From the 1970s up to today, Reggae has been one of the most popular types of music in many countries all over the world. Having its roots in Jamaica, it was promoted by many artists, such as Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, and carried into many parts of the world. The growing popularity and the influence Reggae had on many other music genres gives a reason for an in-depth analysis of the background and development that created reggae music. In order to analyze music thoroughly, three major components need to be analyzed: historical background, language and music development.
One of the earliest and most important influences on Jamaica’s current music culture is the period of slavery in the Caribbean. Cruelty, oppression, and hunger for revolt can be seen as foundation for the development of Reggae. In addition to the importance of Jamaican and especially African-Jamaican history this paper deals with the relevance of Rastafarianism. The longing for freedom and equality as well as the discontent with life under white rule paved the way for the emergence of a new belief, which was based on the maxim of Black Pride and the superiority of the black race.
It was not only people and their souls which were influenced by the colonialists, but also their language. Through the blend of West-African languages and English, Jamaicans established their own Creole, which can be heard in almost all reggae lyrics. As well as the experiences during the days of slavery, the newly discovered religion along with the pride and self-confidence involved, did not only change the way of life and thinking for many people with African descent, but also altered the language.
The third component that led to today’s Reggae was the development of Jamaican music throughout the history. Based on the Africa-inspired drumming of slaves and impacted by Rastafarian and North-American music, styles such as Ska, Rocksteady, and finally Reggae were able to evolve.
By taking all three components into account, two Reggae songs are analyzed. Especially phonetic differences between the used language and Present Day English (PDE) as well as the similarities to Rastafarian Talk are examined.
Overall, this paper gives an insight into the reasons and circumstances that enabled Reggae to emerge. Taking this background into account, lyrics are analyzed in order to prove that history and religion were not only precursors but are still present in today’s music.
Contents
1 Introduction
2 The Political and Historical Background
2.1 “Out of many one people” - Slavery in Jamaica
2.1.1 Conquest, Genocide, and Slave Trade
2.1.2 Slave rebellion
2.2 The End of Slavery
3 Rastafari
3.1 The Birth of Rastafarianism - Garvey’s Prophecy
3.2 Haile Selassie I - unwilling God
3.3 Rastafarian Beliefs
3.3.1 Babylon versus Zion
3.3.2 Inity
3.3.3 Perception of the white race - Racial Boundaries
3.3.4 The Bible
3.4 Rastafarian Lifestyle
3.4.1 I-tal
3.4.2 Ganja
3.4.3 Dreadlocks
3.4.4 Color codes
4 Musical Development
4.1 Slave music
4.2 Rastafarian Music
4.3 Mento
4.4 Calypso
4.5 Ska
4.6 Rocksteady
4.7 Reggae
4.7.1 Bob Marley
5 Language Development
5.1 Patwa
5.2 Dread Talk
5.2.1 Category I
5.2.2 Category II
5.2.3 Category III
5.2.4 Category IV
5.2.5 Category V
6 Linguistic Analysis of Reggae Lyrics
6.1 Song Lyrics
6.1.1 Hail H.I.M. by Burning Spear
6.1.2 Destiny by Buju Banton
6.2 Linguistic Analysis
6.2.1 Phonetic differences
6.2.2 Comparison to Dread Talk
6.2.3 Grammatical differences
7 Conclusion
8 References
1 Introduction
From the 1970s up to today, Reggae has been one of the most popular types of music in many countries all over the world. Having its roots in Jamaica, it was promoted by many artists, such as Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, and carried into many parts of the world. The growing popularity and the influence Reggae had on many other music genres gives a reason for an in-depth analysis of the background and development that created reggae music. In order to analyse music thoroughly, three major components need to be analysed: historical background, language and music development.
One of the earliest and most important influences on Jamaica’s current music culture is the period of slavery in the Caribbean. Cruelty, oppression, and hunger for revolt can be seen as foundation for the development of Reggae. In addition to the importance of Jamaican and especially African-Jamaican history this paper will deal with the relevance of Rastafarianism. The longing for freedom and equality as well as the discontent with life under white rule paved the way for the emergence of a new belief, which was based on the maxim of Black Pride and the superiority of the black race.
It was not only people and their souls which were influenced by the colonialists, but also their language. Through the blend of West-African languages and English, Jamaicans established their own Creole, which can be heard in almost all reggae lyrics. As well as the experiences during the days of slavery, the newly discovered religion along with the pride and self-confidence involved, did not only change the way of life and thinking for many people with African descent, but also altered the language.
The third component that led to today’s Reggae was the development of Jamaican music throughout the history. Based on the Africa-inspired drumming of slaves and impacted by Rastafarian and North-American music, styles such as Ska, Rocksteady, and finally Reggae were able to evolve.
By taking all three components into account, two Reggae songs will be analysed. Especially phonetic differences between the used language and Present
Day English (PDE) as well as the similarities to Rastafarian Talk will be examined.
Overall, this paper aims at giving an insight into the reasons and circumstances that enabled Reggae to emerge. Taking this background into account, lyrics will be analysed in order to prove that history and religion were not only precursors but are still present in today’s music.
2 The Political and Historical Background
In order to understand the motives for the development of reggae music and especially the thematic content of its lyrics, it is important to draw attention to the political and historical background surrounding the people of Jamaica. Despite the widely spread impression that Reggae can be equalized with happy, sunny, and carefree holiday music there is another, more important side to it. Reggae music was - and still is - created by the feelings and experiences resulting years of slavery and suppression, which makes it fundamentally important to understand the history if one wants to understand reggae music.
2.1 “Out of many one people” - Slavery in Jamaica
“Out of many one people”, the maxim eternalized in the Jamaican national coat of arms draws attention to the fact that today more than 90 percent of Jamaica’s citizens are from African descent, the remaining percentage consists of Europeans, Indians, Arabs, and Chinese (Vieth 1981:12). The high amount of people of African descent is due to the oppression of aboriginal Jamaican inhabitants by European settlers and the ensuing slave trade.
2.1.1 Conquest, Genocide, and Slave Trade
After the discovery of the West Indian Islands by Christopher Columbus in 1492, the former inhabitants of Jamaica, Carib and Arawak Indians, were enslaved, either as workforce in their own country or sold as slaves in Sevilla (Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. Fachstelle für Internationale Zusammenarbeit 1980:20), although the Spanish law declared freedom to every colonial inhabitant. The Indians had to work under inhuman circumstances in the fields of gold- seeking and pearl fishery. 100 years later, only about a dozen Indians were left, not only due to the diseases introduced by European settlers, such as smallpox, sexually transmitted diseases, tetanus, typhoid, leprosy, amarillic typhus, and the abuse of alcohol (Vieth 1981:13; Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. Fachstelle für Internationale Zusammenarbeit 1980:20f.), but also did the passive resistance of the Indians themselves reduce the number of survivors. Pregnant women aborted their unborn children in order to reduce the number of available slaves and several families and villages committed mass suicides out of the same reason (Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. Fachstelle für Internationale Zusammenarbeit 1980:21). Due to the efforts of many mission orders, the enslavement of Carib and Arawak Indians was successfully forbidden by law in 1542.
Although the Indians were now protected by law and the search for gold and pearls was not as profitable as thought before, the settlers were still in need “of a large, disciplined workforce to tend and harvest the crop” (Hebdige 1987:23) of their growing sugar plantations. This problem was solved by the beginning of the slave trade between the European states, West African countries and West Indian plantation owners. Although the Spanish were not able to trade with Africa, since this part of the world was given to Portugal by the pope, a solution was found in which England interfered in the slave trade (Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. Fachstelle für Internationale Zusammenarbeit 1980: 21). European goods, such as alcohol, mirrors or weapons (Vieth 1981: 14) were brought to Africa and exchanged for humans, who had prior been “captured during tribal wars, kidnapped by Arab slavers, or taken during raiding parties organised for profit by local chiefs” (Hebdige 1987:23). In return for the slaves, plantation owners of the West Indies and America sold sugar molasses, gold and rum to the European trading partners.
The conditions on the slave ships were very appalling. Bob Marley and the Wailers would later describe them in their song “Catch a fire”: “I remember on the slave ship / How they brutalize my very soul.” Since a human being was very cheap, slave trade was still a very profitable business even if between 25 (Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. Fachstelle für Internationale Zusammenarbeit 1980:21) and 50% (Hebdige 1987: 23) of future slaves died during transportation.
Once arrived in Jamaica and sold to the plantation owners, life got even worse for slaves. In order to disconnect them from their African roots and traditions, slave owners separated them from people of the same social and cultural background, creating groups, who did neither share traditions nor spoke the same language. This separation did an incredible harm to the psyche of the oppressed. (Nicholas 1979: 28)
Additionally to the harm of the soul, slaves were extremely hurt physically. They had to work for at least 15 hours a day under strict supervision of their owners, their masters. Every mistake or sign of exhaustion was brutally punished. Hebdige describes scenes, where “slaves who were considered surly or disobedient were flogged. Runaways were publicly whipped and often gibbeted and hung up to rot as a deterrent top any other slaves who hoped to seize their freedom in this way.” (Hebdige 1987: 24)
Due to malnutrition, diseases, excessive labor, and suicide about one third died within the first three years of slavery, the anticipated average lifespan declined to 26 years for Jamaican-born slaves. Since the price for slaves was still very low, plantation owners preferred buying new slaves instead to caring for the ones that were already there. (Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. Fachstelle für Internationale Zusammenarbeit 1980: 24f.) Burning Spear remembered those times in his song “Slavery Days”: “Do you remember the days of slavery / And they beat us / And the work was so hard / And they used us / Till they refused us.” [INT1.1]
During the years of slavery Africa lost between 40 and 100 million of the best and healthiest workers to plantation owners in America and the West Indies, which left the continent in growing poorness, hunger, and adversity. (Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. Fachstelle für Internationale Zusammenarbeit 1980:29)
2.1.2 Slave rebellion
Although punishments were harsh and brutal and slaves were supervised by “whip-whielding overseers” (Hebdige 1987:24), there is a long tradition of slaves who did fight their oppressors, which existed almost as long as slavery itself.
Especially in Jamaica the willpower to fight against colonialists was extremely high, no other Caribbean territory has had as many rebellious slaves as Jamaica. (Adisa Andwele in Zips 2006:11) The Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. Fachstelle f ü r Internationale Zusammenarbeit lists three reasons for this never dwindling intensity and continuity:
1. Jamaica was the place where the number of people of African descent compared to the number of white people had the highest ratio (10:1, compared to Barbados 4:1 or North-America 2:1).
2. There was a very high percentage of newly arrived slaves, which kept the motivation for resistance constantly high.
3. Most slaves originated in West-Africa, where they were extraordinarily trained in the tactics of guerrilla warfare.
(Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. Fachstelle für Internationale Zusammenarbeit 1980:28)
Many rebellious groups tried to escape but were caught and their leaders executed (Hebdige 1987:25), but there was one, which succeeded in breaking out of their imprisonment - the Maroons.
2.1.2.1 The Maroons
“Act and live like a Maroon” (Vieth 1981:17) - this maxim influences Jamaican history up until today. The Maroons (from the Spanish cimarrones, meaning mustang, wild horses, later: runaway slaves) were the first rebellious group of the West Indies, which was feared by the English authorities. They fled to the mountainous inland of Jamaica and other islands, where they started their own outlawed communities and created an own culture which was dedicated to their African roots. Up until today, Maroons exist in Jamaica (Adisa Andwele in Zips 2006:11).
Many slaves, who were brought to Jamaica, were perfectly trained in military tactics back in their home countries. Additionally, numerous suppressed were given weapons to protect their masters’ property and fight invaders. Both, the knowledge about warfare and the given weapons helped the Maroons to fight against their former masters (Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. Fachstelle für Internationale Zusammenarbeit 1980:27).
A major change for the life and status of the Maroons took place in the mid- 1600s. In 1655 a British armada attacked Jamaica in order to get the sugar and tobacco trait under control. The Spanish fled towards the inland and allied with the Maroons. Over many years a guerrilla war took place between the newly formed alliance and the English invaders. In order to destroy this union, the British offered all the rights of a British citizen to the approximately 300 Maroons [INT3]. The acceptance of this offer and the following union between the Maroons and the British resulted in the fallback of almost all Spanish colonialists to Cuba (Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. Fachstelle für Internationale Zusammenarbeit 1980:29) and the reign of British landowners.
2.2 The End of Slavery
Due to the lixiviation of the ground, an increasing beet sugar production in Europe, missing interest in the plantations on the part of their British owners (Vieth 1981:19), and Royal African Company’s loss of the slave trade monopoly which resulted in a decline of the “slave quality”, the Jamaican sugar production decreased. (Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. Fachstelle für Internationale Zusammenarbeit 1980:32)
The downturn of demand for workforce and an increasing cotton cultivation, which was less labor-intensive than the work on a sugar plantation led to a natural reproduction of slaves. This led to a decreasing need for new workforce, which finally resulted in the prohibition of slave trade in 1807 through British laws. (Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. Fachstelle für Internationale Zusammenarbeit 1980:33)
In 1831 the last out of numerous slave rebellions took place in Jamaica. Led by Baptist minister Sam Sharpe, hundreds of slaves fought against the local militia. Although the revolt ended in a massacre by British troops, in which almost every dissenter was killed, it paved the way for the passing of a bill banning slavery in the British colonies. The Abolition Bill was passed in 1834 and 668,000 slaves were set free (Hebdige 1987:25). Contemporaneous with slavery the planting and trading of sugar steadily came to an end.
While the white Jamaican popularity tried to achieve self-government and power, the former slaves remained with only a few rights and none to less work. Since most of them refused to work for their earlier masters, who only offered very low wages (Hebdige 1987:25), dissatisfaction as well as animosity against the white grew amongst African-Jamaicans and eventually ended in many rebellions.
Although Jamaica won independence in 1962, the financial and social gap between people of European or Asian ancestry and descendants of former slaves is still present today. Especially the high unemployment and poverty rate amongst people of African descent is vital;
It is the light-skinned “coloured” population who, for the most part, run the country. It is the Chinese, Syrians and Anglo-Indians who own many of the smaller shops and businesses (…). And it is in the more manual jobs, or without a job at all, that you tend to find the black descendants of West African slaves. (Hebdige 1987:25f.)
Since for many black Jamaican people the state of slavery and suppression did only slightly change and still remained in a more subtle way, resentment and rage resulted “and if slavery appears to continue even now (…), so too does that old Jamaican tradition of rebellion and resistance to authority.” (Hebdige 1987:26)
3 Rastafari
It was not only the political and historical background of Jamaica and its citizens that created a platform for the development of reggae music. Many musicians were also highly influenced by an emerging religion called Rastafarianism. Almost all Jamaican reggae musicians followed the beliefs as well as the culture and language of Rastafarians, which aimed for the separation from the oppression of African people and culture during the centuries of slavery by embracing African roots and discovering pride and a feeling of superiority over the white race.
3.1 The Birth of Rastafarianism - Garvey’s Prophecy
The dissatisfaction and rebellious mood that led through the entire Jamaican history as well as the search for emotional and social bonding (Vieth 1981:129) smoothed the way for the emerge of Rastararianism. “A severe depression, racism and class discrimination during 1930 was the perfect environment for the rural and poor Jamaicans to embrace a new religion” [INT2.1]. The disapproval of the doctrines of Christianity, which was seen as the religion “adapted to suit the ambitions of white imperialists” (Jacobs 1985:77) and the refusal to praise a “white man’s God” (Jacobs 1985:77) strengthened the need for a new belief, which was found in Rastafarianism. It has its roots in the philosophy, ideologies, and teachings of black self empowerment by Marcus Garvey, although the latter never joined the belief of Rastafarianism [INT1.11].
During the early 1900s, Jamaican born Maroon Marcus Mosiah Garvey promoted the concept of Black Pride all over the world. It was his belief that “all black people should return to their rightful homeland Africa” [INT1.11] which inspired many people worldwide. During and after the years of slavery, black Jamaicans were taught and forced to imitate Western life and to reject and fear everything that remembered them of their African heritage in order to survive (Nicholas 1979:28). Garvey’s Africa-embracing message was therefore a completely new way of thinking for many African-Jamaicans. Although he travelled a lot, held many powerful speeches in North-America and England, established the Universal Negro Improvement and Conservation Association (UNIA) in 1914, which soon counted more than 2 million members all over North- America, (Jacobs 1985:80), he only found a few followers in his home country in the beginning. (Adisa Andwele in Zips 2006:12f.) It was not until 1930, when Garvey’s most important prophecy “Look to Africa for the crowning of a Black King; he shall be the redeemer.” (1927) seemed to come true that he got widely respected and honoured by his fellow countrymen as well. The predicted event took place on November 2, 1930, when Ras Tafari Makonnen was made Emperor of Ethiopia. The awaited “Black King” named himself ‘His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassi I (meaning ‘Power of the Holy Trinity’), King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe Judah, Elect of God, Emperor of Ethiopia’ (Jacobs 1985:2). Since the “Garveyites” (Adisa Andwele in Zips 2006:13) saw him as the “long-awaited saviour of African peoples” (Adisa Andwele in Zips 2006:13), they soon formed a sect, called Ras Tafari.
3.2 Haile Selassie I - unwilling God
“Haile Selassie never regarded himself as God, nor did he adhere to Rastafari.” [INT1.6] Although this can be said, many Rastafarians regard the former Ethiopian Emperor as the “God of the Black race” [INT1.6] (some just see him as God’s surrogate on Earth [Vieth 1981:129]). There are many justifications for his deity that strengthen the former Rastafarian conviction.
The Rastafarian idea that God himself is black, can be proven by the Bible: “For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; as astonishment hath taken hold of me “(Jeremiah 8:21). This quote as well as the fact that all Ethiopian kings, including Haile Selassi I., used Biblical names (e.g. Lord of Lords, Elect of God) supports the idea of divinity.
Many Rastafari trace Selassie’s linage back to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Therefore Selassie would have been a descendant of King David and consequently also related to Jesus himself [INT1.6]. This would be another prove for his divine status.
Even if the divine status of Haile Selassie I. can be argued, his person as well as the philosophies of Marcus Garvey have served as an example and inspiration to the black nation which, until recently, had little knowledge of its great African heritage. Equally significant is recognition of [Selassie’s] role as catalyst for the awakening of sense of identity and history for the black people who have been scattered over the earth by oppressions of slavery. (Jacobs 1985:4).
3.3 Rastafarian Beliefs
Next to the belief in Haile Selassie’s deity, there are other convictions, Rastafari trust in.
Overall, Rastafarians believe that “the Western life that was whipped into the African is evil.” (Adisa Andwele in Zips 2006:16) Therefore, a constant mistrust in any Western institutions, beliefs, or habits persists throughout Rastafarian life, which makes Rastafarianism one of the most influential and important decolonization movements in the Caribbean, bringing back a remembrance of the peoples’ African roots (Adisa Andwele in Zips 2006:19f.). “A primary objective of Rastafari is to revitalize African and natural styles and forms of life among black Jamaicans.” (Nicholas 1979:28)
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