Dear Editor,

The Jamaica Observer editorial entitled ‘Europe sounds the alarm and the reggae fraternity had better wake up’, published on September 26, relating a ticking time bomb to the downfall of reggae music is instructive.

The contents of the report seems to have originated out of Europe, where it claims the festivals have seen a 50 per cent decrease in attendance alongside a disproportionate rise in artiste fees — two variables that guarantee disaster.

The fall in the music’s popularity since COVID-19 brings to mind the familiar quote in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in which Brutus says to Cassius, “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.”

The flood in this instance may have been the COVID- 19 pandemic, which apparently altered musical needs and demands without the artistes picking up on this change. For example, reggae music seems to have evolved mainly out of struggles, injustice, and oppression — like a root that breaks from the hard “downpressive” concrete pavements. Hard times and tribulation can evolve new musical tastes and trajectories, and it’s likely that’s what shifted the market demand from the one-track reggae output.

Changing times and circumstances alter demand, for humans are not static. COVID-19 has certainly changed needs and, as a consequence, musical tastes. This is perhaps why reggae music has ceded ground to sounds like Afrobeat, trap, and urban as the editorial mentioned.

We do not normally sing songs of rejoicing while in captivity or eat oxtail and rice for breakfast. Mood determines sound and dictates the taste of the musical market.

Homer Sylvester

New York

h2sylvester@gmail.com