Reggae
The most famous Jamaican reggae musician is Bob Marley. In 1963 he formed the band The Wailers with some friends and together they toured the world for almost two decades. They performed songs such as “No Woman, No Cry”, “Redemption Song” and “Could You Be Loved?”, which went on to become international hits. As a boy of mixed race, with a white father and a black mother, Bob Marley experienced racial prejudice from early childhood. Bob had little contact with his father as he was growing up since he worked as a sea captain and was away a great deal. After his father died, his mother struggled to support the family. Jobs were hard to find and many people moved into Kingston from the countryside in search of work and prosperity. Bob Marley and his family moved to Trenchtown – a well-known slum in Kingston. Marley’s upbringing made him conscious of the differences between rich and poor in Jamaica and many of his songs are about injustice, oppression and other social issues.
45
The Commonwealth of Nations
A Jamaican Icon
musical tradition – musikalsk tradisjon abolish (v) – avskaffe thrive (v) – blomstre forerunner (s) – forløper / forløpar ban (v) – forby unofficially (adv.) – uoffisielt pulsating (adj.) – pulserende / pulserande political awareness – politisk bevissthet / politisk medvit underprivileged (adj.) – underpriviligert prejudice (s) – fordom(mer) / fordom(mar) upbringing (s) – oppdragelse, oppvekst / oppdraging, oppvekst injustice (s) – urettferdighet / urettferd oppression (s) – undertrykkelse / undertrykking social issues (s) – sosiale spørsmål
Crossroads 10A
Reggae is a genuinely Jamaican style of music, although its roots can be traced back to Africa. The slaves who were shipped from Africa to work on the plantations during the 1700s and 1800s brought their musical traditions with them. Although African and Native American cultures had not been officially accepted even by the time slavery was abolished in Jamaica, they had continued to thrive among the population as a whole. In the 1950s American radio stations started broadcasting from Mexico, enabling Jamaicans to listen to American popular music for the first time. This led to the development of “ska” and “rock steady” music, the forerunners of reggae. “Ska” is a mixture of American popular music and “mento”, a Jamaican dance, whereas “rock steady” is a slower version of ska music. Ska lyrics were often political and dealt with the everyday struggles of poor people in the slums. As a result, the music was banned from Jamaican radio stations, but it lived on unofficially. With its pulsating rhythm and critical lyrics, reggae became a strong weapon in the efforts to raise the political awareness of the Jamaican people. Reggae became, in effect, both the music and a political tool of the underprivileged.