Staffrider Vol.3 No.4 Dec-Jan 1980 - DISA

Music^eyyaefrom Africa tothe Caribbean -and bach againReggae bloodlines run from Africa to the Caribbeanand back again. Jamaica is free from the British andthe Spanish invaders but not free from oppression.The rich are still rich and the pressure is always up.The city is too full — it balances on a thin wire —the reggae rhythms step down the street, lethal,spiritual and prophetic.words by Chris Chapmanmusic by Madi PhalaSlave driver the tables are turningCatch a fire you gonna get burned nowEvery time I hear the crack of the whipMy blood runs cold . . .— Bob MarleyThe inhabitants of Jamaica aredescendants of African slaves. (Theindigenous Arawak Indians becameextinct soon after contact was madewith Europeans.) Their ancestors weretransported from the Gold and Ivorycoasts in slave-ships and put to work onthe sugar plantations, or sold to Americanbuyers. The spirit of resistance wasborn amongst the slaves but the numerousuprisings were put down with force.A small band of renegades made it intothe hills where they waged continualwar against the planters who dominatedthe arable lands and reaped the rewards,growing rich and getting plenty sugar tosweeten their tea. Just when thestruggle seemed lost, slavery wasabolished by an act of grace from theBritish crown.The gap between rich and poorworsened and the planters in their hilltophouses became fearful of the blackman with the bush-knife held casually inhis hands, courting the maid. So thecolony was more troubled than it wasworth and it was made independent in1962. The Jamaicans inherited a crazymixed-up land where poverty was areality for the dispossessed. There begana gradual movement out of the hills andinto town with its glittering chance ofgetting a Buick.Town means Kingston with itsshaded suburbs and spreading cardboardshanty towns. Life revolves around thestreet-corner or the local record shop,knife in pocket, rude boys rule. Politicalviolence abounds as governments riseand fall amid a weak economy and aturbulent society. Harsh laws make thepossession of firearms a mandatory lifesentence and outlaw the use of ganja(dagga), the spiritual herb of theRastafarians and source of money andguns for many others. Meanwhile thesound systems pump out reggae, thepulse beat of the people.Sound coming down the king's musiciron/ The rhythm just bubbling andbackfiring/ Raging and rising . . .— Linton Kwesi JohnsonThe rhythm came from Africa withthe slaves. Music is in the blood. Withthe influence of the radio, Americanrhythm & blues and sold, mobile disco'smushroomed. Music was the releasefrom the pressure on the street. Soundsystem deejays began to record localmusic called ska. Fast, hypnotic riffs, afusion of soul and African heart-beat,dance music to the core.But ska was too fast for the summerheat so it slowed down to rocksteadyuntil Toots Hibbert of Toots and theMaytals did a song called 'Do TheReggay' and the music of Jamaica becameknown as reggae.'Reggae means regular people whoare suffering. . . . Reggae means comingfrom the people, from* majority,'explained the legendary Toots.Social, political and spiritual conceptsentered the lyrics of reggae,mainly due to the influence of Rastafari.Reggae musicians became Jamaica'sprophets and high priests.Rastafarians are the main culturalforce in Jamaica today. The movementis the most recent expression of thehistory of suffering and resistance todomination of the black Jamaicans. It isa highly religious and revolutionarymovement that hinges on the belief thatredemption for the black man can onlycome through his return to Africa. Itembodies the Ethiopian ideology thatEthiopians and Egyptians are one andthe same race, both black, and creatorsof one of the world's greatest civilizations.Rastafarians worship HaileSelassie, the former emperor of Ethiopia,who they believe was the living godaccording to the prophesies of Marcus