Rudies and Rastas

I realise this is probably about 6 posts too late but I just thought I would give you a brief insight into the history which links the reggae subculture and rastas. It seems that to most people the two go hand in hand, one is never without the other, and cannot be. While this is largely the case, I wonder how many people have thought about what this link represents? And where it begun? Surprisingly it's not all about the weed and the dreadlocks, and especially in this day and age where the music has developed to become more than just a representation of Jamaica, it is important to understand the significance of the history of the reggae subculture in its original context, not just how it has helped construct alternative genres of music with great global orientation.

For Delroy Washington, a reggae artist from Jamaica who relocated to the UK when he was young, the key Rastafarian ideas remain strong... every man should only do enough to keep him occupied in his life while he is on earth. This mentality has derived from the thoughts that righteousness means equality for all of humanity and therefore only one class of people should exist in the global society.
Rastafarians are typically peaceful, christian-like people who believe in the second coming of an almighty leader. For them, they hold divinity in the late "High Selassie", or the Emperor of Ethiopia who is a signal of better things to come and is the sole guarantor of Rastafarian freedom on this earth.

The Rastafarian message is intrinsic to reggae as it provides a common basis for meaning and it captures the preservation of the African heritage which rastafarians are so homesick for.. Reggae music has managed to encapsulate a special rhythmic continuity from old traditional rasta music produced in Africa within its contemporary aesthetics.

Dick Hebdige, in his audio material from "Mass Communication and Society. Volume 10. Rudies and Rastas", believes that reggae music addresses the contradiction in Rastafarian ideas between the search for the individual self and the search for a community. And it is at this point that ganja becomes involved... in resolving this contradiction. Over a pipeful of marijuana people express their often fanciful but beautiful ideas which always are located right at the core of the soul of humanity.

In this audio tape Hebdige describes the development of the "rudeboy" culture, or the "rudies" as they are called in Jamaica. Rudeboys and Rastas have both responded in different ways to the same cultural difficulties but unfortunately authorities have made no distinctions between the two. Rudeboys stands for everything that rastas disapprove of; violence and rival fractions. Rastafarians always act peacefully and stand for brotherhood and unity. These significant ideas are what construes the ideological content of reggae music and provide reason for the shifts in the mood and emphasis, whilst still exhibiting rasta faith in all of its dynamic entities.

Stuart Hall has also made influential comments about the cultural revolution that has constructed Jamaican society and thus the reggae subculture over the course of recent years. He believes it stems from 3 key notions:
- a form of nationalism
- an immense black consciousness whereby the Jamaican society is acutely aware of their race and culture which has befallen from the African past inherent in all members of society
- social content. By this he is referring to the majority of the population that are poor, oppressed and exploited.

These factors form a 'can of consciousness' in which the expression of nationalism is coming from the lower class, not the middle class as was previously the case. The fact that these ideas come from the roots up essentially demonstrates that those located at the bottom of the class system are those who are most authentically Jamaican and they personify what it means to be authentically Jamaican and the Jamaican identity.
Ironically this therefore translates that the Jamaican identity protests about social exploitation through rastafari cultural identity and reggae music, two entities which are frowned upon by authorities.

References:
Dick Hebdige, "Rudies and Rastas" Milton Keynes : Open University Educational Enterprises, 1977.

Black Culture, White Youth

Thanks to digital music and online networks, musicians no longer need to operate within small geographical scenes anymore. Ideas and influence can spread rapidly, being shared and shaped by anyone who's feeling them. The interactions between UK-centric music and Jamaica is no exception. For example, jungle, garage, grime and dub step are all borrowed from dancehall reggae, both sonically and culturally. This is not really surprising when you consider the great depth of reggae music dedication sites and blogs that I have come across in my many hours learning and contemplating the reggae subculture..

From sites which provide direct connections to Jamaican radio sites, providing 24/7 access to play lists from around the global network of reggae music, to those which combine mp3s, gig and album reviews to enable a gateway into the reggae culture and teach those such as myself, who remain slightly naive, in the cultural commodities and ideologies associated with reggae. Interestingly I also came across "myreggaespace.com", a virtual community heavily influenced by the Western networking site "myspace". The reggae take on this global phenomenon no doubt demonstrates the cultural impacts on Jamaican society which have developed increasingly over the years through influences that have served to detach reggae from its historic association to its Carribbean ancestors and their British descendants.

This assertion coincides with the work of Paul Gilroy in his ground-breaking book, There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack (1987). In the extract published in The Subcultures Reader (2005)Gilroy explains the ambiance created amongst British youth that was previously undiscovered and unknown. The emergence of a subcultural resource, totally different in kind and effect to the mainstream capitalist influences from white American popular culture, was provided through reggae and its sound technologies.

There has always been an element of coercion between London-centric dance music and Jamaica, with meeting points such as the Greensleeves ragga jungle projects, Beenie Man alongside So Solid Crew and Harry Toddler on the Pum Pum grime riddim, but the explosion of UK dance music in the early 90s, almost eclipsed the growing English dancehall scene entirely. Recently however it seems London bass might be kick starting a new chapter of JA/UK musical connectivity and creativity. In understanding the barriers that have to be overcome in musical styles and production, it is necessary to understand also the importance of the traditional dancehalls for both the Jamaican reggae music industry, which grew directly out of the activities of the sound system, and for the expressive culture of black Britain in which they remain a core institution. The most essential characteristic of the dancehalls and the sound system is the centricity on records not live performances. Thus the records become the raw material for the spontaneous performances of cultural creativity and improvisation.

Gilroy states, 'It is above all in these performances that black Britain has expressed the improvisation, spontaneity and intimacy which are key characteristics of all new world black musics, providing a living bridge between them and African traditions of music-making which dissolve the distinctions between art and life, artefact and expression which typify the contrasting traditions of Europe'

It is interesting to see now then that recently Jamaican artists are following the trends typically set up by, ironically, those who "borrowed" techniques and styles from dancehall reggae. Although it is unclear whether these similarites are occurring consciously or unconsciously, since as i mentionened earlier, digital music technologies are making connections between different genres significantly easier, with producers on both sides of the Atlantic using the same software to programme their beats. There is no doubt that there are barriers to be diminished in order fo Jamaican artists to incorporate what have now become British musical traits and approaches, for example, difference in production values and difference in tempos, but it is going to be nothing short of exciting to see how all these styles combine and how, if it all, they may connect and grow togther to develop new contemporary tracks which can begin to inhabit a new generic sphere of the dancehall scene, originating in the soul of the Carribbean.




REFERENCES
Gilroy, Paul. "Diaspora, Utopia and the Critique of Capitalism", in The Subcultures Reader. Ed. Ken Gelder Routledge, London and New York: 2005.

Reggae music: To the world and beyond

This YouTube video is an interview with Winston Hubert McIntosh(Peter Tosh)at the reggae sunsplash in Jamaica in 1979. Before his death in 1987 Tosh was a core member of The Wailers with fellow Rastafarians Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer. In this excerpt he discusses the roots of the reggae subculture and provides an insight into why reggae musicians believe their music is created for the people, to be accepted universally around the four corners of the earth with the ability to take over the world. Despite the interview having been conducted a considerably long time ago Peter Tosh's words demonstrate the key ideas which still surface from artists today. He was an extremely influential leader in his time and his career in reggae music was considered one of the best, his music becoming a favourite amongst Reggae lovers and Rastafarians with its political and social messages criticising the hypocritical "shitsystem" often becoming a regular target of the Jamaican police force.

He talks about the music as a psychology, created to, "penetrate the mind, the soul and the body." He highlights thought-provoking ideas that music should not be something you simply hear, but something you feel deep in the core of your soul and with purpose. Without feeling the intense connection Tosh presumes should come from music he implies that it is impossible to "know it". In saying this we can understand the soulfulness associated with the reggae subculture and the notion of inspiration that derives from the "spiritual ingredients" which bridge the gap between the meanings spoken by lyrics and rhythms.

He gives me the impression that reggae music is like a campaign. A campaign created to fill the voids in audiences' lives where feeling and a sense of identity is lacked. This perceived consumption of reggae music aligns with much academic research on the rhythms of the cultural struggles for indigenous identities around the world.

Further to introducing me to the very real spiritual nature of the roots of reggae, developing from followers of the Holy Trinity, or the "creator" as Tosh calls him, Jah Rastafari, Tosh personifies the reason for the growth of Rastafari. Although not really evidenced in this interview, Tosh was a principle popularizer of reggae music, articulating a message of liberation and redemption which had the power to transform a world of injustice and war into one of peace and love. His music was a significant force in the increased popularity of the movement thrusting the rasta cosmology into the middle of the world's cultural arena.

I think Peter Tosh's ideas are extremely relevant to the notions of reggae subculture as he demonstrates Dick Hebdige's argument that, 'we should not underestimate to the signifying power of the spectacular subculture not only as a metaphor for potential anarchy but as an actual mechanism of semantic disorder: a kind of temporary blockage in the system of representation.'*

*From Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style (London and New York: Routledge, 1979)