Legends passing......future of reggae

[Mystikal Gong]

Just a topic......

With more & more legends of reggae passing on & some aging, what is the future of reggae? Yes, we might still be having the roots & culture sounds from the 70's & 80's, but do we have new up and coming artists who are going to rock us, not digitally & technologically?

What's your take on it.....?

JAH Guide, Selah!
Mystikal Gong

[ice]

the answer is easy: there is no future...I dare say 99% of what was recorded between the early 70s and the mid 80s was better than everything that was recorded since

[Rootsman]

imo the future of reggae will be heavily reliant on record companies making the music from the classic period of reggae (70-85 say) readily available to the buying public at an affordable price.

The artists from the heyday are either dead or are passed there best to warrant making studio recordings. Those that are making records are producing nothing like the standard of there output from the classic era.

Original vinyl is either extremely rare and the records that are available are selling at vastly inflated prices. So this is a market that is really only an option for the priviliged few.

Downloads of old music is an option but its an option that is killing the record industry in the fact that they are having to concede defeat and make there own music available in this format.

By doing so they are prodocing less music in vinyl and CD format which then pushes up the prices of reissued vinyl and CD because no sooner are they released they become hard to find.

I personally loathe downloads as I like to read liner notes as a medium to learning more about the music to which I am listening. To make quality liner notes cost money, money which the record companies don`t want to invest as its no longer cost effective for them.

Also without the financial investment the remastering and editing suffers so the sound quality diminishes and you are left with an abundance of dodgy overpriced hard to find music with poor sound quality that just don`t merit the prices that is having to be paid.

This is the same with many genres of music but unfortunately the reggae listener is suffering more than most because of the instability of how the music business in Jamaica was run with all the ripping off, double dealing and no copywrite laws.

Who really knows who owns the the rights to much of the obscure classic music that was made?

All this makes it even harder to get the music we want to hear reissued to a high standard that will genuinely satisfy the record buyer.

Without labels like Pressure Sounds, Makasound, Moll Selecta and other like these the reggae buyer would be suffering even more than they are now.

You only have to look and see what has happened with the Blood and Fire label, Auralux, Sanctuary and many others to see how fragile the future is for reggae.

The current crop of artists are doing there thing in there own way using modern technology to keep the music alive but there is no substitute for listening to classical reggae from an era which is sadly long gone.

Many of the artists died years ago and unfortunately the music is going the same way.

Dave

[Karl NZ]

Hey Rootsman,
Add Heartbeat to the list of bygone labels there man. Lets just hope Pressure Sounds and VP dont go the same way or we will be having to get it all from labels like DubStore in Japan with thier very costly prices. I am hopintg Universal see the error of their ways and start another decent re issue of the Trojan and associated labels of reggae they have under their umberella. I also hope that someone takes up the Studio One Cat and gives it the re issue it needs in decent re mastered form without all the additions that Coxsone made in the 80's to some of the more classic stuff making it almost un listenable.

Take it Easy,
Karl NZ

[david roots]

ice and rootsman got it right...reggae is leaving us in a fast way..it is nice to say that i have a hand in keeping it alive in form of college radio!!! being doing it for 4 years and when i get a request, its 90 percent roots reggae they want to hear....respect to the roots!!!!

[selecta bing]

There will always be Reggae so there will always be a future for it. New styles that come under its' umbrella will come, and maybe go, but Reggae will always be here.
Just look around you and see how many new bands are starting up and how many festivals are happening.
Here in Australia we have just had ISLAND VIBE and soon another festival will go on in BYRON BAY.
We have several excellent bands recording here in Australia just check
KINGFISHA, FYAH WALK, KOOII, DARKY ROOTS just to name a few and there are many more coming thru here and in NZ and all over the globe.
Reggaes future is in LIVE music and real MUSICIANSHIP,
real musicians playing real instruments.
REGGAE LIVE !

http://www.reggaefest.com.au/

[Karl NZ]

Hey Selecta Bing,
Big scene in NZ for Roots reggae one drop specials abound heaps of local acts like:

Katchafire
Black Seeds
Unity Pacific
House of Shem
1814
Trinity Roots
Three Houses Down
Fat Freddys Drop
Sweet & Irie
Hikoikoi
Sonz of zion
Tahuna Breaks
Cornerstone Roots
SolJah

And these are just the ones who have albums out and they all play mostly real instruments.And them you have guys like the Reality Chant Crew doing the international things with there riddims on the Kings Highway CD check it if you can.
The list goes on for local acts anyway dont get to many international acts down our neck of the woods but there is also a good local sound system scene not as full bass and wicked as say the british or Jamaican systems in fact its mostly just blokes and the odd sister with a deck or two and a good selection of music doing it. So as you say Reggae in all its forms is well and alive all over.
Take it Easy Brother man,
Karl NZ

[dan i]

Several trends running counter to each other here. Music sales are down for sure and this leads to labels folding each year - not just for reggae. This is hurting many artists and pushes some towards the dodgy specials market where some sounds pay silly money to hear their sound's name on a tune (Pure vanity).

BUT there are lots of youths getting into reggae, through all kinds of other music, trying to find out the roots of dubstep, drum n bass, whatever. Lots of new sound systems being built too and more (non-JA) records coming out than ever. Although there has been a worrying lack of JA releases and a real drop in their quality, the market for reggae nowadays is truly international as Karl and Selecta Bing have pointed out. Whether these new artists and sounds are all good is another matter...

Which brings me to a worrying side to the original post by Mystikal Gong,

"do we have new up and coming artists who are going to rock us, not digitally & technologically?"

This seems to exclude much of what is happening in the world today. We cannot hope for a return to the glory days of Brentford Road or Maxfield Avenue, so let's just stop pretending shall we? There is a welcome return of live instrumentation in reggae releases and bands are touring successfully round the world, but digikal reggae has been reality for nearly 30 years mate! And some of it sounds awesome! Don't knock the works of those who wrestle deep spiritual music from the heart of the machine.

If we listen too fondly and devotionally just to works from the 1970s, will we even hear or recognise the future of reggae music?

[Mick Sleeper]

Wow, what old fashioned thinking. Reggae is not something that died in 1985, everyone. Tarrus Riley, Richie Spice, Alborosie, Jah Cure and others are the modern day equivalents of Junior Byles, Johnny Clarke, Gregory Isaacs and Horace Andy. Respect to the roots, but stop living (and listening) in the past!

[NinoNorrland]

Some people seem to have this a bit mixed up. Just because the particular type of reggae that you happen to love is fading away doesn't mean that the whole genre is dying. Evolution is inevitable. Being close-minded won't stop it, but being open minded helps you cope...