News : The Real Definition Of Reggae according Gibbi Geraz

[Roots Archives]

Through out the years of the musical genres existence, its ideological definition has been a platform for debate. Various intellectual and institutionalized impressions have been grafted in an effort to refine the clarity of this task; however each one seemingly takes to its own tangent of identity.

It is as though the blend to define is either too diluted, or over concentrated.

How then can we define the musical structure of this art form without writing an entire book?

Firstly, we have to truly understand and appreciate the development of the music beyond the mainstream contemporaries such as Bob Marley, and Peter Tosh and the basic terminology of “Reggae”. No disrespect intended, but we have to peel away the layers of the onion to reveal its core.

It is the core that defines the music.

Reggae is not as many may think. A fusion of externalized influences, interpreted, and blended to fit our own cultural experience. This fact may be argued, evident by the past and present trend, but this experience happens to all musical art forms as it tries to find a place outside of its own social habitat.

Hiphop/Rap fused with classical, latin, and slews of 60’s and 70’s groove samples. Jazz eventually fused with Blues, R&B, Doowoop etc. and let us not forget the latest and greatest example, reggaeton. Yet the purist fans of every musical genre enjoy the fused experience. Some stay for the ride, while others retreat to purity, like a tribe splitting up, sub-genres are born.

As Yuppies become boomers, and Generation X gave birth to Generation Next each generation holds onto their own musical classification. Their rhythmical identity, a subliminal time machine that when needed creates some kind of nostalgic, physiological comfort zone, which for every generation is incomparable.

Yuppies, now boomers, still think Jimmy Riley is the biggest thing since slice bread. But Generation Next thinks Tarrus Riley is the man of all times. And when Generation Next gives birth to Generation Y(any child born 2000+), Tarrus will still be the biggest thing for our generation.

To each his own, and that’s a fact.

In the early days, as far back as the 1920’s, reggae was unnamed. It had no true social identity in Jamaican culture. It was just called, “Rasta music”, or blackheart chant, that these, so called “madmen” would chant and beat whilst they burned bonfires to cover the scent of the marijuana they consumed. The few Sadhu Indians that’s came to Jamaica in the late 1880’s, brought with them not only weed seeds, but the Nazarene vow, and word of mouth updates of the middle east and its spiritual practices. This influx of information up stirred the yearning few, who crudely interpreted this new knowledge to create a social ideology that other “sufferers” as themselves could identify with. Once the Leonard Howell saga took place in the 30’s, it not only further isolated these outcast, but it fevered their unstated mission of creating a social identity for the people, primarily the black indentured laborers and subsistence sufferers who could recognize, and sympathize with their cause. This was helped heavily by the illiteracy rate amongst the lower class individuals within Jamaica and as such the art of “word of mouth” and rhythmical rhymes were all simple ways used to pass stories, history and lessons of life to the next generation.

Reggae embraced this mantra from its conception quite incidentally, and once it was recognized, it became the steam that kept the fledgling art form growing until its upsurge, during the Garveyian Era that not only brought the Selassian prophecy, but with it the ideology of black heritage which was soon blended into this infantile movement aptly name “Rastafari”.

As the movement grew, so did the music, and by the 1940’s the term Nyabinghi was attached to the art form, a crude reference to the Nyabinghi drum chants, somewhat like the “talking drums” of the North American Indians, supposedly used by secret Ethiopian warriors to communicate during the 1935 Italian invasion. This would later be redefined (or refined from your point of view) by the Bobo Tribe in the latter 1960’s.

The Coral Garden drama in the early 60’s only helped to feed the fire that simmered this musical cauldron, creating a social platform in an instance for the Rastafarian movement, by giving them a very evident mission. To uplift the people, and to give them a sense of heritage, and a spiritual purpose with which they could truly identify.

The Nyabinghi sound was experimented with, and soon a new soundscape emerged. The heavy horn based influences of up-tempo Jazz, and the big band sound streaming across the radios in Jamaica during the mid to late 60’s, gave birth to “Ska” or a crude definition of the “skat”, cool cat horn driven up-tempo jazz of the 50’s/60’s that in itself, gave way to Rock.

Once the R&B era of the early to mid 60’s rolled around, the experimentation spawned rocksteady. But the greatest catalyst for the music’s rapid evolution would only arrive once H.I.M Haile Selassie , Emperor Of Ethiopia, visited Jamaica in the late 60’s. The “in the flesh” evidence that the black dynasty was no myth exploded the movement to such a level, it became a cause for concern once it reached the confines of middle and upper class Jamaica in the late 60’s.The existing social strata within the island forced an ideological segregation within the movement, the two most popular being the Bobo and the 12 tribe.

This split contrast in “Rasta” ideology was deeply ingrained in the music which emitted from each tribe. The puritan Nyabinghi sound was retained somewhat, by the Bobo along with the chanting principle. The 12 tribe on the other hand created a slow, smooth folk sound with thought provoking limericks and acoustic guitar accompaniment, occasionally accentuated with a Nyabinghi derivative.

Unlike Nyabinghi where the drum was the center of the soundscape, the 12 tribe soundscape was centered on the acoustic guitar. It is this sound that became the trademark of the greats we know today. However it was not until Bob Marley and the Gang met Chris Blackwell, did it obtain the “Rock and Roll” accents which commercialized the music on an international level.

Since then reggae has evolved, surely, spawning many sub-genres, fusions and soundscapes from its womb, the latest being Reggaeton. Yet despite all the various children that have been derived from Reggae it has not lost its core identity. We the listeners have just forgotten it.

Reggae in its true essence is not only an art form. But it is the cultural epitaph of the Jamaican people; It the indigenous identity of a proud nation which has influenced millions worldwide. It is the voice of Rasta, and as this generation redefines the sound, reggae at its core will always be the music of reason.

Selah

Gibbi Geraz


*source : [riddimja.com](http://www.riddimja.com)*

[Abdella Hussein]

I am excited about reading about reggae. For me reggae has nothing to do with Haile Silasie. Reggae came from Arsi Oromotv tribes living in Ethiopia. Ragaa means foretell. Our people used to fortell about wehather, destiny and others just by looking at the movement of stars or many everyday natural events. On the raga ceremony they have a drum with it. The ceremony was calleed Sekara and begins with Hoho ho bamadoo hoya. After Haile selases ancestors sold us as slaves we took that tradition with us to Jama Hikaa (not Jamaika) meaning - release the people. I am trying to gather information to write a book about it. I have reasonable evidence that reggae is Sekara. Please anyone having info on slave trade from Ethiopia and other related jamaikan history e-mail me. This is correcting distorted history. I used to participate with Desmond Martin who is now in Shashemane in Ethiopia. Why did Haole Selasie brought Jamaicans to Shashemane? Guilty Conscious!? Why did no one accepted Jamaicans in their effort to return home? I know feww ansers. I am gathering more info. Please anyone having books, videos etc help me. In case we have doubt we will go to genetic analysis to locate where the Jamaicans are and the reggae, Ragaa and Sekara. Thanks.
Chciago, USA

[Guest]

Reggae in its true essence is not only an art form. But it is the cultural epitaph of the Jamaican people; It the indigenous identity of a proud nation which has influenced millions worldwide. It is the voice of Rasta, and as this generation redefines the sound, reggae at its core will always be the music of reason.

meditate!

For me reggae has nothing to do with Haile Silasie.

just one question... are you a religious person?

[Kanani]

What does "in the flesh" mean?

[zionawit]

Haile Selassie invited jamaicans to live in shashamane because when he saw the outpouring love of the rastafarians for him and ethiopia, and knew of their hope of repartriation to africa, as the decendants of slaves, he offered them the land in Ethiopia. It was not out of guilt or any other reason, just out of love and joy to see how they embraced ethiopia as a mother land. Rasta looked to Ethiopia more than west africa because of biblical reasons and His majesty being the desendant of King solomon and queen of sheba, so rastas focus on the biblical foundation

[tsionawit]

hey i ant to know the meaning of my name Zionawit