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African Consciousness in Reggae lecture - LKJ speaks, Mutabaruka plays
Mel Cooke, STAR Writer
Mutabaruka
The centrepiece of Sunday's Global Reggae Studies Centre launch at Villa Ronai, Old Stony Hill Road, St Andrew, was a lecture on 'African Consciousness in Reggae' by poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. In his introduction of Johnson, Professor Mervyn Morris said "what is not well known is that Linton has been a student of reggae music for several decades."
So, with another poet and music collector, Mutabaruka, playing the songs as required, Johnson traced different expressions of reggae's African consciousness. The music-laced lecture proved enjoyable for the large audience, as persons sang along to the more popular songs, notably Bunny Wailer's Dreamland.
While the lecture, drawing as it did from popular music, did not provide anything outstanding in terms of new information, <span style="font-weight: bold">it did a good job in not only outlining but also categorising the streams of the African consciousness in reggae.</span> Before the identification and playing of records began, Johnson grounded his study in scholars including Stuart Hall, Kamau Brathwaite and Erna Brodber.
all-embracing definition
Peter Tosh's African was the first song played, Johnson saying that it provides succinct expression of reggae's African consciousness. "If, by black man, Tosh means black people Tosh's definition of African is all-embracing," he said.
Johnson went to Jamaican popular music before reggae, referring to the work of Olive Lewin and Marjorie Whylie on folk songs and drumming, respectively. He also pointed out that Don Drummond titled one of his compositions Addis Ababa and another, The Reburial, in honour of Marcus Garvey's reinterment in Jamaica. Plus, Prince Buster's Judge Dread character is from Ethiopia,
Desmond Dekker's Pretty Africa, from the rocksteady era, was played, as was Bob Andy's I've Got to Go Back Home. Johnson said that disillusion, as well as the conditions of the post-Independence era, made their way into many songs.
So Fredlocks' Seven Miles of Black Starliner, which was played, Johnson saying the singer finds solace in Garvey's ill-fated shipping line. There was an especially strong singalong to Burning Spear's Ol' Marcus Garvey, Johnson saying that Spear laments the betrayal - even as he pointed out that Jamaica's only heroine, Nanny, is not mentioned in the song.
Burning Spear's Slavery Days and Bob Marley's Slave Driver were among the songs identified as referring to the historical experience of slavery, while The Abyssinians' Sattamassagana and Bunny Wailer's Dreamland are in the stream which presents a utopian view of Africa.
Dreamland was played to its end, the audience making an impromptu chorale.
There was a humorous moment when Pablo Moses' Give I Fe I Name was played and Johnson said he especially likes the lines "when I reach Ethiopia I feel embarrass/after telling I Idern I name Morris', this with a chuckling Mervyn Morris seated in the audience.
african identity
Then there are those person who express the African consciousness in their names, among them The Abyssinians, Queen Ifrica, Mutabaruka, Sizzla Kolonji and The Congos.
There were songs about apartheid from the Twinkle Brothers ("if Africa no free, Black man no free"
and Hugh Mundell, Johnson saying that Marley's Zimbabwe celebrates unity and unity of purpose. Marley's Africa Unite was the last song played for the lecture, Johnson making it clear that he had given just a few examples.
<span style="font-weight: bold">He said there was a marked decline in the African expression in reggae in the 1980s, corresponding with the decline of roots reggae and the rise of dancehall. However, with reggae making a tentative revival in the early 1990s, by the end of the decade dancehall was once again expressing an African consciousness, Johnson naming Garnet Silk, Capleton and Morgan Heritage among those of the period who spoke to Africa</span>.
He also mentioned the British situation, where the sound system provided a nexus for a culture of resistance to racial oppression. Steel Pulse, Maccabee and Aswad were among those who ensured "a continuity of African consciousness". However, by the late 20th century there was a decline, correlating with the realities of urban life and the dominant consumer ethos of the time.
Mel Cooke, STAR Writer
Mutabaruka
The centrepiece of Sunday's Global Reggae Studies Centre launch at Villa Ronai, Old Stony Hill Road, St Andrew, was a lecture on 'African Consciousness in Reggae' by poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. In his introduction of Johnson, Professor Mervyn Morris said "what is not well known is that Linton has been a student of reggae music for several decades."
So, with another poet and music collector, Mutabaruka, playing the songs as required, Johnson traced different expressions of reggae's African consciousness. The music-laced lecture proved enjoyable for the large audience, as persons sang along to the more popular songs, notably Bunny Wailer's Dreamland.
While the lecture, drawing as it did from popular music, did not provide anything outstanding in terms of new information, <span style="font-weight: bold">it did a good job in not only outlining but also categorising the streams of the African consciousness in reggae.</span> Before the identification and playing of records began, Johnson grounded his study in scholars including Stuart Hall, Kamau Brathwaite and Erna Brodber.
all-embracing definition
Peter Tosh's African was the first song played, Johnson saying that it provides succinct expression of reggae's African consciousness. "If, by black man, Tosh means black people Tosh's definition of African is all-embracing," he said.
Johnson went to Jamaican popular music before reggae, referring to the work of Olive Lewin and Marjorie Whylie on folk songs and drumming, respectively. He also pointed out that Don Drummond titled one of his compositions Addis Ababa and another, The Reburial, in honour of Marcus Garvey's reinterment in Jamaica. Plus, Prince Buster's Judge Dread character is from Ethiopia,
Desmond Dekker's Pretty Africa, from the rocksteady era, was played, as was Bob Andy's I've Got to Go Back Home. Johnson said that disillusion, as well as the conditions of the post-Independence era, made their way into many songs.
So Fredlocks' Seven Miles of Black Starliner, which was played, Johnson saying the singer finds solace in Garvey's ill-fated shipping line. There was an especially strong singalong to Burning Spear's Ol' Marcus Garvey, Johnson saying that Spear laments the betrayal - even as he pointed out that Jamaica's only heroine, Nanny, is not mentioned in the song.
Burning Spear's Slavery Days and Bob Marley's Slave Driver were among the songs identified as referring to the historical experience of slavery, while The Abyssinians' Sattamassagana and Bunny Wailer's Dreamland are in the stream which presents a utopian view of Africa.
Dreamland was played to its end, the audience making an impromptu chorale.
There was a humorous moment when Pablo Moses' Give I Fe I Name was played and Johnson said he especially likes the lines "when I reach Ethiopia I feel embarrass/after telling I Idern I name Morris', this with a chuckling Mervyn Morris seated in the audience.
african identity
Then there are those person who express the African consciousness in their names, among them The Abyssinians, Queen Ifrica, Mutabaruka, Sizzla Kolonji and The Congos.
There were songs about apartheid from the Twinkle Brothers ("if Africa no free, Black man no free"
and Hugh Mundell, Johnson saying that Marley's Zimbabwe celebrates unity and unity of purpose. Marley's Africa Unite was the last song played for the lecture, Johnson making it clear that he had given just a few examples. <span style="font-weight: bold">He said there was a marked decline in the African expression in reggae in the 1980s, corresponding with the decline of roots reggae and the rise of dancehall. However, with reggae making a tentative revival in the early 1990s, by the end of the decade dancehall was once again expressing an African consciousness, Johnson naming Garnet Silk, Capleton and Morgan Heritage among those of the period who spoke to Africa</span>.
He also mentioned the British situation, where the sound system provided a nexus for a culture of resistance to racial oppression. Steel Pulse, Maccabee and Aswad were among those who ensured "a continuity of African consciousness". However, by the late 20th century there was a decline, correlating with the realities of urban life and the dominant consumer ethos of the time.