economics Department?” (Sunday Feb 21, 2010), and what can only – at best – be called the benign neglect by the academic intellectual class of all political stripes (JLP, PNP, WPJ), as well as the religious and cultural communities, including most of the “mansions” of RasTafri – except Twelve Tribes (whose betrayal of what Ras Sela points to as a RasTafari-Black-African-inspired phenomenon, was of a different kind) – there is not much of a likelihood that we will effectively be able to “regage the reggae.”
Most of the academic intellectuals at Mona did little, if anything, to support the ideological, economic, political, and cultural development of the music in the early formative years when it mattered most, and when it was most risky, socially. Their interaction with the youths and the communities around the campus, let alone further afield, was anaemic at best. Anyone who grew up in Hermitage, August Town, Tavern, Standpipe, Hope Flats, or Gordon Town knows that. By the late 70’s when the politicians (some of them UWI people) came into the communities with the guns, drugs, and ideologies for the youths, most positive opportunities had been squandered and peace-in-our-communities was largely over, bar the shouting.
There were some exceptions, of course; starting famously with our esteemed Prof. Nettleford who, along with Prof. Smith and Prof. Augier, produced the 1960 Report on the Rastafarian Movement in Kingston. Prof. Nettleford’s perennially eloquent advocacy and defense of the cultural expressions of Jamaica’s Black people, particularly Rastafari culture, speaks for itself, as history will record.
In the 70’s, academics such as “G. Beck,” Trevor Munroe, and a very few other “social types” would be sometimes seen at the occasional “blues dance/session” at the Student’s Union. Arnold “Scree” Bertram was the undergrad probably most involved in the promotion of reggae dances and concerts; while later Barry Chevannes developed a strong working-and-mentoring relationship with some of the youths, especially in Hermitage. Apart from those, most academics and students (even the ‘socialists’) at Mona seemed genuinely afraid – or at least seriously uncomfortable – to be amongst ‘unlettered’ ghetto youths in the dancehall setting. Tellingly though, both faculty and students turned in large numbers for Byron Lee-type events, and for the growing Carnival. Most of the Academics were content to attend the painfully boring parties in College Commons or at the Senior Common Room. Watching the average academic dance was usually a troubling indicator of their disconnection from the organic African-Jamaican roots and riddims. For the Academic community, venturing capital would have been as unlikely as their venturing at night towards “The Union,” nor the sunlit football fields at Mona Bowl that Dwayne Stephenson sings about in his song “August Town” …except during inter-Hall athletic events…occasionally.
“Scree” seemed to be the only undergraduate (apart from Garth White, who operated a sound system and lived in Hermitage) who seemed to recognize at least the economic potential of the newly emerging music culture. By the 80’s, with the passing of Marley, and with the taking over of the campus by the political Right and the Charismatic Christians, the Academic Community had largely missed the opportunity to collaborate with Jamaican youths and poor people to ‘own’ the “commanding heights” of the then-embryonic economy of the powerful reggae industry.
Academic Intellectualism did not rise to the challenge in a timely manner and seize the opportunities that some Organic Italactualism could have. It was only after reggae (thanks to Marley) was deemed acceptable, and sexy, by uptowners and (White) foreigners did the academic intellectuals’ sudden love affair with reggae – not to mention dancehall– culture suddenly blossom. The rest of the story is a largely-untold part of Jamaica’s economic history.
Don Rico.
Talawadada.
2/21/2010
The continuity Reggae requires is not being honed by the system
1. There needs to be greater focus on music in schools
2. A mentorship programme has to be developed so the art of music is protected
3. Policy has to protect how the "Business of Music" is carries out
2/21/2010
The joy that reggae instills in your soul; the easy, swinging, subtle beat; the sunshine tempo, the ocean whisper; the Jah pervasion-- please bring it back into style! The new music is harsh, cold, brutal. I guess music reflects the times, but can't it also influence the times?
2/20/2010
There are many females sing Reggae these days, but the most authentic are Queen Ifrica, Etana, and J.Cee.
2/20/2010
dig out the back catalogues theres tons of tunes that i havent heard in 30 yrs and not for want of looking.. wanna hear some tuff riddims bfo i go
2/19/2010
MR
Other countries value and promote their cultural identity, in Jamaica it is thrown away, or other country take it and make money out of it.. A couple of years ago a priceless back catalogue of classic Jamaican music disappeared. Not many people seemed to care. In England or America it would have been a big issue, in Jamaica it is not.
I am afraid I have to agree with Mr Philips; functional intelligence has to be there along with a genuine love of everything Jamaican to save the situation.
.
2/19/2010
The Honrable Minister, with due regards, had it all wrong. Reggae music is emminently and indigenously Jamaican, it is defined by us as a people and as a peolple we defined this genre of music. in addition, Reggae music is interwoven in our Jamaican heritage and culture, which makes it uniquely Jamaican. It simply means therefore that Reggae music is ours only, hence no one else can claim it ever.
I first heard this view porported by entertainers performing at SunSplash back in 1977. They argued that Reggae music would be in trouble if Michael Jackson should start doing reggae. I think however, that Reggae music would be helped significantly in terms of gaining greater acceptance and prominence much earlier if Michael Jackson had in fact started to sing reggae. One thing for sure though, he would not give you that authenticity that a Jamaican entertainer would provide. Authenticity is what those groups cited by the honorable Minister lack, and therefore they posed absolutely no threat to Reggae music.
The Minister, on the contrary, seemed to argue, and correctly so, that the business aspect of producing and retailing Reggae music is gradually eluding us. This phenomenon is true of any developing country with a product of great worth and demand on the world market. That was the same for our Bauxite, oil in Trinidad and places like Nigeria, for example.
The challenge for us as Jamaicans is to learn and develop the means to broaden our marketing and retailing of Reggae music as a product, while preserving its culture relevance. This will require entrepreneurship of the music industry worldwide exceeding our current level, especially in the primary markets, and full utilization of new technologies available to the industry. We will always have talent, generation after generation, for example Romain Virgo and Carlene, recent winners of the popular TVJ program Rising Star. We just need to develop and control the business aspect of this great music genre.
2/19/2010
Jamaica has declined in direct proportion to the rise of our reggae culture. We have cultivated a Vulgar, Violent and Vain culture that has left us poorer both spiritually and financially. Other Caribbean nations have had a measure of success in there economic growth,we however are drowning in blood and bound in chaos and anarchy. We have been in a revolutionary state of mind for almost fifty years and what have we accomplish , nothing but anarchy.
Individual Jamaicans have succeeded in every field imaginable but the national psyche in poisoned and the nation as a whole waste away . If this is culture I don't want to be a part of it. the sooner it leave us the better.
2/19/2010
Jamaica has many talented reggea artistes,but the failures have been in them owning the material thay have produced,this is more evident with the older artistes whose music is usually more sought after internationally,as these artistes have a more roots reggae cultural sound.
2/19/2010
Greetings:
What is fundamental here, is that the Jamaican Government is not recognizing REGGAE as a Ras Tafari expression. Which is a African rooted movement of African people in the West. Moreover, the people that created this expression are African and again, the Government of Jamaica fail to acknowledge this ancient African culture. The solution is for the Jamaican Government to first recognize this expression as a African Expression. Then sit with the Ras Tafari people to claim ownership of their expression. If this is not achieve in a amicable manner, all efforts for the Jamaican Government to claim ownership will be in vain. The Ras Tafari people have been struggling to preserve the African roots through the eyes of Ethiopia and have encounter resistance by the same people now claiming this expression as a Jamaican brand. Therefore, it is the duty of the Jamaican Government to acknowledge and recognize the Ras Tafari people as a Ancient living African Culture.
Perfect Love, Ras Sela
2/19/2010
Sad to say, but the Jamaican singers/entertainers shot themselves in the foot and are now deminishing faster than they grew. I guess this is the fruit of the seed of the gun/murder/ganja and x rated lyrics
that was planted in the fabric of the Jamaican society.
It is a known fact that Non-Jamaicans has taken over Jamaican Reggae Music mainly because their lyrics does not contain voilence/drugs and sex in their songs.
This is another of our national product that we lost to Non-Jamaicans.
2/19/2010
P.S. Also.... I must agree with the first 2 poster and add that what passes for music in Jam dung these days is nothing short of a disgrace tantamount to the destruction of our musical heritage.
2/19/2010
The thing is, not a lot of Jamaicans make Reggae, most jamaican make Dance Hall which is not held as high as the former. Improve the Reggae output and you will in turn improve revenue. I'm 23 and Jamaican and I must admit I've never bought a dance hall record in my life. I've bought plenty Reggae albums.
The reason for this is that the music has lost its relevant for me and my sister(15-19) who listen to the odd dance hall songs but that is like 3% of what they listen to. With the internet we can listen to whatever we want, there is a lot of competitions. I've grown tired of people telling me about their bling and their huge houses and how many guns they have. I need something a bit more intelligent which I do get from british and american reggae/fusion sound. Oh and the Marley boys, they alway make conscious choons.
I would say give us something new and exciting with reggae not dance hall at its heart. They will come. I will come back. There is a place for dance hall but Jamaican Reggae has far more potential of reaching a massive audience.
Because the message in reggae is universal, it educates, entertains and inspires; it's just lost its way a bit.
Until that time I gonna go put on some Yabby You(RIP) then some Matisyahu followed by some Massive Attack (now there is a band that does something interesting with reggae and not one gun mentioned).
Big up. Still love yard.
2/19/2010
Jamaica losing its grip on reggae is not a new phenomenon and has been happening since the passing of Bob and Peter. Today, you have dancehall artistes who are more interested in engaging in feuds than in putting out a quality product and a populace too dumbed down to demand better from them. In other cases, you have artistes and groups that have decided to live off the royalties rather than try to nurture and mentor new talent. Over the years since the early 80s look at some folks who have been putting out some good reggae: The Clash (UK), Big Mountain (Calif., USA), Matisyahu (USA), Ace of Base (Sweden), Bad Brains (US) and others outside Ja. Heck, you've even had a Japanese girl crowned dancehall queen. Why should February be declared 'Reggae Month' in Jamaica? One would think that every month in Jamaica is Reggae Month
2/19/2010
The Rastas are becoming more and more invisible, the wolves more prominent, reggae more faded into dancehall and gangsta rap. Is this progress? No, it is bastardization.
2/19/2010
This is just another step in the natural progression in the DISAPPEARANCE OF JAMAICA.
This can only happen through OUR lack of functional intelligence,wisdom,vision and identity.
We have been and are being given DIVINE GIFTS AND TALENTS, the lists have been documented regularly; However we just seem to gain minimal benefits.
SOLUTION: LEADERS REQUIRED WITH FUNCTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, VISION, HONESTY AND "TRUE JAMAICAN-NESS".
Other Jamaica will continue to loose its grip on......;consequently JAMAICA will continue to disappear.
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