France: the 5th nation of Reggae?

[gbougard]

You have to thank the original producers and musicians and artists for this wonderful Dynamite series of releases. I just re-released those!

[Dub Thomas]

Another interresting thread!!!

For me today Jamaica is NOT the nr 1 in Reggae (not even in top 5) since according always to my humble opinion there is not enough quality stuff out this time from Jamaica (of course there are some exceptions like Addis Pablo, or some new Artist like Kazham, Jahkime etc) ... but especially in dub, there is no new breed of producers.

I would say that my top 5 includes countries like UK, FRANCE, South America (Argentina, Mexico, Brazil) and recently JAPAN.

[Gabranth]

Yeah France, Brazil, Japan are the three biggest non-english-speaking reggae-countries I'd say. Sadly over here inna germs-many Reggae is very uncommon. A lof of newschool-dancehall soundboys, and dubstep is huge here. But only very few people know Wayne Jarrett and Rod Taylor.

[jackslade]

I think we'd need a 'Reggae World Cup' to really find out

[gbougard]

Who cares if France or another country is number x y or z. Just because some French acts are selling more tickets than Jamaican legends, that doesn't mean much in terms of historical significance.

France has NEVER ever invented anything in Reggae. France is following fashioning monkeying. Has France launched any trend in Reggae??? What French artist is famous outside of France?

The only innovations in the Reggae or Dancehall scenes are still originating from JA (however horrible they sound).

PS = I'm French.

[Dub Thomas]

The way you put it with 'monkeying" sounds like you are excluding all countries except Jamaica from reggae. We are not talking about historical significance here ... which you are right..Jamaica has the nr 1 significance.

But TODAY there are also other nations involved in reggae following the example of Jamaica and talking the music a step further.

[gbougard]

The way you put it with 'monkeying" sounds like you are excluding all countries except Jamaica from reggae. We are not talking about historical significance here ... which you are right..Jamaica has the nr 1 significance.

But TODAY there are also other nations involved in reggae following the example of Jamaica and talking the music a step further.

Please read my previous message carefully. I never excluded other countries.

I just say that France has never created anything new in Reggae. French Reggae is following trends set in Jamaica and (to a much lesser extent) England. But they are not innovating.

Also, can you tell what step further has been taken by non-Jamaicans in Reggae or Dancehall music?

[Mick Sleeper]

Wouldn't Candna rank above USA as country that loves reggae?

As a Canadian, I would say no! The reggae scene in Canada is strong, but mainly anchored in Toronto. You get some reggae outside of Toronto, but there is virtually no industry / record labels / scene elsewhere. Canada has an under-appreciated history in reggae, but I would agree that places like France have a much stronger base of fans, performances, and appreciation.

[gbougard]

Wouldn't Candna rank above USA as country that loves reggae?
As a Canadian, I would say no! The reggae scene in Canada is strong, but mainly anchored in Toronto. You get some reggae outside of Toronto, but there is virtually no industry / record labels / scene elsewhere. Canada has an under-appreciated history in reggae, but I would agree that places like France have a much stronger base of fans, performances, and appreciation.

Except that Canada has a huge Jamaican population, and is closer to Jamaica in terms of authenticity (and yes, to me, "authentic" reggae has to be Jamaican or at least from the Jamaican diaspora). Leroy Sibbles or Jackie Mittoo have enjoyed significant careers in Canada, not in Europe...

[Gabranth]

@gbougard: I half-agree and half-disagree with you. I haven't heard a lot of very good european reggae in my life (only early UB40 stuff comes to mind). Our much-praised german artist Gentleman doesn't really do it for me. He's not bad, but he still doesn't come close in authenticity to original jamaican artists.

But some african productions/artists seem to reach a high level of authenticity. At least for me. I'm still totally feeling old Alpha Blondy and Lucky Dube stuff and that guy Tiken Jah Fakoly - he for real.

But yeah europe is of course still way behind JA when it comes to level of authenticity. We're on the same page there.