Novelette 'Lovie' Banton (left), widow of late reggae artiste Garnett Silk, peruses a copy of the programme and contract for this year's celebrations of his 'Earthday' (birthday) with the artiste's former manager Bridgette Anderson and deejay Chuck Fender. The celebrations, set for April 12 in Mandeville, was launched at the Livity Restaurant, Old Hope Road on Tuesday. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

DUB poet and radio disc jockey Mutabaruka has joined Jamaica Federation of Musicians vice president, Sabrina Williams, in the call for Jamaican artistes to clean up their lyrics. But he added a new wrinkle, by calling on media to assist the process by refusing to play records that do not measure up.

The razor-tongued Muta delivered his verbal broadside Tuesday at the Livity Restaurant, during the re-launch of the Garnett Silk Earthday celebrations.

MUTABARUKA...[today's lyrics] is like a war 'gainst positivity

The event is scheduled for April 12 in Greenvale, Manchester, Silk's home parish. The Rastafarian singer died in December 1994 at his mother's home in Manchester.

Muta began his address by taking note of a much-publicised analysis in the United States by a 10 year-old boy, and what he heard in the lyrics of hip-hop music.

The boy, he said, discovered that while hip-hop was not anti-Semitic nor against white people, most of the top 15 charted songs had the words "bitch", "whore" and "nigger".

"If you look on the top songs in Jamaica now -- and we talking 'bout people who profess to be Rastafarians, it leaves much to be desired. We could not say that these music is a legacy of the music of a bredrin like Garnett Silk."

Muta's charge supported similar observations by Jamaica Federation of Musicians vice president Sabrina Williams, who, speaking to female artistes at a University of the West Indies symposium recently, urged local female artistes to take a positive path and admonished male deejays for limiting themselves to negative themes.

Local popular music, Muta argued, is "losing its hold, losing its vibrancy, losing its compassion and its joy, where instead of making the listener feel joyful, it has the effect of making people feel angry."

He then took on the disc jockeys.

"We don't hear nutten, especially from 2:00-6:00 pm, pon di radio. Is like a war 'gainst positivity. Is like di DJ dem inna Jamaica pon every one of the radio station dem, including di one whe me deh pon, IRIE FM, is like yuh musn't hear nutten positive in di day. And den when di positive come everybody gone to sleep."

Local media, he said "was one of the most destructive elements inna di minds of the people dem...di media in Jamaica has created havoc because you don't have to play negative expressions bceause a man is popular or because a man wah bus. Mek him go by a car first..."

Bounty Killer, Sizzla, Anthony B, Mykal Rose, Junior Kelly, Warrior King and Wayne Marshall, will headline a slate of local acts for the Silk Earthday event. Also billed to appear are acts from Israel, Japan and Holland.

'What was I thinking?' Chris Brown speaks out

Fashion Saturday

Colourful Coif